The exhibition series at the Alexandre Chavchavadze House-Museum at the historic Tsinandali Estate has opened an autumn season with a showcase dedicated to the 130th anniversary of Irakli Gamrekeli.

Irakli Gamrekeli (1894–1943) was a painter, graphic artist, a theatre and film scene designer, a futurist and constructivist artist. Recognised as a reformer of Georgian stage design and a founder of the country’s avant-garde scenography, his works exhibit the striking influence of Expressionism and Art Nouveau.

Born in Gori in 1894, Gamrekeli studied at Nikolai Sklifosovsky’s School of Drawing and Painting in Tbilisi, later pursuing medical studies before turning fully to the arts at the Tbilisi Academy of Arts. His career took flight in 1921 when director Kote Marjanishvili invited him to design Oscar Wilde’s Salome after seeing his works Malaria and Dance of Death. This collaboration marked the beginning of a career that would reshape Georgian scenography.

Gamrekeli worked closely with leading directors Kote Marjanishvili and Sandro Akhmeteli, introducing a new visual language to Georgian theatre. He was also among the pioneers of progressive Georgian art, contributing to the futurist journals H2SO4 and Memarjveneoba and designing books for leading Georgian writers. In 1928, together with Valerian Sidamon-Eristavi, he co-designed Kote Mikaberidze’s groundbreaking expressionist film My Grandmother, which was banned for decades.

Though his artistic practice was wide-ranging, stage design remained his central pursuit. His early works in the 1920s carried futurist aesthetics, later merging with constructivist principles. He collaborated with the Rustaveli Theatre, the Alexander Griboedov Theatre, the Tbilisi Opera and Ballet Theatre, the Leningrad Drama Theatre, the Odessa Opera and Ballet Theatre, and the Tbilisi Film Studio. His designs defined productions of Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Othello, Schiller’s The Robbers, Robakidze’s Lamara, Dadiani’s Tetnuldi, and many more. He also worked on major Georgian films, including Arsena (1937) and Giorgi Saakadze (1942–43).

The current exhibition at the Alexandre Chavchavadze House-Museum brings together around twenty works from the collection of the Rustaveli National Theatre, offering visitors an in-depth encounter with the artistic vision of one of Georgia’s most original scenographers.

The works of Iralki Gamrekelei will remain on view from September 6 till the end of October.

This exhibition series at Tsinandali Estate is presented with the support of Silknet and hosted by Silk Hospitality.