Imereti 1917

David Kakabadzé created this oil on cardboard work, Imereti, sometime in the first half of the 20th century. Kakabadzé was a Georgian avant-garde artist who was working during a time of immense social and political upheaval in the region. His artistic journey took him from Georgia to St. Petersburg and then Paris, exposing him to various artistic movements. But in the 1930s, under Stalin's regime, the freedom to experiment in the arts was brutally suppressed. Artists were pressured to conform to the style of socialist realism. In this landscape we see how Kakabadzé adapted to the demands of the time, while still retaining elements of his unique style. The artwork is a window into the cultural and political complexities of being an artist in a totalitarian state. It reveals a personal negotiation between artistic expression and political expectations.