Niko Pirosmani

Many facts of Pirosmanishvili’s biography are not documented, but are known either from his words or restored after his death.

Pirosmani was supposedly born in 1862 in the village of Mirzaani ( Kakheti ) in a peasant family ^[1] , the fourth and last child (brother George, sisters Mariam and Peputsa). In 1870, his father died, shortly afterwards, his mother and older brother. Niko Pirosmani, the only one from the family, stayed in the village of Shulaveri with the last employer of his father, the widow of a Baku industrialist, Eprosine Kalantarova. In the Kalantarov family, he spent about fifteen years with breaks, first in Shulaveri, and then in Tiflis , where he moved with his son Eprosin Georgy Kalantarov in the mid-1870s. ^[1] Learned to read Georgian and Russian, but received no systematic education. For several months he was in craft training at the printing house ^[1] , then left there and lived in the house of Elizabeth Khankalamova (Kalantarov's sister), then with her brother. Presumably in 1876 ​​he returned to his sister for a short time and worked as a shepherd.

Little by little, he studied painting with wandering artists who painted signs of shops and dukhans. In the mid-1880s, together with the artist Gigo Zaziashvili , also a self-taught person , he opened a decorative painting workshop in Tiflis. ^[1] According to legend, the first sign of Pirosmanashvili and Zaziashvili completed free of charge, but received no other orders ^[3] . In 1890 he joined the braking conductor on the railway. He was repeatedly fined for various violations and on January 17, 1894, resigned of his own free will. He invested the severance pay in dairy trade and, together with his companion Dimitra Alugishvili, opened a dairy shop, for which he painted two signs “White Cow” and “Black Cow”. ^[1] However, he himself did not show much interest in trade, he left the shop many times and went to see relatives in Mirzaani. In the late 1890s, Alugishvili gave him a ruble a day for living ^[4] . Around 1900, he finished his studies in commerce and began to earn his living by painting. ^[one]

Those around him treated Pirosmanashvili as a mentally unhealthy person who could not be dealt with. In many ways, his own allegations that he can see the saints, and his brush as if “writes itself,” were fertile ground for this. He even earned such nicknames as “Seven Fridays of the week” and “Not from this world.” ^[5] Until the end of his life, the artist spent most of his time in complete poverty, spent the night in the basements.

Since 1895, he was actively engaged in painting, creating signs for trade establishments and decorative panels. ^[1] For the most part he painted with paints of his own manufacture on oilcloth.

K. G. Paustovsky recalled: ^[6]

There was no material, and Pirosman began to write on the only thing that was always at hand in every, even the cheapest, dukhan - on a simple oilcloth removed from the table.

Oilcloths were black and white. Pirosman wrote, leaving unpainted pieces of oilcloth where needed.

Then he applied this technique to portraits. The impression of some things done in such a manner was extraordinary.

I will forever remember his oilcloth “Prince”, where a pale old man in black Circassian stands with a horn in his hands on the meager ground. Behind it, the mountain Caucasus, brought almost to a topographic scheme, is visible. The Circassian prince was just an unwritten piece of oilcloth of a deep black color, especially sharp in the dawn dim light. I could not understand in what colors this lighting was conveyed.

As an artist until 1912 had no contact with representatives of the art world of Tbilisi.

In the summer of 1912, Pirosmani’s creativity was noticed and started to be promoted by futurists close to the circle of Mikhail Larionov — the brothers poet Ilya ^[7] and artist Kirill Zdanevichi , as well as their friend, artist Mikhail Le-Dantyu . ^[1] Kirill Zdanevich acquired a large number of paintings from Pirosmani, many of the artist made to order. On February 10, 1913, Ilya Zdanevich published an article on the work of Pirosmanashvili under the heading “Artist Nugget” in the Transcaucasian Speech newspaper. March 24, 1913 in Moscow on Bolshaya Dmitrovka the exhibition of paintings by futurists “Target” was opened, where, along with the works of famous artists, primarily Larionov and Natalia Goncharova , several paintings by Pirosmani brought from Tbilisi by Ilya Zdanevich were also exhibited. In July 1913, E. K. Pskovitinov published another article about Pirosmani in the Tiflis newspaper Transcaucasia . At the same time, young Georgian artists David Kakabadze and Lado Gudiashvili became interested in the work of Pirosmani, and David Shevardnadze , who returned after studying in Germany , began to collect a collection of his works.

