Georgian Petr Nikolaevich - famous Russian artist, painter. Most of his work is also devoted to genre scenes.
Pyotr Gruzinsky was born on December 31, 1837 in Kursk. He has been interested in drawing since childhood. Before he entered the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, he had already applied big hopes and surprised everyone around him with his incredible ability to depict. At the Academy of Arts, where he entered in 1851, B. P. Villevalde, who was also a remarkable Russian artist, became his teacher.
At the Academy, his talent began to develop even faster. Having mastered all the necessary skills, he brilliantly performed all the work. For his painting "Gypsy camp" received a small gold medal. For the painting "The Capture of Gunib" a large gold medal. For the painting "Abandonment of villages by the highlanders at the approach of Russian troops" he received the title of academician. Also, no less famous of his works are "Market in Fontainebleau", "Scene from village life", "Shrovetide", "Troika", "Dance of Italians on one of the streets of Paris" and many, many others. In the 19th century, Russian and foreign magazines and newspapers wrote about his work.
Russian artist Gruzinsky Petr Nikolaevich died on June 1, 1892. Buried in St. Petersburg. After his death, he is undeservedly forgotten to this day. Not many people know about the work of this wonderful artist and let's hope that museums and exhibition centers correct this situation, will present the paintings of our talented compatriot in best light, because such high art should remain in the history of Russian painting one of the most striking and memorable.
Georgia Artists of Georgia (Georgian artists)
Georgia The Republic of Georgia is a state in the central and western part of Transcaucasia on the southeastern coast of the Black Sea.
Georgia Republic of Georgia The Black Sea coast of Georgia is 308 km long and is devoid of any significant bays, islands or peninsulas. The Greater Caucasus Range is located in the north of Georgia. On the southern slope of the Greater Caucasus Range are the Gagra, Bzyb, Kodori, Svaneti, Kharul, Lamis, Gudis, Kartli and Kakheti ranges; on the northern slope - Khokhsky, Shavana, Kidegansky, Khevsuretsky and Pirikitsky ridges.
Georgia Republic of Georgia Today more than 4 million people live in Georgia.
The first traces of the stay primitive man on the territory of Georgia belong to the Middle Paleolithic. In the Early Eneolithic, a large center of agriculture arose in the east of Georgia. Ancient monuments bronze age in the Akhaltsikhe region appeared approx. 5000 years ago. In the middle of the Bronze Age, the largest cultural center existed in the Trialeti region. At the end of the Bronze Age (about 3,000 years ago), Kurgan cultures spread, with which the migration of Proto-Georgian tribes (Diaukhs, Tabalis, Muskhs and Kolkhs) from the south is associated. They knew how to smelt iron and process metal, and their exploits were reflected in the Greek myths of the Golden Fleece and Prometheus. According to the stories of the Greeks, these symbols of wealth and knowledge were located in the Caucasus. The Assyrians, who invaded the Caucasus and pushed the ancient Georgian tribes to the north, reigned in the 8th-7th centuries. BC. Herodotus noted that the Assyrian king Sargon II moved to Colchis with part of the Israelite population, which he removed from Palestine in 722 BC. The Western Georgian Colchis kingdom was formed around the 6th century. BC, and the eastern Kartli (Iberian) kingdom - in the 4th century. BC. Both of them had political and economic ties with the Greeks, the Achaemenid and Parthian states. According to the instructions of Strabo and Pliny the Elder, both states prospered. From the 4th c. BC. Georgians call themselves Kartveli, and their country Sakartvelo (“land of the Kartvelians”).
Georgia History of Georgia Ancient history Georgia
In the 1st century BC. Roman legions under the command of Pompey the Great established Roman power in Colchis and forced the Kingdom of Kartli to sign treaties with Rome. Around 330 AD Christianity was introduced in Kartli, in Western Georgia and Abkhazia - in the 6th century. In 523 the Kartli kingdom was conquered by the Sassanids, in 562 AD. The kingdom of Colchis was annexed to Byzantine Empire. At the beginning of the 7th century, Byzantium established its power over Kartli. From the middle of the 7th to the 9th century, a significant part of the Georgian lands was captured by the Arabs. Several feudal states were formed on the territory of Georgia: the Abkhazian kingdom in the west (including Abkhazia and Western Georgia), Tao-Klardzhetsky in the south, Kakheti and Hereti in the east, Kartli in the central part.
At the end of the 10th century, King Bagrat III united the eastern and western parts of Georgia into a single state (his descendants of the Bagratids ruled in Georgia until 1801).
Georgia History of Georgia Middle Ages
The monarchy and united Georgia were finally strengthened under David IV the Builder (ruled 1089-1125) and his granddaughter Queen Tamara (ruled 1184-1213).
Georgia History of Georgia Middle Ages
The 12th century was the "golden age" of the country's cultural and political development. This was the era of prosperity of the large Georgian academies in Gelati and Ikalto, at that time the bright talent of the poet Shota Rustaveli (who dedicated the epic poem The Knight in the Panther's Skin to Queen Tamara) manifested itself, the goldsmiths Beka and Beshken Opizari created unique jewelry. Many temples were built. Georgian soldiers participated in crusades, and scientists of Georgia were known in the monasteries of Palestine and Greece.
