Lado Gudiashvili (Georgian: ლადო გუდიაშვილი) (1896–1980) was a 20th century
GeorgianGeorgia Georgia Georgia is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Situated at the juncture of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the south by Turkey and Armenia, and to the east by Azerbaijan...
painter. Gudiashvili was born in Tiflis on March 18 (30), 1896 into a family of a railroad employee. He studied in the Tiflis school of sculpture and fine art (1910-1914), and later in Ronson's private academy in
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
(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 flavor with the creative structure of French symbolism.
Lado Gudiashvili (Georgian: ლადო გუდიაშვილი) (1896–1980) was a 20th century
GeorgianGeorgia Georgia Georgia is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Situated at the juncture of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the south by Turkey and Armenia, and to the east by Azerbaijan...
painter. Gudiashvili was born in Tiflis on March 18 (30), 1896 into a family of a railroad employee. He studied in the Tiflis school of sculpture and fine art (1910-1914), and later in Ronson's private academy in
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
(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 flavor with the creative structure of French symbolism. In Paris, he was a constant customer of the famous "La Ruche," a colony of painters where he met I. Zuloaga,
Amedeo ModiglianiAmedeo Clemente Modigliani was an Italian artist who worked mainly in France. Primarily a figurative artist, he became known for paintings and sculptures in a modern style characterized by mask-like faces and elongation of form...
,
Natalia GoncharovaNatalia Sergeevna Goncharova was a Russian avant-garde artist , painter, costume designer, writer, illustrator, and set designer. Her great-aunt was Natalia Pushkina, wife of the poet Alexander Pushkin....
, and
Mikhail LarionovMikhail Fyodorovich Larionov was an avant-garde Russian painter.-Life and work:...
. Gudiashvili's work was greatly influenced by
Niko PirosmanashviliNiko Pirosmanashvili ; May 5, 1862-1918) was a Georgian primitivist painter.-Biography:...
.
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 GeorgiaThe Art Museum of Georgia , officially known as Shalva Amiranashvili Museum of Fine Arts , is one of the most important museums in Georgia...
). Closeness to the traditions of old Caucasian and Persian art was amplified upon his return to Georgia in 1926. Gudiashvili's colors 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 RobakidzeGrigol Robakidze was a Georgian writer, publicist, and public figure primarily known for his exotic prose and anti-Soviet émigré activities....
,
Konstantine GamsakhurdiaKonstantine Gamsakhurdia was a Georgian writer and public figure, who, along with Mikheil Javakhishvili, is considered to be the most influential Georgian novelists of the 20th century...
), 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 in
TbilisiTbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form Tp'ilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...
in 1946, for which he was expelled from the
Communist PartyA political party described as a communist party includes those that advocate the application of the social principles of communism through a communist form of government. The name originates from the 1848 tract Manifesto of the Communist Party by Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels...
and fired from the Tbilisi academy of fine arts, where he had been teaching since 1926.
In the voluminous "antifascist cycle" of Indian ink drawings Gudiashvili became a kind of "Georgian Goya": beastlike monsters surrounded the ruins of art and naked "goddesses" conveyed the ideas of the death of culture.
Lado Gudiashvili worked also as a book illustrator, cinema and theater decorator. He died on July 20 1980 in Tbilisi.