Description
Book SynopsisIn the turbulent global context following the fall of the Russian Empire and the October Revolution, Georgia declared its independence in 1918. Between then and the beginning of Soviet rule in 1921, an Avant-Garde creative scene burgeoned. Artists met, mainly in the many taverns and cafés in Kutaisi and the capital Tbilisi, to organise multidisciplinary events. Their frequent collaborations and interactions, which bore the imprint of Georgian tradition and Western and Eastern influences, took various forms: paintings, drawings, films, photos, performances and typographical experiments. Divergent movements such as Symbolism/Neo-Symbolism, Futurism, Dadaism, Zaum, Expressionism, Cubism and Cubo-Futurism existed side by side in unprecedented creative turbulence.
This book tells the unknown story of a vibrant Avant-Garde in the Caucasus, born in the taverns of Tbilisi – artistic laboratories where anything was possible, but where Soviet censorship lurked.
Extensively illustrated with works by Elene Akhvlediani, Gigo Gabashvili, Irakli Gamrekeli, Lado Gudiashvili, David Kakabadze, Petre Otskheli, Niko Pirosmanashvili, Ilia and Kirile Zdanevich, and many others.
Table of Contents5 Preface I Thea Tsulukiani 7 Preface II Philippe Vlerick 9 Introduction Nana Kipiani, Irine Jorjadze and Tea Tabatadze 13 First Chapter: 1832–1900 14 How We Became Modernists Nana Kipiani 69 Second Chapter: 1900–1921 70 Avant-Garde on 41° (Tbilisi) Nana Kipiani 157 Third Chapter: 1921–1936 158 Made Pictures A Conversation with Levan Chogoshvili, Nana Kipiani, Ketevan Shavgulidze and Irine Jorjadze 281 Biographies
