Art

Georgian naive painter Niko Pirosmani monuments

06.12.201609.04.2020 by Elena

Georgian naive painter Niko Pirosmani monuments

Niko Pirosmani (Nikolay Pirosmanashvili) – the greatest Georgian self-taught artist of the XX century, a representative of primitive art. Niko was born in the village in a poor peasant family. Since childhood, he learned the hardships of rural life. Later, after moving to Tbilisi, the artist tried to work at the railroad, in trade and many other places, but for his fiery nature, it was alien. Until the end of his days, Nico dragged out a miserable existence, feeding on the pennies and spending the night in basements, but even his first paintings were filled with hidden meaning.
In his environment, he had a firm reputation of a mentally unstable person who is impossible to deal with. In part, this contributed to his assertion that he sees the saints, and his brush, “paints by itself.”

Looking at their works artists Pirosmani and Rousseau

Recognition came to the artist already in the twilight of his life. May 5, 1916 in the studio of Kirill Zdanevich in Tbilisi hosted a one-day exhibition of Pirosmanashvili. It was quite a success, and in 1916 it was decided to invite Pirosmanashvili to the newly created Society of Georgian artists. He has become popular, more and more the general public in Tiflis became interested in his painting and to collect his paintings. However, it had almost no impact on the financial condition of the artist.

Janitor monument based on creativity of Georgian primitivist painter Niko Pirosmani

Niko Pirosmani died in Tbilisi May 5, 1918 from starvation and disease. He spent his last days in the basement of the house 29 on the Molokan street. Found barely alive artist was taken to hospital, where he died one and a half days. Not even know where his grave is.
All what Niko Pirosmani painted, is today a source of inspiration for other painters and sculptors. Here is a sculpture of a janitor which stands on the Avenue of Nikolozo Baratashvili in Tbilisi. This is a copy of “Janitor with a stick” painted by Niko Pirosmani (illustration below).

Niko Pirosmani was very fond of animals, with all indiscriminately, so he liked to paint them. He himself said that he loved them, because they are – friends of his soul. Maybe that’s why the sculptor Elguja Davidovich Amashukeli depicted Pirosmani with a lamb in his arms.