Georgia History of Georgia Middle Ages
By the beginning of the 13th century, the Georgian kingdom, stretching from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea, became one of the most powerful states in the region and had trade ties with Europe and the East. The period of his greatness ended in the 13th century, when the Mongol-Tatars invaded the country. It especially suffered from the invasion of Timur's troops at the very beginning of the 15th century. Georgian kings and aristocracy were unable to maintain the integrity of the country, with the exception of short period reign of George V the Brilliant (1314-1346). After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, Georgia was cut off from the Christian world and subsequently subjected to Turkish and Persian conquests. Even under such great kings as Vakhtang VI (1703-1712 and 1719-1724) and Heraclius II (1744-1798), the country was constantly subjected to devastating raids by mountain tribes from the north and Muslims from the south.
Georgia History of Georgia Union of Georgia with Russia and joining the Russian Empire
In 1783, Heraclius II concluded with Russian empress Catherine II treaty (Treaty of St. George), according to which Russia established a protectorate over the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti. In 1801, Russia annulled the treaty and included Eastern Georgia in Russia. Shortly before that, in 1800, the last king of the Bagration dynasty, George XII of Kartli-Kakheti, died. Western Georgia during 1803-1864 was partly included in the Russian Empire. This process was especially facilitated by Russia's victories in the Russian-Persian (1804-1813 and 1826-1828) and Russian-Turkish (1806-1812 and 1828-1829) wars. Periodically flaring up anti-Russian uprisings were quickly and brutally suppressed.
In the 19th century, great changes took place in Georgia in the social and political life. The abolition of serfdom, the growth of cities, the improvement of the education system and the development of industry had a strong influence on the formation of the Georgian nation. Tbilisi (Tiflis) became administrative and shopping mall the entire Caucasus. In 1872, a railway connection was opened between the port city of Poti and Tiflis. Communication with the Black Sea ports has been established. By rail, peasants came to the cities to look for work.
Georgia History of Georgia Russian rule
By 1905, the Georgian section of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (RSDLP) proved to be the strongest socialist organization in the Russian Empire. After the RSDLP split into the Bolshevik and Menshevik factions in 1903, the majority of Georgian Marxists joined the Menshevik faction. After the overthrow of the tsarist autocracy in 1917, power passed into the hands of the Provisional Government of Russia and the Georgian soviets, which were dominated by the Mensheviks. Shortly after the resignation of the Provisional Government, the Mensheviks seized power in Georgia. After a short period of federalism with neighboring Armenia and Azerbaijan, the Georgian government, led by the Mensheviks, on May 26, 1918, declared the country's independence. With the consent of the Mensheviks, in June 1918 Georgia was occupied by German and Turkish troops. In December 1918, they were replaced by British troops, who remained here until July 1920. In February 1921, the Bolsheviks raised an armed uprising and, with the help of the Red Army, overthrew the Menshevik government of Georgia.
In 1921 Georgia became a Soviet republic, and in December 1922 it was incorporated into the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic(ZSFSR) as part of the USSR (formed December 30, 1922). In 1936, the TSFSR was abolished, and Georgia became one of the union republics of the USSR.
Georgia History of Georgia History of Soviet Georgia
Hopes for the political autonomy of Georgia were destroyed by the policy of I.V. Stalin. In order to eliminate the opposition, Stalin in 1931 appointed L.P. Beria as the first secretary of the Communist Party of Georgia, who held this post until 1938. Under Beria, collectivization in countryside was carried out especially cruelly, in the process of mass purges, tens of thousands of people died (party activists, intellectuals, specialists and everyone who was suspected of being dissatisfied with the Stalinist regime).
Georgia History of Georgia History of Soviet Georgia
In 1944, approximately 100,000 Meskhetians (a mixed group of Muslim Georgians and Turks) were deported from South Georgia to Central Asia.
Georgia History of Georgia History of Soviet Georgia
Under N.S. Khrushchev, Georgia received greater independence in managing the economy and cultural life.
Georgia History of Georgia History of Soviet Georgia
In the 1970s, a dissident movement emerged in Georgia led by Zviad Gamsakhurdia and Merab Kostava. The course towards perestroika, proclaimed in the late 1980s by M.S. Gorbachev, led to a rapid change of leaders of the Communist Party of Georgia.
Georgia History of Georgia History of Soviet Georgia
In September 1990, an unofficial parliament was elected, competing with the current one, which was called the National Congress (more than half of the electorate participated in the elections). It was dominated by members National Party independence, led by Irakli Tsereteli and the National Democratic Party, led by Giorgi Chanturia (until January 1992, the National Congress played the role of an extra-parliamentary opposition to the Supreme Council and President Gamsakhurdia).
Georgia History of Georgia History of Soviet Georgia
On October 28, 1990, the coalition of Zviad Gamsakhurdia won the multi-party elections to the Supreme Council of Georgia. Round table- Free Georgia. This bloc received 54% of voters and won 155 out of 250 seats in parliament. The Communist Party of Georgia won 30% of the vote (64 seats). The All-Georgian Union of National Accord and Revival won 3.4% of the vote and did not receive a single seat in parliament. Gamsakhurdia was elected Chairman of the Supreme Council in November 1990.
