Iraklii Moiseevich Toidze

Born Mar. 14 (27), 1902, in Tbilisi. Soviet graphic artist and painter. Honored Art Worker of the RSFSR (1951).

Toidze studied under his father, M. Toidze, and at the Tbilisi Academy of Arts, from which he graduated in 1930. His early pictures, including ll’ich’s Lamp (1927, Museum of Arts of the Peoples of the East, Moscow), played a significant role in the establishment of Soviet themes in Georgian genre painting. The posters that Toidze executed during the Great Patriotic War (1941–45) possess great emotion and power, for example, the world-famous The Motherland Is Calling. Toidze also illustrated several books, including The History of Georgia (oil and paper, 1950). Heroic and dramatic force distinguishes his illustrations to Shota Rustaveli’s epic poem The Man in the Panther’s Skin (india ink, brush and pen, 1937).

Toidze was awarded the State Prize of the USSR in 1941,1948, 1949, and 1951. He has been awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and various medals.