Beridze Vakhtang
Vakhtang Beridze (b. May 30, 1914, Kutaisi – d. December 21, 2000, Tbilisi) was a scientist, art historian, member of the Georgian Academy of Sciences (1974), Doctor of Art History (1959), professor (1960), Director of the G. Chubinashvili Institute of Georgian Art History of the Georgian Academy of Sciences (1973–1988), Honorary Director of the institute (since 1988).
In 1936, he graduated from the Transcaucasian Industrial Institute, and in 1938, he completed postgraduate studies at the Department of Art History of Tbilisi Academy of Arts. In 1935, he started teaching (at the Industrial Institute, the Theatre Institute, and the Tbilisi Academy of Arts).
Beridze researched Georgian art history from the early feudal era to the present day. The Place of the Tao-Klarjeti Monuments in the History of Georgian Architecture (1981, in Russian and French) is actually the first book that considers the 8th-9th centuries architecture of this historical province of Georgia in an organic connection with Georgian architecture as a whole. The work Some Aspects of Georgian Dome Architecture from the Second Half of the 10th Century to the End of the 13th Century (1967, in Russian and French) reflects the originality of Georgian architecture and its place in the overall development of Christian art in the Near East and the West; In his study Architecture of Samtskhe. 13th–16th Centuries (1955), Beridze studied one of the important periods in the development of Georgian architecture, and provided an analysis of the stylistic evolution that occurred at that time. Georgian Architecture of the 16th–18th Centuries (Secular and Ecclesiastical, Vol. 1-2, Tbilisi, 1983–1994) is of particular importance. It focuses on the period in the history of Georgian architecture that has not been previously studied and presents an interesting picture of its evolution. In Architecture of Tbilisi. 1801–1917 (1960, 1963), he used unknown archival material to show the development of Georgian architecture in the period that preceded and prepared modern Georgian art. Beridze is the author of the book Ancient Georgian Masters (1967), which is an encyclopedic dictionary of medieval architects, painters, miniaturists, calligraphers, and goldsmiths. The book From the History of Georgian Embroidery (1983) is the first monographic study of this field of national applied art. In 1992, he published the essay Culture and Art in Independent Georgia (1918–1921), which, for the first time, presented a picture of the intense scientific and creative life of those years.
Beridze's works play an important role in the study of modern art. The book The Art of Soviet Georgia. 1921-1970 (Moscow, 1975, with N. Ezerskaia, in Russian) provides a thorough study of the difficult path of modern Georgian painting, graphics, and sculpture. Beridze's works dedicated to modern Georgian architecture are fundamental in terms of scientific coverage of this stage of Georgian art.
He is the author of historical essays on medieval Georgian architecture in Georgian, Russian, and German, and co-author of books on Georgian art in Italian and English, published in Italy and England. Beridze was one of the founders and organizers of international symposia on Georgian art (the first was held in 1974, held alternately in Italy and Georgia every three years, the last was held in 1989). They greatly contributed to the deepening and expansion of scientific interest in Georgian art on a global scale.
He received state awards. He was the winner of the I. Javakhishvili State Prize. Honorary Citizen of Tbilisi.
Academician Vakhtang Beridze about Bolnisi Sioni: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xC23uqeq-g
Literary work: (გარდა სტატიაში მოხსენიებულისა): სავანე - XI ს. ქართული ხუროთმოძღვრების ძეგლი, «ქართული ხელოვნება», 1942, ტ. 1; გიორგი ჩუბინაშვილი, თბ., 1963; ძველი ქართული ხუროთმოძღვრება, თბ., 1974; მოგონებები, თბ., 1987; ქართული ხელოვნების ისტორიის ინსტიტუტის 50 წელი, თბ., 1993; Против искажения истории грузинского искусства, Тб., 1949; Письмо в редакцию журнала «Мацне» (Еще раз о храме Джвари, о взаимоотношениях грузинской и армянской архитектур и некоторых статьях, касающихся этих вопросов), «მაცნე», 1970, № 6; Грузинская архитектура „раннехристианского“ времени (IV – VII вв.), Тб., 1974; Die Baukunst des Mittelalters in Georgien vom 4. Bis zum 18. Jahrhundert, B., 1980; W.-Münch., 1981 (თანაავტ. E. Neubauer); Art and Arlchitecture in Medieval Georgia, Louvain – La-Neuve, 1980 (თანაავტ.); I tesori della Georgia, Mil., 1983 (თანაავტ).
N. Janberidze
