Art Post: Niko Pirosmani

Nikoloz Aslanis Dze Pirosmanashvili, or Niko Pirosmani, was a self-taught Georgian painter (from the Georgia that's a nation in the Caucuses, not the Georgia that's part of the US,) who lived from 1862 to 1918. He must have truly loved to paint, for he lived most of his life in utter obscurity, trading his paintings for food and shelter. He was "discovered" by the art world only toward the end of his life, and doesn't seem to have really understood what all of that fuss and bother meant. Poor Niko got sick, and with no one to look after him, soon died.

Today, Pirosmani's art is well-respected in his homeland, and he graces the Georgian 1 Lari bill:

For more information on Porosmani, I recommend his biography on Olga's Gallery (an art website,) his Wikipedia Page, or Soviet Life Magazine, 1969. (Why was I reading Soviet Life? Research.)

Anyway, here are some of his paintings I enjoyed:

A Boy Carrying Food

Threshing Yard, Evening

Cook

Gate Keeper

Feast in a Gazebo

Shepherd in a Sheepskin Coat on a Red Background

Tatar--Camel Driver

Train in Kakhetia

Donkey Bridge

Signboard: Wine Pub

Party by the River Zkheniszkali

Kakhetia Sagas, Alazan Valley

Kakhetia Sagas, Alazan Valley, detail

Kakhetia Sagas, Alazan Valley, detail

Batumi

Hunting Scene with a View of the Black Sea

The Tiflis Funicular

Prayer in a Village

Robber with a Stolen Horse

Wedding in the Old-Time Georgia

Grape Harvest Feast

Shamil with a Bodyguard

Shepherd with Flock

More of Pirosmani's paintings.

Lost

I went through this phase a while back when I was doodling a lot of bird-people, and a lot of bird masks, and so occasionally bird-people wearing bird masks. I also had a habit of working exclusively in extremely fine point pen, which was probably not such a great idea, as the details just don't scan very well. The result here is a lot of texture, but it's fairly evenly distributed. This needs more tone. The background should be dark (I tried, but it just didn't quite work,) and the foreground should also be dark (not as dark as the background. The bird person should be highlighted, though perhaps only parts of him.

Well, I still like it, anyway.

Never start a land war in Asia--unless you're Genghis Khan

I drew this during a Mongolian history binge. Someday I should figure out what spears actually look like (also, I'm pretty sure they didn't use spears.)

The military achievements of the Mongol army (especially under the famous Genghis,) are really quite impressive.

Post-it-note Dragons

Art Post

They seem happy together.

Fishie