Dimitri Shevardnadze ( ka, დიმიტრი შევარდნაძე) (December 1, 1885 – 1937) was a Georgian painter, art collector and intellectual purged during

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

's repressions.

Life

Born in Bakhvi, a small village in the western Georgian province of

Guria Guria ( ka, გურია) is a region (''mkhare'') in Georgia (country), Georgia, in the western part of the country, bordered by the eastern end of the Black Sea. The region has a population of 104,338 (2023), with Ozurgeti as the regional cap ...

, then part of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

, he was educated at the art academies of

St Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

and

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. Upon his return to Georgia, in 1916 he founded and led the Association of Georgian Artists. He helped also to establish the National Gallery of Fine Arts (1920) and the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts (1922). He decorated several opera and theatre performances, and movies, and designed an official logo of the

Tbilisi State University Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University ( ka, ივანე ჯავახიშვილის სახელობის თბილისის სახელმწიფო უნივერსიტეტი, tr; often shorten ...

. In 1917 together with Kirill and

Ilia Zdanevich Ilia Mikhailovich Zdanevich ( ka, ილია ზდანევიჩი, (April 21, 1894 – December 25, 1975), known as Iliazd ( ka, ილიაზდ), was a Georgian-Polish and French writer, artist and publisher, and an active participan ...

, he organized the exhibition of Niko Pirosmanashvili in his apartment. Dimitri Shevardnadze self-portrait

Revolt

In 1937 the

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

chief of Georgia,

Lavrentiy Beria Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria ka, ლავრენტი პავლეს ძე ბერია} ''Lavrenti Pavles dze Beria'' ( – 23 December 1953) was a Soviet politician and one of the longest-serving and most influential of Joseph ...

, intended to destroy the medieval Metekhi church in

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...

, but met stubborn opposition from a group of Georgian intellectuals led by Dimitri Shevardnadze. Beria replied to their urges, that it would surely be enough to preserve a scale model of the church so that people could see it in a museum, and then told Shevardnadze privately that if he gave up his efforts to save the church he would be appointed director of the future museum. The artist refused and was eventually imprisoned and executed. The church was preserved, however.

Family

Georgian politician

Eduard Shevardnadze Eduard Ambrosis dze Shevardnadze ( ka, ედუარდ ამბროსის ძე შევარდნაძე; 25 January 1928 – 7 July 2014) was a Soviet and Georgian politician and diplomat who governed Georgia (country), Georgi ...

was a son of a cousin of Dmitri Shevardnadze.

References

External links

D. Shevardnadze
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shevardnadze, Dimitri 1885 births 1937 deaths Great Purge victims from Georgia (country) People from Guria People from Kutais Governorate 20th-century painters from Georgia (country) Tbilisi State Academy of Arts