Tbilisi’s Art Palace has a permanent exhibition of art, sculptures, costumes,
and other works dedicated to theatre, music, cinema, and choreography. Formerly
called the Georgian State Museum of Theatre, Music, Cinema, and Choreography,
Art Palace also holds non-permanent exhibitions – currently Shakespeare and
Georgian Theatre (to 30 September 2016).
The magnificent building has its artworks on the second floor in several
rooms and down a splendid stairway – which leads to the front garden and exit.
I like Andre Khan’s portrait of Nino Ramishvili (1910-2000), painted in
1961. Khan, born in Korea, lived and worked in Russia and Georgia. Ramishvili
was a ballet dancer. In 1945 she created the Georgian Folk Dance Ensemble and
was their lead dancer until 1972, travelling the world to perform.
The artworks includes the Valerian Sidamon-Eristoff (1899-1943) sketch for
the play, The Spring Lamb (1922) which shows his well-known caricatures of
everyday life. He also painted performances in Tbilisi’s Rustaveli Theatre and
the Z Paliashvili Opera and Ballet Theatre.
There is also a costume sketch by Vladimir Kaplunovski (1906-1969) from the
movie, From a Spark (1938). Kaplunovski was a Russian film director and
production designer. The movie was never shot.
There is a costume for the movie, Keto and Kote (1948) by Parnaoz
Lapiashvili (1917-1994). He was a painter at Marjanishvili and Rustaveli
theatres and also worked on several films. There is a costume of Mahmudi from
the movie Mamluk (1958) – the Mamluk (professional fighters) wore different
uniforms, most of them in yellow and red, with brocade trousers, a long golden
braided fabric belt and a turban of precious cloth.
MARTINA NICOLLS is an international
aid and development consultant, and 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).
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