Georgia History of Georgia History of Soviet Georgia
Gamsakhurdia proclaimed a course towards a unitary state without autonomies. Abkhazians and residents of South Ossetia did not agree with such a policy. On September 20, 1990, the South Ossetian Regional Council proclaimed the South Ossetian Soviet Democratic Republic, and on October 26 approved its constitution. At the first meeting on December 11, the Supreme Council of Georgia decided to liquidate the autonomy of South Ossetia, declared the conscription of Georgians into the Soviet armed forces illegal and established an independent National Guard.
Georgia History of Georgia Exit of Georgia from the USSR
In March 1991, the Georgian government refused to hold a referendum on the territory of the country on the future of the USSR and instead held a referendum on the independence of Georgia. 95% of the electorate took part in the referendum, 93% of voters voted for the independence of the Georgian state. On April 9, 1991, the Supreme Council of Georgia adopted the Act on the Restoration of the State Independence of Georgia and recognized the Act of Independence of 1918 and the Constitution of 1921 as valid.
After the declaration of independence in the Republic of Georgia, the struggle for power intensified, which was often accompanied by armed conflicts.
Georgia History of Georgia History of the independent Republic of Georgia
At the end of April 1991 The Supreme Council Georgia adopted a new constitution and elected Zviad Gamsakhurdia to the presidency. In the direct presidential elections on May 26, 1991, Gamsakhurdia received almost 87% of the vote. However, already in December 1991, a struggle broke out between the president's supporters and the opposition, which was joined by the National Guard. After several weeks of fighting in central Tbilisi in January 1992, Gamsakhurdia was removed from his post and fled the country. The Military Council headed by Tengiz Kitovani came to power. In March 1992, the Military Council announced its dissolution and the creation State Council, which consisted of approximately 70 representatives of 36 opposition parties. EA Shevardnadze became the Chairman of the State Council.
Georgia History of Georgia History of the independent Republic of Georgia
In July 1992, Shevardnadze stopped the 18-month war with South Ossetia, on whose territory the Mixed Peacekeeping Forces were introduced as part of the Russian, Georgian and Ossetian battalions. However, the war with the Abkhazians, which broke out suddenly in August 1992, could not be stopped.
Georgia History of Georgia History of the independent Republic of Georgia
In October 1992, elections were held for a new parliament. Shevardnadze, who received 96% of the votes, was elected its chairman. The cabinet appointed by Shevardnadze in late 1992 reflected the balance of political power in the new parliament. The parliamentary factions soon merged into a majority group, i.e. supporters of Shevardnadze, and an opposition group of opponents of Shevardnadze. The majority united in a broad coalition, the Union of Citizens of Georgia, headed by Zurab Zhvania. The opposition was led by the Popular Front, the National Democratic Party, Charter-91 and the Ilya Chavchavadze Society. The All-Georgian Revival Union represented the political forces of Adzharia in Tbilisi. New political parties: Christian Democratic Union led by Irakli Shengelaya, Democratic Georgian Union (Avtandil Margiani), National Independence Party (Irakli Tsereteli), Georgian Monarchist Party (Timur Zhorzholiani) and United Communist Party of Georgia (Panteleimon Georgadze).
Gamsakhurdia's supporters launched a partisan struggle immediately after his dismissal. During 1992-1993 they launched attacks on state leaders and economic targets of strategic importance. In the fall of 1993, Gamsakhurdia tried to return to power, marking the beginning of a short but fierce civil war. In January 1994, Gamsakhurdia was killed while unclear circumstances.
Georgia History of Georgia History of the independent Republic of Georgia
The November 1995 parliamentary elections were held on the basis of a mixed system based on party lists and single-mandate constituencies. There were 10 parties represented in the Parliament of the Republic of Georgia that overcame the 5% threshold, but the most influential were three: the Union of Citizens of Georgia, the National Democratic Party of Georgia and the All-Georgian Revival Union.
Georgia History of Georgia History of the independent Republic of Georgia
After 1995, Georgia entered a period of stabilization. Significant progress has been achieved in the negotiations on the Ossetian-Georgian conflict. The Georgian parliament is carrying out economic reforms in cooperation with the IMF and the World Bank and is betting on the restoration of the Ancient Silk Road - the Eurasian Corridor, using Georgia's geographical position as a bridge for the transit of goods between Europe and Asia.
In 2000, Shevardnadze was elected president of the country for another five-year term. The opposition to the ruling CUG party is gaining strength in the country, as evidenced by the convincing victory in the 2002 local elections of the Georgian Labor Party, the bloc “ national movement- Democratic Front" and the "New Rights" party.
Georgia History of Georgia History of the independent Republic of Georgia
In 2003, Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze lost public confidence and after lengthy protest rallies in connection with the falsification of parliamentary elections, President Shevardnadze was forced to resign as president (later this period was called the "Rose Revolution").
