Mariam Didebulidze
PhD of Art Studies
Giorgi Chubinashvili National Research Centre for Georgian
Art History and Heritage Preservation
Leading researcher
Tbilisi, Georgia
Mariam Didebulidze
PhD of Art Studies
Giorgi Chubinashvili National Research Centre for Georgian
Art History and Heritage Preservation
Leading researcher
Tbilisi, Georgia
At the Origins of Georgian Art History
Abstract
The beginning of the twentieth century was marked with a strong uprise of the modern Georgian science and culture. If we review the three-year history of the Independent Georgian State (11918-1921) we may see what a huge creative energy and possibilities were concealed in this country. This was a brilliant period for all branches of science and humanities, resulting in foundation of the Tbilisi University.
The leaders of this development, the outstanding Georgian scholars, followed the challenges of their epoch, and at the same time, they created an epoch. This synergy between the epochal demands and the individual activities resulted in the creation of such a strong base for modern Georgian science and humanities, that the energy of their activities is still operative and valid even nowadays.
Giorgi Chubinashvili (1885-1973) was one of them, one of the founders of the Tbilisi University and one who gave start to the art historian research of Georgian art. Like his colleagues, he studied in European Universities and started his academic research work there. In due time he returned to Georgia to support the development of modern Georgian science, Georgian art history in particular
The life and activities of G. Chubinashvili present a good example of the interaction of the epoch and the person. These relations are complicated and contradictive and contain many visible and invisible motivations and activities.
Despite many obstacles, G. Chubinashvili created a profound basis for the academic study of Georgian Art History. Based on the achievements in the European humanities, he worked out a research method for investigating a work of art which implies a thorough overall study of artistic phenomena, immanent as well as external (cultural, historical, religious, social, etc.) factors and assessment of their interaction. This method proved to be very efficient and still is at work in this field.
The main objective of this paper is to show how the abovementioned method interacted with epochal problems and current issues of Georgian humanities and how one particular person created a whole epoch in the Transcaucasian art-historian studies.
Keywords: Epoch, person, art history, method, Transcaucasus.