ACGS

Irine Abesadze

PhD of Art History

Shota Rustaveli Theatre and Film Georgia State University

Professor-emeritus

Tbilisi, Georgia

Fragments from the artistic life of the 80s of the 19^th century

From the second half of the nineteenth century, when the entire generation of Georgian public figures, in the form of "60s", successfully continued the previous generation's efforts in introducing European educational ideas in Georgia. The public associations created by the knee-jerk actions of the supporters of national independence and freedom "awakened" Georgian culture and subjugated it to the desire for national self-determination. The progressive-minded youth charged with patriotic ideas, the so-called The 80's took over the baton from "Tergdaleu" in a very difficult time when Georgia became a Russian province. They received their education in the leading centers of Russia and Europe and spared no effort to promote Georgian culture within a European radius.

The representatives of the older generation of Georgian realistic painting belonged to the mentioned generation: Romanoz Gvelesiani, Aleksandre Beridze, Gigo Gabashvili, Davit Guramishvili and others, who in turn continued and raised the so-called art to a new higher level. The traditions of the representatives of the Tbilisi portrait school, the first professional artist Grigol Maisuradze, the founder of Georgian graphic art Grigol Tatishvili and others. This does not mean that apart from the mentioned names, no artists were working in different fields of fine arts in Georgia, of course, there were, but they were mostly artists who came from foreign countries temporarily or permanently. On January 17, 1888, the Russian newspaper "Novoe Obozrenye" published information that an exhibition was organized in two large halls of the Governor's Palace in Tbilisi, where the works of famous Russian and foreign artists were exhibited, and among the local artists, only one Georgian artist - Aleksandre Beridze - participated. At this exhibition, he presented the portrait of Giorgi Eristavi, the founder of the Georgian theater, called "Georgian Moliere". Aleksandre Beridze was friends with Davit Eristavi, son of Giorgi Eristavi, 1880-1881. Both of them, together with the artist Davit Guramishvili, placed sharp caricatures in the first humorous caricature magazine published in Georgia – "Falanga". This fact brought all three Georgian artists, covered by different pseudonyms, to the vanguard of Georgian caricature painting. The attitude of the mentioned three artists regarding the most important cultural event in Georgia of that period or the preparation of the Kartvelishvili edition of Shota Rustaveli's "Tiger Skinner" (1888), which will be discussed in detail in the report, is extremely interesting.

In the light of archival materials and epistolary legacy preserved there, separate issues of the biography of Aleksandre Beridze, a relatively little-studied artist in Georgian art history, are outlined, which interestingly present fragments of the artistic life of Tbilisi of that period.

Keywords: Shota Rustaveli, "The Man in a Panther Skin", caricatures, portraits, exhibitions, epistolary legacy.