Georgia History of Georgia History of the independent Republic of Georgia
In 2004, Mikheil Saakashvili won by an absolute majority of votes (about 95%) in the early presidential elections and became the President of the Republic of Georgia.
Georgia Culture of Georgia
Georgia The Republic of Georgia is a country with the oldest and richest original culture, the thickness of which extends into the depths of millennia. Knowledge about it and the recognition of its wealth has long crossed national borders and reached the international level, as it is a cultural heritage and heritage of all mankind.
Georgia Culture of Georgia
The culture of Georgia is a synthesis of Middle Eastern, European and local traditions. Already in the Middle Ages, philosophy and historiography, theology and law, poetry and art, in particular applied art, national architecture, astronomy, geography and other branches of knowledge flourished in Georgia. Despite the proximity and cultural influence Persia and Turkey, the Georgians gravitated towards Europe to a greater extent.
Georgia Artists of Georgia (Georgian artists)
Painting of ancient Georgia
Thanks to the surviving murals of the 7th-13th centuries in Ateni Zion, Betania, Gelati Monastery and Kintsvisi, the cultural glory of medieval Georgian artists is now reliably known.
The Georgian art school has always had its own national flavor and is well known throughout the world.
The fine arts of Georgia became widely known thanks to the gifted and talented Georgian artists who made a huge contribution to the culture of Georgia: Lado Gudiashvili, Elena Akhvlediani, David Kakabadze, Korneli Sanadze, Simon Virsaladze, Niko Pirosmanishvili (Pirosmani), Ekaterina Baghdavadze, Sergei Kobuladze and Gigo Gabashvili. The art of Georgia is so elegant that it combines Georgian traditions and the European school with special sophistication and sophistication. No wonder the Georgian sculptors Zurab Tsereteli, Elguja Amashukeli and Ochiauri Irakli made a significant contribution not only to the culture of Georgia, but also to the world heritage.
Georgia Modern Georgia Artists of Georgia (Georgian artists)
Georgia Artists of Georgia (Georgian Artists) Today, a new generation of Georgian artists, sculptors, and masters of artistic photography lives and works in Georgia. Modern Georgian artists create new original paintings and sculptures.
Georgia Artists of Georgia (Georgian Artists) In our gallery you can get acquainted with the works of the best Georgian artists and Georgian sculptors.
Georgia Artists of Georgia (Georgian Artists) In our gallery you can find and purchase for yourself the best works of Georgian artists and Georgian sculptors.
Niko Pirosmani is an artist whose life is practically not documented anywhere, as if there was no such person at all. But he was. He was and created his uncomplicated and piercing paintings as simply as he lived.
Childhood and youth
So far, it has not been possible to establish exactly in what year the Georgian artist Pirosmani was born. Art historians suggest that this happened in 1862. Niko Piromanoshvili lived in a poor peasant family in the village of Mirzaani. He was the most youngest child and helped his father with the housework. However, the work on the ground did not capture him. He devoted every free minute to drawing. He recreated on old wrapping paper with the help of a pencil stub everything that surrounded him: bunches of grapes, a cracked jug, a short dog ...
At the age of eight, the boy loses his father, and soon his mother and older brother. Since then, he has earned his living on his own. He walks around the surrounding villages and is interrupted by small part-time jobs. Naturally, in such a complex life situation about any education, and even more so artistic, and there could be no question. However, Niko still learned to read Russian and Georgian.
Path to art
Ever since youth future artist Niko Pirosmani took painting lessons from itinerant masters. From them he adopted the ability to paint signs for shops and taverns. In the eighties Niko made an attempt to open a workshop artistic painting together with his friend, also an artist. However, this idea failed miserably: there were practically no orders and the workshop had to be closed.
Having accumulated a small capital, working as a conductor on the railway, Pirosmani invests in the dairy trade. However, Niko was a creative person, trade was alien to him. But he received a small income from a dairy shop, and his entrepreneurial attempts ended there.
The beginning of the 20th century was whole era in the work of Pirosmani. The artist devotes himself entirely to art. He again returns to the manufacture of signs, and is also fond of creating decorative panels. It was during this period that Niko painted a lot on oilcloth with the help of self-made paints. He was especially successful with black. Pirosmani added furnace soot, an infusion of oak bark and a couple of drops of oil to the ashes. Oilcloths were white or black. And where it was necessary to display these shades, he simply left unpainted areas. So the artist developed one of his unique techniques. It looks especially impressive in portraits, giving the picture an extraordinary depth and poignancy.
First successes
In the tenth years of the XX century, Niko was noticed in professional circles. Futurist artist Kirill Zdanevich acquires a large number of paintings by Pirosmani, some of them were commissioned. Kirill's brother, Ilya, published an article about Niko called "Nugget Artist" in the local newspaper. And already in March 1913, self-taught paintings were exhibited at an exhibition in Moscow. Of course, this was not a personal exhibition, but nevertheless a personal grandiose success for a poor peasant from a Georgian village.
