Niko Pirosmanashvili’s exhibition “A Wanderer Between Worlds” at Albertina Museum in Vienna
By Gvantsa Turmanidze
Thursday, November 1
From October 26, 2018 until January 27, 2019, Albertina Museum in Vienna hosts famous Georgian artist Niko Pirosmanashvili’s exhibition “A Wanderer Between Worlds”.
Before the official opening of the exhibition, on October 25, the press conference was held at Albertina Museum in Vienna. The event was attended by the Director of Albertina Museum Klaus Albrecht Shreder, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of Georgia Mikheil Giorgadze, the curator of the exhibition Bice Curiger and Director General of the Georgian National Museum David Lordkipanidze. As well as the representatives of Vienna’s leading media outlets and the curators of the exhibition.
The exhibition features 29 paintings from the collection of Georgian National Museum Shalva Amiranashvili Museum of Fine Arts. The handbook (Paris, 1972) titled "Pirosmanashvili 1914" made by Ilia Zdanevich is presented as well. The book contains the engraving portrait of Pirosmani by Pablo Picasso. Within the framework of the project, the specially designed table created by famous Japanese architect Tadao Ando that is dedicated to the memory of Pirosmanashvili is exposed for the first time. It is noteworthy that within the exhibition, contemporary art space of Albertina Museum features homage works that are inspired with Pirosmani’s paintings and created by modern artists such as Adrian Ghenie, Georg Baselitz, Yoshimoto Nara and Andro Vekua.
The catalogue accompanying the exhibition includes Niko Pirosmanashvili’s most important works.
The ALBERTINA writes about the artist that he is an “autodidact, whose radiant and emphatic works frequently show animals or scenes from the life of old Georgia and its people, has come to be viewed as a hero of the avant-garde who deserves to be discovered. Niko Pirosmani’s conception of art is that of a wide-open field in which he, as a vagabond, has consciously chosen to lead a nomadic life. He wanders between city and country, inns and stalls, at the same time occupying the center of his community, with his works—produced in response to commissions—presented not in galleries and museums, but rather at inns, in taverns, and in shops. Niko Pirosmani thus embodies the vision of the artist as a clear-sighted outsider”.
The solo exhibition of Georgian painter Niko Pirosmani (1862–1918) at Albertina Museum is displayed next to such artists of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism as Monet, Degas, Cezanne, Toulouse-Lautrec, and Gauguin. Besides this, the Museum houses one of the largest and most important print rooms in the world with approximately 65,000 drawings and approximately 1 million old master prints, as well as more modern graphic works, photographs and architectural drawings. The Museum displays one of Europe’s most important compilations of Modernist art in the form of the Batliner Collection, also the examples of German Expressionism, Austrian art and Russian avant-garde.
It is important to note that Niko Pirosmani’s exhibition at Albertina Museum will truly contribute to introduce the artist to the wide audience and also to expand the interest towards Georgian cultural heritage.
The exhibition is on view until January 27, 2019.
The exhibition is made possible by Infinitart Foundation.
It is organized by the ALBERTINA Museum and Infinitart Foundation in collaboration with the Georgian National Museum and Fondation Vincent Van Gogh Arles.
