Skip to main content

Exhibition of Shalva Kikodze in Tbilisi



An exhibition of Shalva Kikodze’ works, entitled ‘Shalva Kikodze 120’ will be held from 25 December 2015 to 10 February 2016 in the Shevardnadze National Gallery in Tbilisi. The 120 in the title of the exhibition represents the 120th anniversary in 2014 of Shalva Kikodze’s birth.

Curated by Maya Tsitsishvili, Irine Abesadze and Nino Chogoshvili, there are more than 300 works of art exhibited, from his caricatures to his Parisian paintings and sketches.

Kikodze was born in 1894 in the village of Bakhvi, Guria, in the Ozurgeti district of Georgia. In 1914 he enrolled in Moscow University in the law faculty – and in the same year he published his first caricatures in the magazine Lakhti (The Girdle). By 1916 he changed to Moscow’s Art School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. In 1918 he returned to Tbilisi to work on other artistic magazines, such as ‘Theatre and Life,’ ‘Theatre and Music,’ ‘Art’ and the satirical magazine called ‘The Devil’s Whip.’



In January 1920 he arrived in Paris due to a scholarship awarded by the Georgian Ministry of Public Education – as an expressionist painter, graphic artist, and theatre decorator. He worked at the Old Pigeon Theatre, the Odeon, and Atelier in Paris. His most productive period in terms of artistic work was during the (almost) two years in Paris where he met other Georgian artists Dimitri Shevardnadze, Viktor Nozadze, and Geronti Kikodze.

In February 1921 he had a joint art exhibition with noted Georgian artists David Kakabadze and Lado Gudiashvili at the Salon des Independents - Salon of the Independents. In the same year, the same three artists exhibited at La Licorne Gallery in Paris.

On August 11 he arrived in Germany in the resort town of Bad-Neuenahr. He died suddenly in Freiburg, Germany, on November 7, 1921, of tuberculosis (TB) at the age of 27.

He painted everyday scenes of Guria and Abkhazia in 1907, and most his caricatures around 1917, but his best works, I think, are from his years in Paris.


The above Indian ink sketch is Abkhazia, Gudauti (1907).


The above Indian ink sketch is called Konstantine Gamsakhurdia (1917). The sketch below is Veriko Anjaparidze (1917).


The following oil paintings are from Paris in 1920. The first is Artist's Coffee House in Paris, followed by Paris - Garden of Luxembourg, and an Indian ink drawing called Parisian Sketch. The top photograph is of the painting Paris - Eiffel Tower.








MARTINA NICOLLS is the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The acacia thorn trees of Kenya

There are nearly 800 species of acacia trees in the world, and most don’t have thorns. The famous "whistling thorn tree" and the Umbrella Thorn tree of Kenya are species of acacia that do have thorns, or spines. Giraffes and other herbivores normally eat thorny acacia foliage, but leave the whistling thorn alone. Usually spines are no deterrent to giraffes. Their long tongues are adapted to strip the leaves from the branches despite the thorns. The thorny acacia like dry and hot conditions. The thorns typically occur in pairs and are 5-8 centimetres (2-3 inches) long. Spines can be straight or curved depending on the species. MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Suda...
1 comment
Read more

Hop on hop off bus tourism comes to Tbilisi, Georgia

City Sightseeing buses have arrived in Tbilisi. The iconic red double-decker buses, a feature of many cities around the world since the company was established in Seville, Spain in 1999, is now in six continents and almost 100 cities. The company established its Tbilisi business in November 2013, with its operations commencing in February 2014. The 90-minute tour stops at 11 major locations in Tbilisi (with 2 to 5 minute waiting times at each location): the Old City (where it commences), Freedom Square, Rose Revolution Square, Marjanishvili Square, the Dry Bridge, Konka, Avlabari, Metekhi, Akhundov Museum, the Sulfur Baths, and European Square. Passengers can hop off at any stop and see the sights, hopping back onto the next bus at any time. Alternatively, passengers can remain on the bus for the whole tour and take photographs when the bus stops at each location. There are one day (24-hour) passes (for 35 lari – about $20) and 48-hour passes for 55 lari, with family d...
2 comments
Read more

The Knight in the Panther Skin by Shota Rustaveli (2015 translation): book review

The Knight in the Panther Skin (12th century, this edition 2015) is a recent translation by American poet and author, Lyn Coffin. The author, Shota Rustaveli, is Georgia’s most loved poet. This poem is mammoth, a magnum opus – it is 1,656 verses long, separated by chapters. But readers, don’t give up, because every verse is worth reading. It is akin to 1001 Arabian Knights, Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, or Shakespearean poetry. King Rostevan of Arabia has a daughter, Tinatin. She loves the knight Avtandil and he loves her. Verse 368 from Avtandil: ‘The doctor’s could do nothing. A dark twilight on my heart now pressed, I was on fire because of love, but nobody knew or guessed. They blamed my blood. The king decided bleeding my arm would be best; I let it be done to hide the suffering I had not confessed.’ But a knight in panther skin is seen weeping, and subsequently kills the king’s soldiers, sparing the king. Before Tinatin weds Avtandil she r...
Post a Comment
Read more