Shalva Amiranashvili ( ka, შალვა ამირანაშვილი; 26 March 1899 – 9 February 1975) 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 ...

art historian, one of the first to have engaged in systematic scholarly treatment of the art of Georgia. His name was posthumously given, in 1991, to the Art Museum of Georgia, which he had directed for 36 years, from 1939 to 1975. Amiranashvili was born in the small mountainous Georgian town of

Oni An is a kind of ''yōkai'', demon, orc, ogre, or troll in Japanese folklore. Oni are mostly known for their fierce and evil nature manifested in their propensity for murder and cannibalism. Notwithstanding their evil reputation, oni possess ...

(then part of the

Kutais Governorate The Kutaisi or Kutais Governorate was a province ('' guberniya'') of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire. It roughly corresponded to most of western Georgia throughout most of its existence, and most of the Artvin Province (except t ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

) in a local teacher's family. He was among the first graduates of the newly founded

Tbilisi State University Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University ( ka, ივანე ჯავახიშვილის სახელობის თბილისის სახელმწიფო უნივერსიტეტი ''Ivane Javaxishvi ...

(TSU) in 1922. After spending two years in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

and

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, where he specialized in Old Russian and Byzantine arts, Amiranashvili taught at the TSU and Tbilisi State Academy of Arts. He was placed in charge of the Department of History and Theory of Arts at the TSU in 1925 and earned a degree of professor in 1936. From 1939 to 1975, he was a director of the Art Museum of Georgia. In 1945, he was sent by the Soviet government to

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 ...

to oversee the repatriation of the Georgian antiquities evacuated to France following the 1921 Bolshevik takeover of Georgia. Amiranashvili was elected a corresponding member of the

Soviet Academy of Sciences The Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union was the highest scientific institution of the Soviet Union from 1925 to 1991, uniting the country's leading scientists, subordinated directly to the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (until 1946 ...

in 1943, member of the

Georgian Academy of Sciences The Georgian National Academy of Sciences (GNAS) ( ka, საქართველოს მეცნიერებათა ეროვნული აკადემია, tr) is a main learned society of the Georgia. It was named Georgian S ...

in 1955, and member of the National Committee of Soviet Museums and

International Council of Museums The International Council of Museums (ICOM) is a non-governmental organisation dedicated to museums, maintaining formal relations with UNESCO and having a consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council. Founded in 1946, I ...

in 1957. He was named as a Honored Scientist of Georgia in 1959. He was, further, elected a deputy to the 6th and 7th Convocations of the Supreme Soviet of the

Georgian SSR The Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic (Georgian SSR; ka, საქართველოს საბჭოთა სოციალისტური რესპუბლიკა, tr; russian: Грузинская Советская Соц� ...

in the 1960s. He was decorated by the state on several occasions, including with the

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (russian: Орден Ленина, Orden Lenina, ), named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was established by the Central Executive Committee on April 6, 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration ...

. Amiranashvili died in 1975 and was buried at the

Didube Pantheon The Didube Pantheon ( ka, დიდუბის მწერალთა და საზოგადო მოღვაწეთა პანთეონი) is a cemetery in Tbilisi, Georgia, where some of the most prominent writers, artists, s ...

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 ...

. Shalva Amiranashvili published over 100 titles on a wide range of topics from the history of Georgian arts. His best-known monographs deal with the pieces of medieval Georgian visual arts, such as illuminated manuscript miniatures, cloisonne, and frescoes. His

magnum opus A masterpiece, ''magnum opus'' (), or ''chef-d’œuvre'' (; ; ) in modern use is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, ...

is "A History of the Georgian Art", a voluminous survey of Georgian art, first published in Georgian (1950) and Russian (1963).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amiranashvili, Shalva 1899 births 1975 deaths 20th-century historians from Georgia (country) Tbilisi State Academy of Arts faculty Tbilisi State University alumni Tbilisi State University faculty People from Kutais Governorate Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Burials at Didube Pantheon Soviet art historians