Gabashvili, Georgiiivanovich

(also, Gigo Gabashvili). Born Nov. 9 (21), 1862, in Tbilisi; died Oct. 28, 1936, in Tsikhisdziri. Painter, outstanding exponent of Georgian realism of the late 19th century and early 20th century. People’s Artist of the Georgian SSR (1929).

Gabashvili was one of the founders of the Tbilisi Academy of Art (1922), where he was a professor. He studied at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts (1886-88) and, as a noncredit student, attended the class of B. P. Villeval’de, who taught the art of battle scene painting in the Munich Academy of Art (1894-97). Gabashvili created a colorful gallery of townspeople and peasants (Three Townspeople, 1893; Sleeping Khevsur, 1898; Drunken Khevsur, 1899; The Kurd, 1903-09), which combines the richness of genre painting with monumentality. Scenes from the life of the people find a reflection in pictorial subject paintings with many figures: Bazaar in Samarkand (variants painted in 1894, 1895, 1896, 1897), The Divanbegi Fountain in Bukhara (1897), Alaverdoba (Church Festival; 1899). Gabashvili also painted portraits (of I. Chavchavadze, 1903-05, and N. Nikoladze, 1926, for ex-ample), landscapes, and still lifes. All the works of Gabashvili named here are in the Museum of Art of the Georgian SSR.