Rusudan Petviashvili


Rusudan Petviashvili – Georgian artist, graphic artist. Creates paintings using unique technique: total image is performed in one-touch.
Petviashvili's works and lives in Tbilisi, few months a year she works in Berlin, Geneva and Paris where she has a studio.

Childhood and family

Rusudan Petviashvili was born in Tbilisi 25 January 1968 in family of artists. Her father — a sculptor artist, mother — a poet and dramaturgist.
The talent of the artist appeared in early childhood. Petviashvili began painting when she was one and a half years old. Rusudan's parents tried to keep the identity of her talent, did not put it down, did not try to fit the personality of the girl in any frames. As a child, Rusudan could take charcoal or pencil and begin to draw directly on the walls of the apartment.
Rusudan's ancestors by the paternal side were physicists. The grandmother of the artist led the department of the Institute of Geophysics of the Academy of Sciences of the Georgian SSR, she is one of the founders of the Georgian National Astrophysical Observatory. Uncle of the artist Vladimir Iosipovich Petviashvili is a famous physicist, co-author of the Kadomtsev-Petviashvili equation, winner of the Kurchatov award.
On the maternal side, seventeen generations of Rusudan Petviashvili’s family were spiritual leaders.
Rusudan is the eldest of five children in the family. Her two sisters and two brothers also connect their lives with art: Mariam is an artist working with wool; Salome graduated from the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts as fashion designer; George has been organizing Rusudan's exhibitions; Demetrius, like his father, is the sculptor artist.
In 1990, Rusudan married Teimuraz Badriashvili, the head of the Tbilisi State Puppet Theatre.

Early solo exhibitions

First solo exhibition was held in Tbilisi, when the artist was six years old. The show presented around 100 artworks created in a unique technique: drawing performed without detaching from the sheet, in one-touch. In 1977 and 1981, two solo exhibitions of the artist took a place in Moscow. At the age of 14 Rusudan has presented her artworks in various cities of France, including Paris.

Meeting with Margaret Thatcher

In March 1987, Margaret Thatcher's had an official visit to the USSR for the first time within 12 years. The head of the British government expressed a desire to see other cities of the Union apart from Moscow, having chosen Tbilisi. In Georgia the politician visited the National Museum of Art, held negotiations with the government, took a walk through the old town and met Rusudan Petviashvili, who presented to Thatcher one of her artworks.

The period of study at the Tbilisi State Academy of Art

Rusudan Petviashvili graduated from the Tbilisi State Academy of Art, where she was accepted without examinations. As a student, the artist has created a number of iconic works. Many books were produced with her illustrations, including The Georgian Folk Tales and The Knight in the Panther's Skin by Shota Rustaveli, the last one became her diploma work.

The work on the illustrations for the Gospel

With the blessing of Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II, a group of theologians, scholars and artists started to create the largest handwritten Bible in the Old Georgian language.
Rusudan was the head of the artists' group, who was creating the miniatures for the Gospel of Matthew for almost three years.
Today, one hundred kilos Bible, made on parchment of the calfskin, is exhibited at the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Tbilisi.

Importance and recognition

The artworks of Rusudan Petviashvili can be seen at the National Museum of Art , the National Museum of Adjara and the Museum of Arts.
Petviashvili's paintings are kept in the family collection of such political leaders as George Bush, Eduard Shevardnadze, Ilham Aliyev, Margaret Thatcher, writer and screenwriter Tonino Guerra, diplomats Richard Miles and Fabrizio Romano, and at the head office of the World Bank.
Rusudan Petviashvili paintings adorn the presidential palace of Georgia. She is a favorite artist of Mikheil Saakashvili.
“The art of Rusiko turns me to a very good mood, ― said MikheilSaakashvili. ― Maybe someone believes that art should be tragic, but I do not think so. In all these works the struggle between good and evil is depicted, where good always wins".
In 1981, Saint-Jore hosted a scientific conference to explain the phenomenon of painting of Rusudan Petviashvili.
Since 2005, Rusudan is taking a post of advisor at the International Charitable Foundation of the Catholicos-Patriarch of Georgia named Revival and development of spirituality, culture and science, established by the Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II.

Technique

All artworks created by Rusudan Petviashvili in one technique: drawing performed without detaching from the sheet, in one-touch.
Rusudan Petviashvili has always sought to create large-format paintings, she was looking for the perfect surface, which would not be limited in size unlike paper. She found a silk to be this material.

Awards and Prizes