Gigo Gabashvili Collection
Gigo Gabashvili (1862–1936) was a prominent representative of Georgian realist painting. His extensive artistic legacy demonstrates a consistent and unwavering commitment to the principles of realism.
Gabashvili studied at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts between 1880 and 1886, in the class of battle painter Villevalde. From 1894 to 1899, he continued his education at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts, where he maintained close professional contact with the renowned battle painter Franz Roubaud. Roubaud worked for many years in Tiflis, executing commissions for the Russian Arms Museum.
In 1922, Gigo Gabashvili was invited to join the newly established Tbilisi Academy of Arts as a professor. He remained active there until the end of his life in 1936.
Several photographs from the 1930s depict Gabashvili together with students of the Tbilisi Academy of Arts. These photographs are preserved in the family archive of his student, Mari Mikheladze.
Photographs of the artist’s nineteenth-century studio have also been preserved, offering valuable insight into his artistic interests, aesthetic preferences, and working environment. The studio attracted the attention of photographers and visual culture researchers. Photographer A. Engel, known for his Caucasian landscape series, included views of Gabashvili’s studio in his work.
The studio was located on Palace Street, above the photography studio of Alexandre Roinashvili, in a building belonging to the Georgian nobility. In addition to documenting the studio interiors, Alexandre Roinashvili also created an outstanding portrait of Gigo Gabashvili.
Among those who studied drawing under Gabashvili was the well-known photographer Eduard Klar, who documented the familiar interiors of the artist’s studio with particular dedication.
