Hryniewski Henryk

Hryniewski Henryk (1869-1937), Agraphic artist and painter of a Polish descent. He was born in Kutaisi, lived and worked in Georgia. He received primary education in Kutaisi. From 1877 till 1898 he stayed in Italy, France and Germany. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence. In 1898 he returned to Georgia and took up the job in the sphere of ornamental art. In 1904 he was invited to teach drawing at the Art School of Caucasian Artistic Society. In 1910 he was offered the position in the Academy of Art at the Historic-Ethnographic Museum. In 1922 – 37 he filled the position of a Professor at the Academy of Art.

H. Hryniewski significantly contributed to the exploration of Georgian architectural monuments. His drawings stand out thanks to their high artistic quality (he was a refined watercolorist) as well as their documentary exactitude. Together with architect A. Kalgin he designed the building of Tbilisi Estate Bank for the Nobility (presentday Public library) and decorated the interiors of that building. H. Hryniewski was the first illustrator of Ilia Chavchavadze’s compositions, namely, of the poet’s onevolume edition, published in 1914. Among his works the following pictures are worthy of mentioning: The Landscape (1907), Venetian Market (1917), Sioni of Ateni (1919), The Ballet Dancer (1920), The Rioni River Bank (1925). His works are kept at the Georgian National Museum.

H. Hryniewski lived in one of the residential houses of the Academy of Art. His home was a combination of his dwelling place and his studio – a round hall, overlapped with a dome. It was lo- cated near the ballet school of his wife Maria Perini.

H. Hryniewski fell victim to the political repressions in 1937.