Nexhmedin Zajmi was an Albanian painter and sculptor. He was born on the 4th of March 1916 in a village close to Trebisht, Peshkopi.

Zajmi studied at the Qemal Stafa High School in Tirana[ and in 1931 he graduated in agriculture from the technical school in Tirana, where he discovered his artistic talent.

The next phase of his education took place at art school, where he studied with sculptor Odhise Paskali.

In 1939, he went to study at the Academy of Fine Arts of Rome, in Rome, Italy, where he obtained his diploma in 1943. During the following year he remained in Italy, returning to Albania towards the end of 1944. He initially worked as a teacher at a public school in Tirana, and soon moved to the Jordan Misja school for new artistic creation. He worked there until 1963, with a sabbatical during 1955 and 1956 when he held the role of director of the National Art Gallery of Albania in Tirana.

In 1963, he was made a teacher at Tirana’s School of Fine Arts,[clarification needed] where the first generation of Albanian painters was formed.

In the 1960s and 1970s, he also took advantage of the most successful 20th century artists. His works are included amongst the few works by Albanian artists which were seen by the people of Vienna, Zagreb and Sofia. He specialised in portraits of the inhabitants of the mountains in the north of Albania, as well as painting landscapes and other scenes.

He has created paintings with historical themes, landscapes and portraits. Zajmi is one of the main representatives of socialist realism painting in Albania. Zajmi’s art stands out in particular for its colors, his paintings have great strength and depth in the psychological aspect, and very inclusive in types and characters. For the creation of works of high artistic and historical quality, for the great contribution to the education of generations of Albanian artists and the development of figurative arts in Albania, the painter Nexhmedin Zajmi has been awarded the high titles “Merited Artist” and “Artist of the people. He is also the winner of the “Republic Award” and has been decorated with many other orders. Nexhmedin Zajmi has been honored with several prizes in various national competitions organized by the Ministry of Culture and is the laureate of several prizes of the Republic. In 1961 he was awarded the title “Painter of the People”. In the artistic activity of about 40 years, the painter Nexhmedin Zajmi is a participant in 27 national exhibitions. In the National Art Gallery in Tirana there are 72 works by the painter Zajmi, among which 2 paintings made during the 40s in Italy. He passed away in 1991.

There are 72 of Zajmi’s paintings in the National Art Gallery of Albania. An exhibition and retrospective of his art was opened on the 15th anniversary of his death, in March 2006.

/Klara Ruci/