Our Notes & References

Very rare catalogue of a large-scale avant-garde exhibition by the major art society advancing visual arts in Georgia: OCLC locates only one copy (Princeton), and we could trace one other example at the National Parliamentary Library of Georgia; no copies at auctions in the West, and just one in Russia.

The catalogue’s editor was the exhibition’s organiser: the “Kartvel khelovanta sazogadoeba. Gruzinskoe Khudozhestvennoe Obshchestvo”, the Society of Georgian Artists. Founded in 1916 under the leadership of artist and art collector Dimitri Shevardnadze, the Society’s mission was to foster creative collaboration among painters, sculptors, and architects, and to preserve and protect monuments of ancient Georgian art. In 1920, the Society played a key role in establishing the Picture Gallery in Tbilisi, now known as the National Gallery.

This catalogue provides a guide to the Society’s third and largest exhibition, showcasing 402 works by 47 artists. Among the participants are renowned avant-garde figures such as Kirill Zdanevich, Lado Gudiashvili, Georgi (Gigo) Gabashvili, Irakli Toidze, and Niko Pirosmani (Nikolai Pirosmanishvili), the latter represented by 11 works, 9 of which come from the collection of the Zdanevich brothers. The catalogue includes the street addresses of most of the artists. The text is presented in both Georgian and Russian on facing pages.

The Society’s previous two exhibitions were held in the spring and autumn of 1919. The funds raised during these events were used to sponsor the training of several young Georgian artists abroad. These two catalogues are of extreme rarity too: the first exhibition is available only at the RNB in St. Petersburg, and the second one is at the Frick Collection.

The Georgian Art Society gradually faded away after the country’s loss of independence to the Soviet Union in 1921, and “no further exhibitions of this kind [were held thereafter]” (Tumanishvili, our translation).

Bibliography

Tumanishvili, Dimitri. XX saukunis kartuli khelovneba da misi istoriuli konteksti, Tbilisis Sakhelmtsipo Samkhatvro Akademia, 2020, p. 86.