Shalom Koboshvili
Encyclopedia
Shalom Koboshvili was a Georgia
n artist
who specialised in drawings and paintings of Jewish life in Georgia.
Born to a poor family of Jews in Akhaltsikhe, Koboshvili was originally intended for the Rabbi
nate, but quit religious training at an early age. His interest in art was discouraged by his family, and he was originally apprenticed as a printer. all his knowledged of art was effectively self-taught. After a varied career (in which around 1910 he is said to have met with the artist Niko Pirosmani) he eventually became in 1937 a watchman at the newly established Jewish Historic-Ethnographic Museum
in Tbilisi. His work there apparently inspired him to devote himself to painting and all his surviving work dates from the period 1937-1941, the year of his death.
Koboshvili's work, which is all in a competent but naive
style, is entirely devoted to scenes of Jewish life; sometimes painted in oils, sometimes in water colours on paper. There are scenes relating to Jewish marriages, to Jewish festivals (including Succot and Yom Kippur
), and to scenes of Jewish life in Georgian villages and on Jewish collective farms
.
The Georgian Jewish Museum was forcibly closed in the 1950s and its contents, including the works of Koboshvili, were transferred to the National Museum of Georgia, to which they still belong. A retrospective exhibition of the works of Koboshvili was held at the Museum in Tbilisi in 2006.
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
n artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
who specialised in drawings and paintings of Jewish life in Georgia.
Born to a poor family of Jews in Akhaltsikhe, Koboshvili was originally intended for the Rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
nate, but quit religious training at an early age. His interest in art was discouraged by his family, and he was originally apprenticed as a printer. all his knowledged of art was effectively self-taught. After a varied career (in which around 1910 he is said to have met with the artist Niko Pirosmani) he eventually became in 1937 a watchman at the newly established Jewish Historic-Ethnographic Museum
David Baazov Museum of History of Jews of Georgia
The David Baazov Museum of History of Jews of Georgia is a principal museum of the Jewish history and culture in Tbilisi, Georgia. It was established by the decision of Administration of the "Georgian Committee for assisting the Poor" on November 30, 1932 as a departmental organization within...
in Tbilisi. His work there apparently inspired him to devote himself to painting and all his surviving work dates from the period 1937-1941, the year of his death.
Koboshvili's work, which is all in a competent but naive
Naïve art
Naïve art is a classification of art that is often characterized by a childlike simplicity in its subject matter and technique. While many naïve artists appear, from their works, to have little or no formal art training, this is often not true...
style, is entirely devoted to scenes of Jewish life; sometimes painted in oils, sometimes in water colours on paper. There are scenes relating to Jewish marriages, to Jewish festivals (including Succot and Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur , also known as Day of Atonement, is the holiest and most solemn day of the year for the Jews. Its central themes are atonement and repentance. Jews traditionally observe this holy day with a 25-hour period of fasting and intensive prayer, often spending most of the day in synagogue...
), and to scenes of Jewish life in Georgian villages and on Jewish collective farms
Kolkhoz
A kolkhoz , plural kolkhozy, was a form of collective farming in the Soviet Union that existed along with state farms . The word is a contraction of коллекти́вное хозя́йство, or "collective farm", while sovkhoz is a contraction of советское хозяйство...
.
The Georgian Jewish Museum was forcibly closed in the 1950s and its contents, including the works of Koboshvili, were transferred to the National Museum of Georgia, to which they still belong. A retrospective exhibition of the works of Koboshvili was held at the Museum in Tbilisi in 2006.