In August 1914, after the outbreak of war in the Russian Empire, prohibition was introduced. The situation of Pirosmani, a significant part of whose income was the manufacture of signage for drinking establishments, has deteriorated significantly.

On May 5, 1916, a one-day exhibition of Pirosmanashvili's works was held in the workshop of Kirill Zdanevich in Tiflis. It was a relative success, and in 1916 it was decided to invite Pirosmanashvili to the newly created Society of Georgian Artists. He became relatively popular, an increasingly wide audience in Tiflis became interested in his painting and collect his paintings. This, however, had almost no effect on the financial condition of the artist.

Death

Nico Pirosmani died in Tiflis on April 7, 1918 from starvation and illness. He spent three days in the basement of house 29 on Molokanskaya (now Pirosmani ) street ^{[8] [9]} . Having discovered, he was taken to a hospital, where the artist died a day and a half later. The whereabouts of his grave is unknown, presumably a common grave for the poor in the Kukia cemetery .

Legends about Pirosmanashvili’s acquaintance with the classic of Georgian poetry Vazha Pshavela and the influence of the latter on the artist’s poetic creativity (Pirosmanashvili really wrote poems that didn’t reach us), as well as his rejected love for actress Margarita (the story that became the plot of the song “ A Million Scarlet Roses ” ^[10] ), while they have no material documentary evidence, which, however, can be explained by the fact that during the life of the artist they simply did not attach any importance.

The largest collections of works by Pirosmanashvili are in the State Museum of Oriental Art and in the Tretyakov Gallery (exposition on Krymsky Val) in Moscow, as well as in the State Museum of Art of Georgia in Tbilisi. In 1982, in the village of Mirzaani, the house-museum of the artist was established. ^[one]

Significant part of Pirosmani’s works, both preserved and probably lost, is made up of signs. In Tiflis at the beginning of the 20th century, it was an extremely popular genre. Signs usually contain inscriptions in Russian and Georgian, and Russians often with errors, obviously, the artist did not attach much importance to this. Very often they are made on a black background. ^[one]

The black background is also characteristic of other works by Pirosmani, primarily for portraits. In order not to create too bright a contrast between a white face and a black background, he mixed pigment into white paint. He often performed portraits from photographs. So the portrait of Ilya Zdanevich ( 1913 ) and the portrait of Alexander Garanov ( 1906 ) were painted. It is known that the portrait of Zdanevich was painted three days from start to finish. Pirosmani worked quickly and did not try to somehow improve or correct his work.

A large place in the artist's work is occupied by animalistic images. The animals painted by the artist are not so much like their real prototypes, but much like each other. As noted by Lado Gudiashvili , the animals in the paintings have the eyes of the artist himself ^[11] . As a rule, all animals are depicted in a turn of three quarters.

The constantly recurring plot of Pirosmani's work is the scene of a holiday or feast. They may be part of the landscape, or may be the subject of an independent work. These scenes are in vivid contrast with the half-starved existence of the artist himself.

His work was highly appreciated by Pablo Picasso and other Russian avant-garde artists . ^[1] Painter, graphic artist, stage designer and art theorist M. F. Larionov noted that "the few means with which he achieved so much are magnificent." ^[one]

The most famous works are The Janitor (1904); "Seller of firewood"; “Fisherman among the rocks” ( 1906 ); “The Bear on a Moonlit Night” ( 1905 ); "Threshing floor" ( 1915 ); The Doe ( 1916 ); “The Spate of the Three Princes”, “Margarita ( 1909 )”, “Giraffe”. ^[one]

Several works are known only from surviving photographs (the painting “The Dog of Bartolome” is considered to be such) ^[12]

Films have been made about the artist’s life, many poets ( Pavel Antokolsky , Titian Tabidze , Georgy Leonidze , etc.) have dedicated poetry to him.

