Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 153 views

    Post-Stalinist Liberalization in Georgian Painting

    Uploaded by

    Georgian National Museum
    Journal "Museum". №2, 2015: By the 1950s modern Georgian easel painting had created its own history, which was short but rich in personalities, pursuits and discoveries. The first period of Georgian painting that started in the early 19th century was known as the "Tbilisi Portrait School". It underwent multicultural influences due to the cosmopolitan and creative environment of Tbilisi. The first representatives of professional painting had already appeared, followed by Gigo Gabashvili's art with his interpretation of Russian painting; Niko Pirosmanashvili with his brilliant synthesis of medieval Georgian frescoes and 20th century modernism; Mose Toidze's interest in European artists; the essential stages of dramatic art from Georgian modernists were over; and the uncontested dominance of a so-called “artistic style” of the Socialist realism of the 1930s and 1940s had been relegated to the past. In reaction to this, a new "revolution" in painting began in the 1950s, led by young artists who appeared on the scene in the post-Stalinist liberalization period.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Post-Stalinist Liberalization in Georgian Painting

    Uploaded by

    Georgian National Museum
    153 views6 pages
    Journal "Museum". №2, 2015: By the 1950s modern Georgian easel painting had created its own history, which was short but rich in personalities, pursuits and discoveries. The first period of Georgian painting that started in the early 19th century was known as the "Tbilisi Portrait School". It underwent multicultural influences due to the cosmopolitan and creative environment of Tbilisi. The first representatives of professional painting had already appeared, followed by Gigo Gabashvili's art with his interpretation of Russian painting; Niko Pirosmanashvili with his brilliant synthesis of medieval Georgian frescoes and 20th century modernism; Mose Toidze's interest in European artists; the essential stages of dramatic art from Georgian modernists were over; and the uncontested dominance of a so-called “artistic style” of the Socialist realism of the 1930s and 1940s had been relegated to the past. In reaction to this, a new "revolution" in painting began in the 1950s, led by young artists who appeared on the scene in the post-Stalinist liberalization period.

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    Journal "Museum". №2, 2015: By the 1950s modern Georgian easel painting had created its own history, which was short but rich in personalities, pursuits and discoveries. The first period of Georgian painting that started in the early 19th century was known as the "Tbilisi Portrait School". It underwent multicultural influences due to the cosmopolitan and creative environment of Tbilisi. The first representatives of professional painting had already appeared, followed by Gigo Gabashvili's art with his interpretation of Russian painting; Niko Pirosmanashvili with his brilliant synthesis of medieval Georgian frescoes and 20th century modernism; Mose Toidze's interest in European artists; the essential stages of dramatic art from Georgian modernists were over; and the uncontested dominance of a so-called “artistic style” of the Socialist realism of the 1930s and 1940s had been relegated to the past. In reaction to this, a new "revolution" in painting began in the 1950s, led by young artists who appeared on the scene in the post-Stalinist liberalization period.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    153 views6 pages

    Post-Stalinist Liberalization in Georgian Painting

    Uploaded by

    Georgian National Museum
    Journal "Museum". №2, 2015: By the 1950s modern Georgian easel painting had created its own history, which was short but rich in personalities, pursuits and discoveries. The first period of Georgian painting that started in the early 19th century was known as the "Tbilisi Portrait School". It underwent multicultural influences due to the cosmopolitan and creative environment of Tbilisi. The first representatives of professional painting had already appeared, followed by Gigo Gabashvili's art with his interpretation of Russian painting; Niko Pirosmanashvili with his brilliant synthesis of medieval Georgian frescoes and 20th century modernism; Mose Toidze's interest in European artists; the essential stages of dramatic art from Georgian modernists were over; and the uncontested dominance of a so-called “artistic style” of the Socialist realism of the 1930s and 1940s had been relegated to the past. In reaction to this, a new "revolution" in painting began in the 1950s, led by young artists who appeared on the scene in the post-Stalinist liberalization period.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    You are on page 1of 6

