The National Gallery of Georgia will host the exhibition “Copies of Georgian frescoes from the collection of the Georgian Art Museum” from November 8, 2024, to December 8, 2024.
Visitors to the exhibition will have the opportunity to see 17 copies of monumental paintings performed by famous artists—Evgeni Lancere, Giorgi Khmaladze, David Kakabadze, Dimitri Shevardnadze, Shalva Kikodze, Lado Gudiashvili, Ketevan Maghalashvili, Sophia Mirzashvili, Giorgi Eristavi, and Levan Tsutskiridze (copies of frescoes of the IX-XVIII centuries, reduced copies, copies of details, and illustrations ).
The exhibition is a small fragment of the big picture, created by the monumental painting collection preserved in the Old Georgian Art Foundation of the State Museum of Georgia, named after Shalva Amiranashvili.
The foundation has a hundred-year history of studying and saving samples of medieval Georgian wall paintings. Ekvtime Takaishvili laid the foundation for the study and survival of Georgian monumental painting in the Middle Ages. According to his generation, the first collection of copies of Georgian frescoes was created at the beginning of the XX century.
Copies were created by painters Alexei Eisner, Christine Kron, Henrik Hrinevsky, Teodor Kiune, Giorgi Khmaladze, Sergi Poltoratski, Akof Garibjaniani, and others, including – young David Kakabadze. Since 1916, this initiative was joined by Lado Gudiashvili, Moses and Irakli Toidze, Giorgi Eristavi, Mikheil Chiaureli, Shalva Kikodze, and Dimitri Shevardnadze. At the end of the 20s of the last century, Ketevan Maghalashvili, Valerian Sidamon-Eristavi, Severian Maisashvili, Shalva Abramishvili, and artists-copyists invited from St. Petersburg: Boris Sheviakov, Tatiana Sheviakova, Natalia Tolmachevskaia, who used the difficult and laborious technology to create Asl-Faximile.
The exhibition will open on November 8 this year and last until February 3, 2025.
National Gallery of Georgia
The Tbilisi Art Gallery, or the National Gallery, is located on Rustaveli Avenue in Tbilisi. Historically, it is known to Tbilisians as the Blue Gallery, taking its name from the various shades of the blue-green paint previously adorning the facade. However, the building is now painted grey.
