Niko Pirosmani - Hatje Cantz

A grey book cover with a black, sketch-style drawing of the hindquarters of an animal. The text Fondation Beyeler is printed in white over the drawing. The book is standing upright against a white background.

An open art book displays a two-page spread. The left page compares a historical black-and-white photograph of Georgian musicians at a feast with a colorful painting of a similar scene by Pirosmani below it. The right page features two columns of text discussing the artwork.

A photograph of an open art book. The left page is mostly blank, with the text The Actress Margarita and page number 152. The right page features a naive-style painting of a woman in a white dress and striped leggings, holding a bouquet of flowers in a field. Three yellow birds fly in the blue sky behind her, with one perched on her shoulder.

An open art book showing a two-page spread. The left page features a full-page painting, Doctor on a Jackass, depicting a man in a dark coat and hat with a beard, riding a donkey. The right page contains an essay about the artist Niko Pirosmanashvili.

A product shot of an art book titled Niko Pirosmani from the Fondation Beyeler. The book has a solid grey cover with a stark, black illustration of a wild boar. It is laid at an angle on a plain white background, showing part of the spine.

An open book showing two pages. The right page is a table of contents for a publication about the artist Niko Pirosmani, listing various essays, authors, and page numbers. The left page lists supporters and partners for an exhibition, with names of foundations and corporations.

A two-page book spread. The left page, numbered 16, features two black-and-white historical photographs. The top photo is a wide view of Tbilisi, Georgia, circa 1900, with the city sprawling before a large mountain. The bottom photo shows a bustling street scene at a caravanserai in Tbilisi from the same era, with a camel and people in traditional clothing. The right page, 17, contains the text of a prologue titled AN APOLOGIA FOR TBILISI (1927) by Demna Shengelaia.

A two-page book spread about the Georgian artist Niko Pirosmani. The left page features a large, black and white portrait of Pirosmani, a man with dark hair, a thick mustache, and a goatee. The right page contains a biography of the artist, with the heading NIKO PIROSMANI (1862-1918) by Mariam Dvali.

A two-page spread from a book about the artist Pirosmani. The left page, numbered 24, contains biographical text. The right page, numbered 25, displays two images with captions. The top image is a black-and-white historical photo of a storefront in Tbilisi, circa 1900. The bottom image is a colorful painted signboard for a wine cellar, featuring a horse-drawn cart with a large barrel.

An open book displays a two-page spread. On the left, on yellowed paper, is the French index from the 1926 book Niko Pirosmanishvili, with a small yellow illustration of a reclining animal. The right page features English text about the artist, headlined NIKO PIROSMANASHVILI (1926) by Kirill Zdanevich.

A two-page book spread showing a painting on the right page, titled Fisherman in a Red Shirt on the left. The painting depicts a man with a mustache in a yellow hat, red shirt, and blue pants standing in water. He holds a fish in one hand and a green bucket in the other against a black background.

A two-page spread from a book. The right page features a stylized painting of a muscular, golden-yellow lion sitting upright against a dark, leafy background. The lion has large paws and glowing orange eyes. The text on the page below the image reads Yellow Sejant Lion.

A page from a book showing a still life painting against a black background. The painting depicts a lavish assortment of food, including several large fish, one cut open to reveal its skeleton, a roasted chicken, a suckling pig, skewers of food, fruit, vegetables, and bottles of wine.

A two-page book spread. The right page features a folk art style painting of a woman standing against a black background. The woman wears a blue dress, a white apron, and a white headscarf, and she is breastfeeding a baby swaddled in a white blanket and bonnet. The left page is mostly blank, with the caption, Wet Nurse with a Child, at the bottom.

An open book spread displays two nearly identical paintings, halves of a diptych titled Ortachala Belle. Each folk art-style painting features a reclining woman with fair skin and blonde hair on a pillow against a black background. She looks forward, a small yellow bird perched on her shoulder. She wears a black top and red shoes, covered by a white sheet, with white lilies and pink roses near her feet.

An open book spread showing a painting on the right page titled Three Deer by a Stream. The artwork depicts three white deer in a dark forest. A doe bends to drink from a stream, a small fawn stands at her side, and a large buck with antlers watches over them from behind.

A composite image of two long, horizontal Georgian folk art paintings. The top painting, Kakhetian Epic, shows men in traditional dress feasting in a pastoral landscape with a village and church. The bottom painting, Vintage Feast, depicts scenes of winemaking, a large banquet with musicians, and a bear standing near a woman picking fruit from a ladder.

A book spread showing a painting of a deer on the left page and an essay on the right. The painting is a close-up of a brown deer with a white belly, bending its head down to drink from a stream against a dark, leafy background. The right page contains an essay titled ROE DEER BY A STREAM by Andro Wekua.

Niko Pirosmani

€ 58.00

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Edited by: Sam Keller und Daniel Baumann für die Fondation Beyeler

September 2023, 200 Pages, 84 Photos

Paperback

225mm x 300mm

ISBN: 978-3-7757-5514-6

HATJE CANTZ VERLAG
Mommsenstr. 27
10629 Berlin
Germany
E-Mail: contact@hatjecantz.de

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A Legendary Artist Revisited

Unknown to many, Niko Pirosmani is revered as a legend in his native Georgia. Conveying a sense of poignant empathy, his portraits, animal paintings, landscapes and scenes from everyday life painted around 1900 in a flourishing Tbilisi draw on medieval iconography and testify to a deeply felt sense of belonging. At the same time, the avant-garde recognised a novel and radically new form of painting in his work. Like Henri Rousseau or Marc Chagall, Pirosmani is one of the exceptional yet difficult to categorize proponents of early modern art. This catalogue demonstrates Pirosmani's qualities in numerous illustrations, showing how his rapid brushstrokes on black oilcloth give the sparsely applied colors a glow as if coming from a dark depth. Pirosmani was a master of concentration―and a storyteller. As expertly explained in the catalogue by a selection of Georgian art historians, he was a unique artist, a contradictory figure and an important part of the art scene in Tbilisi, then considered the "Paris of the East."

This book is also available in German.

Born into a peasant family, NIKO PIROSMANI (1862 - 1918) arrived in Tbilisi in 1870. Painting portraits and tavern signs for room and board, he came to the attention of the Georgian and Russian avant-garde in 1912, who presented him a year later as the "Rousseau of the East" in the Moscow exhibition Mischén alongside works of Natalia Goncharova, Mikhail Larionov, Kazimir Malevich and Marc Chagall. An exhibition in Paris was planned, yet never to happen due to the First World War. Pirosmani died impoverished in 1918. Today he is Georgia's most celebrated artist.

EXHIBITION
Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel,
September 17, 2023 - January 28, 2024