Prose of Pirosmani

• Rimma Kandelaki "The artist wandered around the city"
• Kuznetsov E. D. Pirosmani. M.: Young Guard , 2015. A series of " Life of wonderful people " ^[13]
• The chapter in the "Tale of Life" by K. G. Paustovsky is dedicated
• There is a play since 1974: Vadim Korostylev, "Pirosmani ... Pirosmani ... Pirosmani ..." (monologues). Its second name: "Holiday of Solitude."
• Valerian Markarov "The Legend of Pirosmani"

Poems about Pirosmani

• Pavel Antokolsky “Niko Pirosmanishvili” (1935)
• Andrey Voznesensky "Million Scarlet Roses"
• Bulat Okudzhava "Song of the Artist Pirosmani" (1964)
• Yaroslav Smelyakov "Niko Pirosmani"
• Titian Tabidze "Pirosmani" .

Songs about Pirosmani

• The famous song of Alla Pugacheva - “ A Million Scarlet Roses ” to the verses of the same name by Andrei Voznesensky tells the story of Pirosmani's love for the French actress Margarita de Sevres. The melody was written by Raymond Pauls and performed by Pugacheva became super popular in the USSR and a number of other countries.
• The countrywoman of the artist, singer Tamara Gverdtsiteli , in 2013 sang Niko Pirosmani in the song "Niko's Stolen Heart", written to the music of E. Kobylyansky and the words of Yu. Rybchinsky.

Pirosmani Movies

• Pirosmani (1969) Director: George Shengelaya
• Hello everyone! (1980) Directed by: Giga Lordkipanidze, Amiran Darsavelidze
• Arabesques on the theme of Pirosmani (1985) Director: Sergey Parajanov (short)

Pirosmani Art Projects

• Anton Kuzmin “The Sun of Niko Pirosmani”
• In the repertoire of the Drama Theater. B. E. Zakhavy (Pavlograd, Ukraine) lives the play “Pirosmani” based on the play of the same name by Vadim Korostylev, directed by A. A. Reva, Honored Art Worker of Ukraine. The premiere took place on November 12, 2000. The main role is played by the leading theater actor Alexander Gurzhiy.
• “Pirosmani, Pirosmani ...” (2017) - TV show of the Lobnensky Municipal Theater “Dolls and People” (directed by Zhanna Demikhova), in the role of Pirosmani - Grigory Paronyan

Books

• Bohemian K. Niko Pirosmani. - M .: White City , 2002 .-- 47 p. - ISBN 5-7793-0463-7 .
• Buachidze G. Pirosmani, or the Deer Walk. - Tbilisi: Helovneba, 1981. - 296 p.
• Zdanevich K.M. Niko Pirosmanashvili. - M .: Art , 1964. - 128 p. - 10,000 copies.
• Kandelaki R. Ye. An artist wandered around the city. - M .: Children's literature , 1979.
• Kuznetsov E. D. Pirosmani / Artists of the series: M. Anikst , S. Barkhin .. - L .: Art . Leningra. Otdel, 1975. - 168, [58] p. - ( Life in art ). - 50,000 copies. (in trans., superobl.)
• Kuznetsov E. D. Pirosmani. - M .: Young Guard , 2015 .-- 240 p. - (The life of wonderful people ). (: ser. biogr .; issue 1551).
• Kuzmin A.S. Sun by Niko Pirosmani. - Yekaterinburg: At the five corners, 2002. - 12 p.
• Niko Pirosmanishvili (1862-1918). Exhibition catalog / with T. E. Sanikidze, N. V. Apchinskaya and D. V. Sarabyanov . - M. , 1986. - 82 p.
• Paustovsky K. G. Close and far. - M .: Young Guard , 1967 .-- 400 p. - (The life of wonderful people ).
• Markarov V. The Legend of Pirosmani. - LitRes: Samizdat, 2018 .-- 280 p.

Articles

• Shatskikh A. S. Some clarifications on the history of the discovery of Niko Pirosmanashvili. M.V. Le-Dantoux in the Caucasus // Niko Pirosmanashvili. Materials of the scientific conference in 1986 - M .: State Museum of the East , State Museum of Art of Georgia , 1992. - P. 32-44.
• Pirosmanashvili // Peru - Semitrailer. - M .: Big Russian Encyclopedia, 2014. - P. 261. - ( Big Russian Encyclopedia : [in 35 vols.] / Ch. Ed. Yu. S. Osipov ; 2004—2017, vol. 26). - ISBN 978-5-85270-363-7 .

• Niko Pirosmani - Biography and collection of works
• Detailed biography and gallery of paintings by Pirosmani
• Pirosmanishvili Art Gallery