In 1916, they finally managed to arrange an exhibition where Pirosmani's works were presented exclusively. The nugget gained some notoriety. He was invited to the Society of Georgian Artists, his works began to be bought for private collections. However, despite this, the artist Pirosmani, whose name became associated with authentic creativity, died in poverty and poverty.
Footprint in art
Primitivism - the style of painting characteristic of the artist Pirosmani - is artistic expression children's drawings. Naive in their execution and honest in their emotional component, these paintings do not carry anything pompous, superfluous, superficial. Only the simplicity of perception of life, whatever it may be. Niko drew quickly. Could create a painting in just a few days. He did not like to correct or modify anything in the work - as it turned out, it turned out.
The main motives in the work of Niko Pirosmani are animalistic. The artist depicted animals with the look of human eyes, touching, on which, it seems, tears are about to well up. Niko's friends claimed that, depicting animals, Pirosmani actually draws himself more than a giraffe or a lamb. Due to the fact that they were performed in an original technique, the animals looked especially defenseless and lonely.
Also one of the favorite themes was the image of feasts and feasts. Rich tables are bursting with food, wine flows like water, people have fun, forgetting about the hardships of life. All this had a huge contrast with the realities of the artist's life - poor, hungry, lonely. Pirosmani also drew portraits, but often not from life, but simply redrawn the image from a photograph.
Not many works by the hand of a self-taught artist have survived. Basically, we can appreciate the work of Pirosmani by his signs for shops and taverns.
The most famous paintings
Niko Pirosmani is an artist whose paintings amaze with their poignancy. "The Actress Marguerite" is a work that was once exhibited in the Louvre. They say that even the Frenchwoman herself, depicted on the canvas, came to the exhibition and looked at the picture for a long time, without taking her eyes off. The artist emphasized the elegance of the actress's legs, thin waist girls. WITH big love he portrayed Margarita, for whose sake he once took a desperate step.
The work “The Childless Millionaire and the Poor with Children” seems to show what true wealth is. The dry stumps of the trees in the background emphasize the meaninglessness of life, which cannot be immortalized in posterity.
In the painting "Grape Harvest" you can see artistic development Pirosmani. He applied the technique of depicting perspective - vineyards stretching into the distance, emphasizing the fertile, rich Georgian land. The artist also painted light breaking through the leaves - an attempt to play with light and shadow.
What was he like?
The artist Pirosmani, whose name is now known to the whole world, was a mystery to his contemporaries and remained an unsolved mystery for us. In the late 1910s, admirers of the artist's work began to walk around the village and collect information about him in order to compile, if not a biography, then at least an approximate portrait of Niko. From the reviews of the peasants, we know that Pirosmani had an explosive character and an unbalanced disposition. Straightforward, emotional, desperate. Neighbors said that the artist had seven Fridays a week, as if he were not of this world. Such gossip was reinforced by the stories of Niko himself that he sees the saints and his brush "paints by itself."
tangled trail
It is known that the artist corresponded with his sister, but these letters have not been preserved. They were burned by the girl herself, apparently frightened by the fact that in the nearby villages strangers more and more began to ask about his brother.
It is said that Niko had a notebook with which he never parted and constantly made notes in it. But even during the life of the artist, these notes were lost somewhere. And only shortly before his death, Pirosmani met educated people who understood the value of Niko's life and recorded the events of meeting him and personal impressions.
- In 1969, the Louvre hosted a solo exhibition by Niko Pirosmani.
- The story of the unhappy love of a poor artist from the song "Million Red roses"was taken from the life of Niko Pirosmani. The artist spent all his savings to give gifts to the French actress Marguerite de Sèvres who arrived in Tiflis.
- Mount Arsenal at Night sold for $1.2 million at Christie's. The work was presented in the "Russian Art" section, which caused discontent among the Georgian community.
- The artist Pirosmani, whose biography is filled with tragic moments, inspired the work of many creators. Three films have been made about him (one of them is a short). Niko was dedicated to poems by Bulat Okudzhava, Andrei Voznesensky,
(Nikolai Pirosmanishvili) - the most famous Georgian self-taught artist of the late XIX - early XX century, who worked in the style of primitivism. A man who was hardly noticed during his lifetime and who was noticed only three years before his death, who created almost 2000 paintings, murals and signs, working practically for free and died in obscurity, and who half a century later was exhibited from Paris to New York . His life is sad and partly tragic story, which in Russia is known mainly for the song "Million Scarlet Roses", although not everyone is aware that the "Georgian artist" from the song is exactly Pirosmani.
In Georgia, a lot of things are connected with this name, so it is useful to have an idea about the life of this person. That's why I'm writing this short text.
Pirosmani is watching Margarita's performance. ("Pirosmani", 1969 film)
early years
Niko Pirosmani was born in the village of Mirzaani, near Sighnaghi. His father was the gardener Aslan Pirosmanishvili, and his mother was Tekle Toklikashvili from the neighboring village of Zemo-Machkhaani. The surname of Pirosmanishvili was famous and numerous in those days, and they say that even now there are many of them in Mirzaani. Subsequently, she will become the artist's something like a pseudonym. He will be called Pirosman, Pirosmani, Pirosmana, and sometimes by his first name - Nikala. He will go down in history as Pirosmani.