    28

    Post-Stalinist Liberalization
    in Georgian Painting
    Exhibition > Eka Kiknadze
    By the 1950s modern Georgian easel painting had created its own history, which was short but rich in personalities, pursuits and discoveries.
    The first period of Georgian painting that started in the early 19th century was known as the "Tbilisi Portrait School". It underwent
    multicultural influences due to the cosmopolitan and creative environment of Tbilisi. The first representatives of professional painting had
    already appeared, followed by Gigo Gabashvili's art with his interpretation of Russian painting; Niko Pirosmanashvili with his brilliant
    synthesis of medieval Georgian frescoes and 20th century modernism; Mose Toidze's interest in European artists; the essential stages of
    dramatic art from Georgian modernists were over; and the uncontested dominance of a so-called artistic style of the Socialist realism of the
    1930s and 1940s had been relegated to the past. In reaction to this, a new "revolution" in painting began in the 1950s, led by young artists
    who appeared on the scene in the post-Stalinist liberalization period.

    Guram Kutateladze. Landscape

    n the Soviet Union, as in Nazi Germany, total control over art began
    with literature and spread to the
    visual arts. On April 23, 1932, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union issued
    a Decree on the Transformation of Literary-Artistic Organizations. This decree
    meant that small artists associations
    were replaced by consolidated trade
    unions, and thus the Union of Artists of
    Georgia was established in 1933. The
    Union centralized the administration of
    human resources and ideology, turning
    visual art into a strong propaganda tool
    for the Government. Socialist realism
    became the only method for Soviet
    painting, and its principles became as
    absolute for artists as the Criminal Code
    was for citizens.

    Censors defined what a Soviet artist


    could paint and how unambiguously. The
    main protagonists of social realism paintings were party leaders: they appeared
    side-by-side with a smiling Soviet laborer
    working on a collective farm, in a factory,
    on a railway or electric power station to
    build socialism. They praised the merits
    of collective labor and their leaders, with
    an important place allocated to depicting
    the daily lives of happy Soviet citizens in a
    "socialist paradise". From the 1940s other
    themes were added, such as World War II
    heroes, defeated enemies and the invincible Soviet army led by wise generals.
    These themes, saturated with an exaggerated and false enthusiasm, had to be
    expressed in a naturalistically realist and
    narrative-realist manner. While the Iron

    Critics were not always so welldisposed towards the young


    artists, since in the 1950s the
    Soviet Union had not changed
    essentially. Political pressure
    on citizens continued; borders
    were still blocked and strict
    isolation from the outside
    world remained. Art was
    still centrally managed and
    remained a propaganda tool.
    Realism, with its proportionate
    system, remained a main
    requirement for Soviet artists.
    GEORGIAN NATIONAL MUSEUM

    29

    Edmond Kalandadze. Houses near the Tbilisi Sea

    Curtain isolated Soviet artists from the


    early 1930s from processes under way in
    Western painting, modernism had meantime ended in the West and the foundations for post-modernism were being laid.
    This caused a reaction that established
    extremely strict forms of socialist realism
    on the other side of the Iron Curtain. At
    the time both in the Soviet Union and
    Nazi Germany even the slightest deviation from realism was labeled "formalism"
    and "degenerate painting" by the officials,
    while "recalcitrant" artists fell victim to
    political persecution. Socialist realism reached its apogee in the 1930s-1940s and
    while in each generation of Georgian artists there were those who created valua30

    GEORGIAN NATIONAL MUSEUM

    Jibson Khundadze. Blue Mountain

    ble art very few managed to retain artistic principles or fame during this period.
    On March 5, 1953 Joseph Stalin died;
    three years later, at the 21st Congress in
    1956, the General Secretary of the Communist Party Nikita Khrushchev publicly
    denounced personality cults in his historic speech. This marked the beginning
    of a decade known as the Thaw in the
    second half of the 1950s. In politics, the
    Thaw manifested itself as a relative liberalization of the regime and the rehabilitation of repressed artists, as well as a
    slightly milder censorship, which was immediately reflected in the work of a new
    generation of Georgian artists.
    From the very first years of working in-

    dependently, young artists in the second


    part of the 1950s paid attention to the
    specifics of artistic language in drawing
    and painting. They rejected the "polished" reality of photographic precision
    and narrative painting and embraced
    impressionism and post-impressionism,
    collage and abstraction. They essentially
    reformed artistic reality and laid the
    foundation for a new period of Georgian
    painting.
    The main figures of the 1950s, with
    their individual (rather than censor-approved) artistic styles, drew public attention as soon as they appeared. Intensive, clear colors that were so unusual for
    Soviet painting dominated the palette.

