Lado Gudiashvili ( ka, ლადო გუდიაშვილი; 30 March 1896 – 20 July 1980) was a

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

artist of the 20th century. Gudiashvili was born into a family of a railroad employee. He studied in the

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million p ...

school of sculpture and fine art (1910–1914), where he met the

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

artist Alexander Bazhbeuk-Melikyan, and later in Ronson's private academy in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

(1919–1926). For a while, Gudiashvili belonged to a group of Georgian poets called "The Blue Horns" (1914–1918), who were trying to connect organically the Georgian national flavour with the creative structure of

French symbolism Symbolism was a late 19th-century art movement of French and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts seeking to represent absolute truths symbolically through language and metaphorical images, mainly as a reaction against naturalism and realis ...

. In Paris, he was a constant customer of the famous "La Ruche," a colony of painters where he met

Ignacio Zuloaga Ignacio Zuloaga y Zabaleta (July 26, 1870October 31, 1945) was a Spanish painter, born in Eibar (Guipuzcoa), near the monastery of Loyola. Family He was the son of metalworker and damascener Plácido Zuloaga and grandson of the organizer and ...

, Amedeo Modigliani,

Natalia Goncharova Natalia Sergeevna Goncharova (russian: Ната́лья Серге́евна Гончаро́ва, p=nɐˈtalʲjə sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvnə ɡənʲtɕɪˈrovə; 3 July 188117 October 1962) was a Russian avant-garde artist, painter, costume designe ...

, and

Mikhail Larionov Mikhail Fyodorovich Larionov ( Russian: Михаи́л Фёдорович Ларио́нов; June 3, 1881 – May 10, 1964) was a Russian avant-garde painter who worked with radical exhibitors and pioneered the first approach to abstract Ru ...

. Gudiashvili's work was greatly influenced by

Niko Pirosmanashvili Niko Pirosmani ( ka, ნიკო ფიროსმანი ''Nik’o Pirosmani''), simply referred to as Nikala (ნიკალა ''Nik’ala''; 1862–1918), was a Georgian painter who posthumously rose to prominence. Relatively poor for ...

. Filled with the charm of Georgian life, the painter's early works combine dramatic grotesque with the charm of poetic mystery (''Live Fish'', 1920, Art Museum of Georgia). Closeness to the traditions of old

Caucasian Caucasian may refer to: Anthropology *Anything from the Caucasus region ** ** ** ''Caucasian Exarchate'' (1917–1920), an ecclesiastical exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Caucasus region * * * Languages * Northwest Caucasian l ...

and

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

n art was amplified upon his return to Georgia in 1926. Gudiashvili's colours become warmer, and the perception of the world as a theater grew stronger (many of Gudiashvili's paintings were either inspired by operas and balles or serve to depict actresses in costumes). Like his compatriots (

Grigol Robakidze Grigol Robakidze () (October 28, 1880, Sviri (West Georgia) – November 19, 1962, Geneva) was a Georgian writer, publicist, and public figure primarily known for his prose and anti-Soviet émigré activities. Biography He was born on October ...

Konstantine Gamsakhurdia Konstantine Gamsakhurdia ( ka, კონსტანტინე გამსახურდია) (May 3, 1893 – July 17, 1975) was a Georgian writer and public figure. Educated and first published in Germany, he married Western European in ...

), Gudiashvili freely used mythological allegories (''The Walk of Seraphita'', 1940), the center of which was a graciously beautiful woman imagined as the mysterious "Goddess of the Earth." Gudiashvili also worked as a monumentalist, painting anew the

Kashveti Church {{commonscat, Kashueti Church The Kashveti Church of St. George ( ka, ქაშვეთის წმინდა გიორგის სახელობის ტაძარი) is a Georgian Orthodox Church in central Tbilisi, located acr ...

in Tbilisi in 1946, for which he was expelled from the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...

and fired from the Tbilisi academy of fine arts, where he had been teaching since 1926. In the voluminous "

antifascist Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were ...

cycle" of Indian ink drawings Gudiashvili became a kind of "Georgian

Goya Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 174616 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, and e ...

": beast-like monsters surrounded the ruins of art and naked "goddesses" conveyed the ideas of the death of

culture Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups ...

. Gudiashvili worked also as a book illustrator, set and theater decorator. He died on 20 July 1980 in Tbilisi.

Works

References

External links

Lado Gudiashvili Exhibitiom Hall
*
Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gudiashvili, Lado 1896 births 1980 deaths 20th-century painters from Georgia (country) People from Tiflis Governorate Academic staff of the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts Heroes of Socialist Labour People's Artists of the USSR (visual arts) Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Rustaveli Prize winners Burials at Mtatsminda Pantheon Soviet expatriates in France