Natela Iankoshvili : An Artist's Life between Coersion and Freedom

Natela Iankoshvili is regarded as the most important woman artist in Georgia during the 20th century. Born in Tiflis in 1918, she spent her entire life in Georgia. The career of the prize-winning artist was crowned in 2000 with the opening of her own museum in the capital, to which she bequeathed over one thousand works from her unconventional oeuvre. Although she was socialised in the Soviet Union, until her death in 2007 Natela Iankoshvili never painted according to the dictates of Socialist Realism. Her highly individual works exhibit a brushwork that vaguely recalls the art of Niko Pirosmani, Paul Gauguin or El Greco, and radiate such colour force that their brilliance is often compared with that of jewels. This impression is also created by the strong contrast with the mostly black background of her paintings, which are all representational.

Natela Iankoshvili (1918–2007) is regarded as the most important twentieth-century female artist from Georgia, where she was born and lived her whole life. Her long career as an artist was crowned in 2000 with the opening of her own museum in the capital, Tbilisi, to which she bequeathed over one thousand works from her unconventional oeuvre. Although she was trained in the Soviet Union, Iankoshvili never painted according to the dictates of Socialist Realism. Her highly individual works exhibit a brushwork that vaguely recalls the art of Niko Pirosmani, Paul Gauguin, or El Greco, and radiate such forceful color, against striking backgrounds of mostly black, that their brilliance is often compared with that of jewels. This volume celebrates the groundbreaking career of Iankoshvili through full-color reproductions of a large number of her most important works.