Stories of artists under Soviet repressions opens at Tbilisi museum

History and art enthusiasts can now visit Tbilisi’s Museum of Georgia to discover the story of the country’s artists under Soviet repressions through works by painters, sculptors and designers that became victims of the regime.

The Red Terror and Georgian Artists opened at the venue on Tuesday to present artwork created in the totalitarian realm of the 1920s and 1930s by the likes of painter Dimitri Shevardnadze, illustrator Henryk Hryniewski and theatre designer Petre Otskheli.

The show, set to receive visitors through March 1, tells stories of the creatives targeted during the purges of the 1930s, arrested on trumped-up charges and executed, forced into exile or otherwise persecuted.

A visitor views a sculpture and painting exhibited at the show. Photo: Georgian National Museum.

Their charges included “espionage”, being members of “families of enemies of the people” or of “terrorist organisations”.

[The] repressions took everything they had, sometimes even their lives. Those who survived being executed or expatriated, still continued to live in conditions of limited freedom of expression”, a summary for the display by the Georgian National Museum network said.

Stories of artists from various fields are told at the exhibition that centres around the 1920s and 1930s. Photo: Georgian National Museum.

Of the exhibits selected for the show, sculptures by art critic and sculptor Vakhtang Kotetishvili (1893-1937) are on public display for the first time.

In addition to artwork, the exhibition also presents documentary footage related to the 1920s and 1930s repressions themselves.

Work selected and curated for the display has been picked from archives and collections of the GNM as well as the Kote Marjanishvili State Drama Theatre Museum, Giorgi Leonidze State Museum of Georgian Literature, Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia, Georgian Film Studio and Georgian Public Broadcaster.