1. Niko Pirosmani, Roe Deer and Landscape, Oil on Cardboard, 98,5 x 70,5 cm, The collection of Shalva Amiranashvili, Museum of Fine Arts of Georgia, Georgian National Museum, Tbilisi, © Infinitart Foundation
The wilds and the beasts: the world of Pirosmani echos the society of it's time
Until the end of January 2024, the Fondation Beyeler in Basel present a large retrospective of the works of the Georgian artist Niko Pirosmani, wildly known as a naive painter in his home country, his works are unknown and uncollected in museums in Europe.
Thus, with the collaboration of the Georgian National Museum and the Ministry of Culture, Sport and Youth of Georgia and the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art (Denmark), both venues decided to showcase an in-depth retrospective of his works, ranging from his portrait, landscape and still-life representing and defining the society and culture of his home country.
Mysterious techniques
and icon of Georgian art
2. Niko Pirosmani, Boar, Oil on Oilcloth, 55,7 x 74,5 cm, The collection of Shalva Amiranashvili, Museum of Fine Arts of Georgia, Georgian National Museum, Tbilisi, © Infinitart Foundation
The 48 works of the exhibition presents Pirosmani as a painter, but also as a connection and an inspiration to Naive painter and to the new generation of artists in Georgia, but why?
In his country, his well celebrated for his portraits and his depictions of animals, while in Europe and the rest of the world he might be known for a few icons he produced, which are quite similar to religious works due to the use of this monochrome background.
But first, the subjects of his works. While most of the works of those time focus on the full depiction of the landscape or a still-life, with lots of details, Pirosmani was a minimalist painter, he only painted the part that can define a picture, the essential objects with the right colors on a black surface, which is not a primer but a sort of fabric already primed with black paint. Thus, this process is quite complex because you have to think about the full picture before making it, and thus, having no option to fix the picture when the paint touches the canvas.
Thus, most of his works need to be extremely precise and use energetic brushstrokes to convey, in one strokes the desire shape and energy. This energy also reinforced his position in the canon of Georgian art, of course he was unique with the use of this technique and the minimal approach of painting the essential element of a scene, but he was also creating an archive of his life, and the life and evolution of his country.
By depicting the different faces of his family, the still life and his surrounding, Pirosmani was in fact defining the evolution of Georgia, from the first rail track and railroad to the culture of foods, fashions, banquets, hunts and processions. Some of these works showcase a mother and her children, a fisherman, a cook or a postman, but also well-known figure such as the actress Marguerite de Sèvres and the avant-garde artist Ilya Zdanevich. At the time, some of his works were commissioned such as his still life of culinary delicacies produced amongst others for tavern.
After the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, the presentation of the Fondation Beyeler also includes two contemporary Georgian artists: Thea Djordjadze and Andro Wekua, who, in two rooms decided to focus on the chronology of the artist and the depiction of animals in a lush landscape.
Niko.
In terms of research, not a lot is known about Pirosmani itself, we only have one picture of him and only a few factual information. Born to a peasant family and orphaned, he left his native province of Kakheti in 1870 for the capital Tbilisi, where he lived with a wealthy family and received some education. He taught himself to paint, trained as a typesetter and worked for the Transcaucasus Railway while painting signboards and portraits for commission.
In 1912 the poet Mikhail Le Dentu and avant-garde artists Kirill and Ilya Zdanevich discovered Pirosmani’s pictures in the taverns of Tbilisi. They collected his work and supported him.
Many of his works we're lost, but he was exhibited alongside Marc Chagall, Natalia Goncharova and Kazimir Malevich and the Russian avant-garde, while decades later, numerous artists made hommage and writing on his works such as Pablo Picasso, who often called him the "Rousseau of the East", but also Peter Doig and Georg Baselitz.
3. Niko Pirosmani, Doctor on a Jackass, Oil on Cardboard, 79,4 x 99,6 cm, The collection of Shalva Amiranashvili, Museum of Fine Arts of Georgia, Georgian National Museum, Tbilisi, © Infinitart Foundation
The recognition of his works in Switzerland came in 1995 with an exhibition at the Kunsthaus Zürich, "Zeichen & Wunder. Niko Pirosmani und die Gegenwartskunst". Conceived by Swiss curator Bice Curiger, the show presented Pirosmani alongside contemporary artists.
The publication
The exhibition catalogue feature essays by Daniel Baumann, Mariam Dvali, Irine Jorjadze, Nana Kipiani and Ana Shanshiashvili as well as two statements by Georgian artists Thea Djordjadze and Andro Wekua. And it's published by Hatje Cantz.
ISBN: 978-3-77-57-55-146
Informations about the exhibition
Place: Fondation Beyeler
Date: 17.9.2023 - 28.1.2024
Curators: Daniel Baumann, Sam Keller, Irakliy Purtskhvanidze and Regula Moser
Ticket: Available online OR at the front desk of the museum
Informations about the Fondation Beyeler
Baselstrasse 101
CH-4125 Riehen/Basel
Phone: +41 61 645 97 00
Fax: +41 61 645 97 19
Mail: info@fondationbeyeler.ch