Vasil Roinashvili
Vasil Roinashvili was a Georgian photographer and artist, a cousin and student of the renowned photographer Alexander Roinashvili. He studied drawing and photography in Alexander’s studio and later attended preparatory courses at the Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg.
After Alexander Roinashvili’s death in 1898, Vasil returned to Tbilisi and briefly managed his cousin’s photographic studio. He later worked in Signagi and, in 1902, traveled to Bukhara for professional work. In 1905 he settled permanently in Telavi, where he opened a photographic studio in his home and worked there for decades.
Roinashvili created portraits, staged compositions, and imaginative photographic works, the most notable being Georgian Dream Come True, a symbolic self-portrait. He was also a skilled portrait draughtsman. In 1918 he joined Kakutsa Cholokashvili’s unit during the Armenian–Georgian conflict and later photographed members of the “Forest Brotherhood.” Through his photographs, several generations of Telavi and Kakheti residents were preserved for history.