His birthday is not known. The year of birth is conditionally considered 1862. He had an older brother George and two sisters. Father died in 1870, brother even earlier. Pirosmani lived in Mirzaani for the first 8 years of his life until the death of his father, after which he was sent to Tbilisi. Since then, he appeared in Mirzaani only occasionally. Almost nothing has been preserved in the village since those times, except that the Mirzaan temple clearly stood in its place in those years.
From 1870 to 1890 there was a huge gap in Pirosmani's biography. According to Paustovsky, during these years Pirosmani lived in Tbilisi and worked as a servant for a good family. This version explains a lot - for example, a general acquaintance with painting, and the snobbery that Pirosmani was distinguished by in middle age. Somewhere in these years, he stopped wearing peasant clothes and switched to European ones.
We know that he lived in Tbilisi, occasionally visiting his village, but we do not know any details. 20 years of obscurity. In 1890, he became a brake conductor on the railroad. A receipt dated April 1, 1890 on receipt job description. Pirosmani worked as a conductor for about four years, during which time he visited several cities in Georgia and Azerbaijan. He never made a good conductor, and on December 30, 1893, Pirosmani was fired with a severance pay of 45 rubles. It is believed that it was these years that led him to the idea of creating the painting "Train", which is sometimes called "Kakhetian Train".
Konstantin Paustovsky gives another version of those events: Pirosmani, according to him, painted his first picture - a portrait of the head railway and his wife. The portrait was somewhat strange, the boss got angry and kicked Pirosmani out of service. But this is apparently a myth.
There is one strange coincidence. While Pirosmani served on the railroad, the Russian vagabond Peshkov came to work there in 1891. From 1891 to 1892 he worked in Tbilisi in railway repair shops. Here Egnate Ninoshvili told him: "Write what you tell so well." Peshkov began to write and the story "Makar Chudra" appeared, and Peshkov became Maxim Gorky. Not a single director has yet thought of filming a scene where Gorky would tighten the nuts on a steam locomotive in the presence of Pirosmani.
Somewhere in the same years - probably in the 1880s, Pirosmani saved up money and built a small house in Mirzaani, which has survived to this day.
Pirosmani's house in Mirzaani
First paintings
After the railway, Pirosmani sold milk for several years. At first he did not have his own store, but was just a table. It is not known exactly where he traded - either on Vereisky Spusk (where the Radisson Hotel is now) or on the Maidan. Or maybe he changed places. This moment is important for his biography - it was then that he began to paint. The first of these were, apparently, the drawings on the wall of his shop. The memories of his companion Dimitar Alugishvili and his wife remained. One of the first portraits was precisely the portrait of Alugishvili ("I was black and looked scary. The children were scared, I had to burn it"). Alugishvili's wife later recalled that he often painted naked women. It is interesting that this topic was then completely covered by Pirosmani and in his late paintings erotica is completely absent.
The milk trade at Piromani did not work out. Apparently, already at that time his snobbery and asociality were manifested. He did not respect his work, he did not get along well with people, avoided groups, and already in those years he behaved so strangely that they were even afraid of him. One day, to an invitation to dinner, he replied: "Why are you inviting me if you do not harbor some kind of trick in your heart?"
Gradually, Pirosmani abandoned work and switched to a vagrant lifestyle.
heyday
The best years of Pirosmani are a decade from about 1895 to 1905. He quit his job and switched to the lifestyle of a freelance artist. Artists often live at the expense of philanthropists - in Tbilisi, such were the dukhans. They fed musicians, singers and artists. It was for them that Pirosmani began to paint pictures. He painted quickly and sold them cheaply. The best works went for 30 rubles, and those that were simpler - for a glass of vodka.
One of his main customers was Bego Yaksiyev, who kept a dukhan somewhere near modern monument Baratashvili. Pirosmanishvili lived in this dukhan for several years and subsequently painted the painting "Bego's Campaign". There is a version that the man in the hat and holding the fish is Pirosmani himself.
"Company Bego", 1907.
Pirosmani spent a lot of time with Titichev in the "Eldorado" tavern in the Ortachal Gardens. It was not even a dukhan, but a large amusement park. Here Pirosmani created his best paintings- "Giraffe", "Beauties of Ortachala", "Janitor" and "Black Lion". The latter was written for the son of a dukhan. The main part of the paintings of that period was later included in the Zdanevich collection, and now it is in the blue gallery on Rustaveli.
At one time he lived in the tavern "Racha" - only it is not known whether it was in the same "Racha" that is now located on Lermontov Street.
Earned enough for food and paint. The housing was provided by the clerk. It was enough to occasionally go to the native village of Mirzaani or to other cities. Many years later, several of his paintings were found in Gori and several more in Zestaponi. Has Pirosmani ever been to Sighnaghi? Controversial question. It seems that no pictures of him were found there, although this is the largest settlement near his village.
But there wasn't enough for anything else.
He did not live anywhere for a long time, although he was offered good conditions. He moved from place to place, mainly in the area of the Tbilisi railway station - in the neighborhoods of Didube, Chugureti and Kukia. For some time he will live on Molokan street near the station (now - Pirosmani street).