    Tengiz Mirzashvili. The Evening

    After seeing one of the first exhibitions


    held by artists in the 1950s, art historian
    Ren Schmerling said, "I am glad that
    browns have left these walls and that
    true colors shine on them now".
    However, critics were not always so
    well-disposed towards the young artists,
    since in the 1950s the Soviet Union had
    not changed essentially. Political pressure on citizens continued; borders were
    still blocked and strict isolation from
    the outside world remained. Art was
    still centrally managed and remained a
    propaganda tool. Realism, with its proportionate system, remained a main requirement for Soviet artists. Many artists
    in the 1950s were accused of excessive

    fondness for experimentation and expelled from the Academy of Arts; they were
    subjected to harsh criticism. However, in
    spite of this, the stagnation of Georgian
    art ended because of their appearance
    on the scene.
    Works by artists of the older generation,
    such as Valentin Sherpilov, Aleksandre Tsimakuridze, David Kakabadze, Aleksandre
    Bazhbeuk-Melikov and David Gabashvili
    managed to maintain their levels of superb artistry, even under the domination
    of the socialist realism. An important impetus for artistic thinking within the new
    generation was Lado Gudiashvili's exhibition held on May 14, 1957. Its opening
    had been prohibited by the decision of

    Censors defined what a Soviet


    artist could paint and how
    unambiguously. The main
    protagonists of social realism
    paintings were party leaders:
    they appeared side-by-side
    with a smiling Soviet laborer
    working on a collective farm,
    in a factory, on a railway or
    electric power station to build
    socialism.

    GEORGIAN NATIONAL MUSEUM

    31

    Alexander Bandzeladze. Abstraction

    Zhango Medzmariashvili. Poster contractor

    Many artists in the


    1950s were accused
    of excessive fondness
    for experimentation
    and expelled from the
    Academy of Arts; they were
    subjected to harsh criticism.
    However, in spite of this,
    the stagnation of Georgian
    art ended because of their
    appearance on the scene.

    32

    GEORGIAN NATIONAL MUSEUM

    censors, but those who gathered outside the gallery forced open the doors of
    the hall. Such key factors produced great
    changes in Georgian art by the 1950s that
    created the foundation of painting for the
    generations that followed.
    On November 24, 2014, an exhibition
    entitled Post-Stalin Liberalization in Georgian Painting" opened at the Georgian
    National Museum's Dimitri Shevardnadze National Gallery showing works by
    artists of the 1950s and the changes they
    made. Paintings and drawings from the
    Georgian National Museum and private
    collections, as well as books illustrated
    by authors at various times are displayed
    in the exhibition. Visitors can see pro-

    paganda materials from the Soviet Georgian Internal Affairs Ministry and the
    National Archives.
    The works of well-known artists exhibited include those by Edmond Kalandadze, Jibson Khundadze, Zurab Nizharadze, Aleksandre Bandzeladze, Dimitri
    Eristavi, Tengiz Mirzashvili, Guram Kutateladze, Leopold Dzadzamidze, Revaz
    Tarkhan-Mouravi, Levan Tsutskiridze,
    Zhango Medzmariashvili, Mikheil Khvitia, Albert Dilbaryan, Lev Bayakhchev,
    Gogi Ochiauri, Avto Varazi, Valentin Sherpilov, Zurab Lezhava, Ucha Japaridze,
    Tamar Abakelia, Korneli Sanadze, Robert
    Sturua, David Kakabadze and Lado Gudiashvili.

    Zurab Nizharadze. Portrait of Lali Kandelaki

    You might also like