Lado Davidovich Gudiashvili

Collection of Pierre Worms, Gudiashvili's friend and art dealer in Paris
Acquired from his widow by the present owner in 1997 

Paris, Galerie Billiet, Quelques dessins de Lado Goudiachvili, artiste de la Géorgie soviétique, June - July 1935

The sheet is sound., There is minor creasing in each of the 4 corners, with pinholes visible in the upper right and upper left corners. There is a small stain in the lower right corner and some stray marks visible. Held in a gold painted wood frame and under glass. Unexamined out of frame.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

This drawing, especially created for the 1928 Venice Biennale was one of the artist’s favourites. It was titled in Italian for this occasion. It is closely related to a work dated 1924 in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts in Tbilisi but is enhanced with sanguine and ornamental details making it a more complete and strong image. Gudiashvili wanted to show the best of his work at the biennale. The subject of a veterinarian healing a tiger, encapsulates the relationship between man and animal in Georgian culture established by the poet Shota Rustaveli in his epic, The Knight in the Panther’s Skin. It is visual example of the meeting between Georgian pictorial tradition inspired by Persian miniatures (arabesques and repetition of ornamental details) with modern artistic and aesthetic influences that Gudiashvili shared in Paris.  After spending time in Paris between 1920 and 1925, Gudiashvili was greatly inspired by Modigliani, whose influences can be seen in the stylised eyes and elongated faces of the figures in the present work. Avant garde critics and writers such as André Breton, André Salmon, Louis Aragon, Philippe Soupault and Maurice Raynal all praised his drawings as much as his paintings.

We would like to thank Jacques Ranc for providing this catalogue note.