Pirosmani painted mainly with paints good quality- European or Russian. As a basis, I used walls, boards, tin sheets, and most often - black tavern oilcloths. Therefore, the black background in Pirosmani's paintings is not paint, but the oilcloth's own color. For example, the famous "Black Lion" was painted with one white paint on black oilcloth. A strange choice of material has led to the fact that Pirosmani's paintings are well preserved - better than the paintings of those artists who painted on canvas.
History with Margarita
In the fate of Pirosmani was crucial moment, and it happened in 1905. This moment is beautiful and sad story, known as the "millon scarlet roses". That year, the French actress Marguerite de Sèvres came to Tbilisi on tour. She sang in entertainment venues in Vereya Gardens, although there are alternative versions: Ortachal Gardens and Mushtaid Park. Paustovsky describes in detail and artistically how Pirosmani fell in love with an actress - a fact widely known and, apparently, historical. The actress herself is also a historical character, posters of her performances and even a photograph of an unknown year have been preserved.
In addition, there was a portrait by Pirosmani and a photograph of 1969. And now, according to the classical version of events, Pirosmani does not understand how he buys a million scarlet roses, and one early morning gives Margarita. In 2010, journalists calculated that a million roses is the cost of 12 one-room apartments in Moscow. In the detailed version of Paustovsky, not roses are mentioned, but all sorts of different flowers in general.
The grand gesture did little to help the artist: the actress left Tbilisi with someone else. It is believed that it was after the departure of the actress that Pirosmani painted her portrait. Some elements of this portrait suggest that this is partly a caricature and it was written in the form of revenge, although not all art historians agree with this.
Thus, one of the most famous works Pirosmani. The story itself became known thanks to Paustovsky, and later the song “A Million Scarlet Roses” was written on this plot (to the motive of the Latvian song “Marinya Gave Life to a Girl”), which Pugacheva sang for the first time in 1983, and the song immediately gained wild popularity. At that time, few people knew about the origin of the plot.
The story of Margarita last years became a kind of cultural brand and a separate short story was included in the film "Love with an Accent" in 2011.
Degradation
It is believed that the story of Margarita broke the life of Pirosmani. He switches to a completely vagabond lifestyle, spends the night in basements and booths, draws vodka or a piece of bread for a glass. Very often during that period (1905 - 1910) he lives with Bego Yaksiyev, but sometimes he disappears somewhere. He was already known in Tbilisi, all dukhans were hung with his paintings, but the artist himself turned into a de facto beggar.
Confession
In 1912, the French artist Michel Le Dantu came to Georgia at the invitation of the Zdanevich brothers. On a summer evening, “when the sunset faded and the silhouettes of the blue and purple mountains in the yellow sky lost their color,” the three of them ended up on the station square and went into the Varyag tavern. Inside, they found many paintings of Pirosmani, which surprised them: Zdanevich recalled that Le Dantu compared Pirosmani to the Italian artist Giotto. At that time, there was a myth about Giotto, according to which he was a shepherd, herded sheep, and painted pictures with coal in a cave, which were later noticed and appreciated. This comparison is rooted in cultural studies.
(The scene with a visit to the "Varyag" was included in the film "Pirosmani", where it is located almost at the very beginning)
Le Dantu purchased several of the artist's paintings and took them to France, where their trail was lost. Kirill Zdanevich (1892 - 1969) became a researcher of Pirosmani's work and the first collector. Subsequently, his collection was transferred to the Tbilisi Museum, moved to the Museum of Art, and it seems that it is now (temporarily) exhibited in the Blue Gallery on Rustaveli. Zdanevich ordered his portrait to Pirosmani, which has also been preserved:
As a result, Zdanevich will publish the book "Niko Pirosmanishvili". On February 10, 1913, his brother Ilya published an article "Artist-nugget" in the newspaper "Transcaucasian speech", where a list of Pirosmani's works was given and it was indicated which one was in which dukhan. It was also indicated there that Pirosmani lives at the address: Cellar Kardanakh, Molokanskaya street house 23. After this article, several more appeared.
In May 1916, the Zdanevichs arranged the first small exhibition of Pirosmani's works in their apartment. Pirosmani was noticed by the "Society of Georgian Artists", which was founded by Dmitry Shevardnadze - the same one who would be shot in 1937 for disagreeing with Beria regarding the Metekhi temple. Then, in May 1916, Pirosmani was invited to a meeting of the society, where he silently sat all the time, looking at one point, and at the end he said:
So, brothers, you know what, we must definitely build a big wooden house in the heart of the city, so that everyone is close, we will build a big house to gather in a place, we will buy a big samovar, we will drink tea and talk about art. But you do not want this, you are talking about something completely different.
This phrase characterizes not only Pirosmani himself, but also the culture of tea drinking, which later died out in Georgia.
After that meeting, Shevardnadze realized to take Pirosmani to a photographer, and so a photograph of the artist appeared, which for a long time was considered the only one.
