Art of Georgia
The oldest works of art from the heritage of the peoples who inhabited what is now Georgia are from prehistoric times. Objects of material culture from the Paleolithic and Neolithic were found. The works from the Bronze Age testify to the high culture of Georgia's inhabitants at the time. In the burial mounds were u. a. richly decorated silver vessels found. The stylistics indicate influences of the Urartu culture.
Works of art with rich wickerwork ornamentation with stylized animal figures date from the Hellenistic era . The gold treasure from Akhalgori dates from the 5th century AD.
In the first half of the 4th century, Christianity was declared the state religion . The first churches arose as central domed buildings or elongated three-aisled basilicas with a dome over the crossing , which were similar to the early Romanesque church buildings in Western Europe. The figural bas-reliefs and wickerwork ornaments prove the skills of stonemasons of the time . In the apse -Halbkuppeln appeared mosaics .
In the 10th century the influence of the Arab and Persian culture becomes visible, especially in the stylistics of miniature painting of manuscripts . The fresco painting developed under the influence of Byzantine art and had an effect in the 12th / 13th centuries. Century based motif and style on the painting of Armenian churches, especially the Gregor Church of the Tigran Honents in Ani dated 1215 , the main church of the Kobayr monastery (late 12th century) and the Church of Our Lady ( Surb Astvatsatsin ) of the Akhtala monastery (early 13th century) , the latter two in the Armenian province of Lori .
The Georgian goldsmiths created richly decorated cult objects , including a. Reliquaries and crucifixes . The covers of the prayer books were clad with embossed sheet silver. The binding of the Berder Gospels - the work of Beschken and Beka Opizari - is considered the most valuable work of art of this kind . The art of cell melting ( cloisonné ) played an important role . This technique was used in the creation of the Marien triptych from Chachuli.
Simultaneously with the growth of the Georgian monarchy, Georgian art refined, up to the peak in the 12th and 13th centuries. The decline of the Georgian state - and Georgian art too - began from the 17th century. European influences become noticeable.
The Russian influences in the 19th century caused a departure from national traditions . The Georgian artists attended the St. Petersburg Art Academy . The bourgeoisie took a liking to European academic art .
Even the naive painter Niko Pirosmanaschwili (1860–1918) had to create his pictures according to the taste of his uneducated customers - business and restaurant owners; Nevertheless, important works of art were created from his hand.
During the Soviet era, Georgian artists avoided following the rules of socialist realism . Georgian art of this era made use of monumentality rather than conventional academicism. At that time, the drifting work in copper sheet - the so-called chekanka - was rediscovered by the artists based on the ancient models and enjoyed great popularity.
literature
- David Marshall Lang : A Modern History of Georgia . Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1962
- Шалва Амиранашвили: История грузинского искусства , Исскуство, Москва 1963
- Русудан Кения: Чеканка триптиха Хахулской Иконы Богоматери , Издательство "Менциереба" АН Груз. ССР, Тбилиси, 1972
- Shalva Amiranashvili: The Khakhuli Triptych Khelovneba Publishing House, Tbilisi 1972
- Goldsmithing and Toreutic in the museums of Georgia . Aurora-Kunstverlag, Leningrad 1986
- Edith Neubauer: Old Georgian architecture . Koehler & Amelang, Leipzig 1976