Recognition did not change anything in Pirosmani's life. His escapism progressed - he did not want anyone's help. The "Society of Georgian Artists" managed to collect 200 rubles and transfer them to him through Lado Gudiashvili. Then they collected another 300, but they could no longer find Pirosmani.
In those last years - 1916, 1917 - Pirosmani lived mainly on Molokanskaya Street (now Pirosmani Street). His room has survived and is now part of a museum. This is the same room where Gudiashvili gave him 200 rubles.
Death
Pirosmani died in 1918, when he was just under 60 years old. The circumstances of this event are somewhat obscure. There is a version that he was found dead of starvation in the basement of house number 29 on Molokan street. However, Titian Tabidze managed to question the shoemaker Archil Maisuradze, who witnessed the last days of Pirosmani. According to him, Pirosmani last days painted pictures in Abashidze's dukhan near the station. Once, going to his basement (house 29), Maisuradze saw that Pirosmani was lying on the floor and groaning. "I feel bad. I've been lying here for three days and I can't get up..." Maisuradze called a phaeton, and the artist was taken to the Aramyants hospital.
Further unknown. Pirosmani disappeared, and the place of his burial is unknown. In the Pantheon on Mtatsminda, you can see a plaque with the date of death, but it lies on its own, without a grave. There were no things left of Pirosmani - not even paints left. According to rumors, he died on the night of Palm Sunday in 1918 - this is the only dating in existence.
Consequences
He died at the moment when his fame was just being born. A year later, in 1919, Galaktion Tabidze will mention him in one verse as someone famous.
Pirosmani died, and his paintings were still scattered around the dukhans of Tbilisi, and the Zdanevich brothers continued to collect them, despite their difficult financial situation. According to Paustovsky, back in 1922 he lived in a hotel, the walls of which were hung with Pirosmani's "oilcloths". Paustovsky wrote about his first encounter with these paintings:
I must have woken up very early. The harsh, dry sun lay obliquely on the opposite wall. I looked at this wall and jumped up. My heart began to beat hard and fast. From the wall he looked straight into my eyes - anxious, questioning and obviously suffering, but unable to tell about this suffering - some strange beast - tense, like a string. It was a giraffe. A simple giraffe, which Pirosman apparently saw in the old Tiflis menagerie. I turned away. But I felt, I knew that the giraffe was staring at me and knew everything that was going on in my soul. The whole house was deathly quiet. Still sleeping. I took my eyes off the giraffe, and it immediately seemed to me that he had stepped out of a simple wooden frame, was standing nearby and was waiting for me to say something very simple and important, which should disenchant him, revive him and free him from many years of attachment to this dry , dusty oilcloth.
(The paragraph is very strange - the famous "Giraffe" was created and kept in the pleasure garden "Eldorado" in Ortachala, where Paustovsky could hardly spend the night.)
In 1960, the Pirosmani Museum was opened in the village of Mirzaani and at the same time its branch in Tbilisi - the Pirosmani Museum on Molokan Street, in the house where he died.
The year of his glory was 1969. This year, the Pirosmani exhibition was opened at the Louvre - and it was opened personally by the Minister of Culture of France. They write that the same Margarita came to that exhibition, and they even managed to photograph her for history.
In the same year, the film studio "Georgia-Film" shot the film "Niko Pirosmani". The film came out quite well, although somewhat meditative. And the actor is not very similar to Pirosmani, especially in his youth.
After that, there were many more exhibitions in all countries of the world up to Japan. Numerous posters of these exhibitions can now be seen in the Pirosmani Museum in Mirzaani.
At the end of the 19th century, Europe experienced scientific and technological revolution and at the same time, rejection developed technical progress. The ancient, ancient times, myth came to life that in the past people lived in natural simplicity and were happy. Europe got acquainted with the culture of Asia and Africa and suddenly decided that this primitive creativity is the ideal natural simplicity. In 1892, the French artist Gauguin leaves Paris and flees civilization to Tahiti to live in nature, among simplicity and free love. In 1893, France drew attention to the artist Henri Rousseau, who also called for learning only from nature.
Everything is clear here - Paris was the center of civilization and tired of it began in it. But in those same years - around 1894 - Pirosmani began to paint. It is difficult to assume that he was tired of civilization, or that he closely followed the cultural life of Paris. Pirosmani, in principle, was not an enemy of civilization (and his customers, dukhans, even more so). He could well go to the mountains and live by agriculture - like the poet Vazha Pshavela - but he basically did not want to be a peasant and with all his behavior made it clear that he was a city person. He did not learn to draw, but at the same time he wanted to draw - and he did. There was no ideological message in his painting, as in Gauguin and Rousseau. It turns out that he did not copy Gauguin, but simply painted - but it turned out, like Gauguin. His genre is not borrowed from someone, but created by itself, of course. Thus, he became not a follower of primitivism, but its founder, and the birth of a new genre in such a remote corner as Georgia is strange and almost unbelievable.
In addition to his will, Pirosmani, as it were, proved the correctness of the logic of the primitivists - they believed that true art was born outside of civilization, and so it was born in Transcaucasia. Maybe that's why Pirosmani became so popular with artists of the twentieth century.
