Tamar Abakelia (August 19, 1905 – May 14, 1953) was a Georgian

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...

 sculptress, theater designer and illustrator. She was granted the title of Honored Artist of the Georgian SSR in 1942.

Family

Abakelia’s father, Grigol Abakelia, a chief prosecuting officer for the Georgian SSR, and uncle, Ioseb Abakelia

Ioseb Abakelia

Ioseb Abakelia was a pioneering Georgian physician and medical scholar, specializing in the field of phthisiatry .-Biography:...

, a leading Georgian tuberculosis

Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...

 specialist, were shot during Joseph Stalin

Joseph Stalin

Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...

’s Great Purge

Great Purge

The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1936 to 1938...

 in 1938. She was married to a socialist poet and playwright Karlo Kaladze (1907 – 1988), who outlived both his wife and their only son, also a prolific sculptor Gulda Kaladze (1932 – 1974).

Biography

Born in Khoni

Khoni

Khoni is a town in the Western Georgian region of Imereti with the population of 11,300 . It is situated on the left bank of the Tskhenistkali River in the north-west of Imereti, close to the border with the region of Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti and 266 km west of Georgia's capital Tbilisi. The town...

, Imereti

Imereti

Imereti is a province in Georgia situated along the middle and upper reaches of the Rioni river. It consists of the following Georgian administrative-territorial units:#Kutaisi #Baghdati region#Vani region#Zestafoni region...

 (then part of Kutais Governorate, Russian Empire

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

), Tamar Abakelia graduated from Tbilisi State Academy of Arts

Tbilisi State Academy of Arts

The Tbilisi State Academy of Arts is one of the oldest universities in Georgia, Caucasus. It's located in the Tbilisi City near the Tbilisi Opera and Ballet Theatre on Rustaveli avenue ....

 in 1929 and taught there since 1938. Among Abakelia’s works are graphic illustrations for Nikolay Tikhonov

Nikolay Semenovich Tikhonov

Nikolai Semenovich Tikhonov - a Soviet writer, a member of the Serapion Brothers literary group.-Biography:...

, Shota Rustaveli

Shota Rustaveli

Shota Rustaveli was a Georgian poet of the 12th century, and one of the greatest contributors to Georgian literature. He is author of "The Knight in the Panther's Skin" , the Georgian national epic poem....

, David of Sasun

David of Sasun

David of Sasun or David of Sassoun is an Armenian epic hero from the Daredevils of Sassoun who drove Arab invaders out of Armenia.The Sasuntsi Davit is an Armenian national epic poem recounting David's exploits...

, Vazha-Pshavela

Vazha-Pshavela

Vazha-Pshavela is the pen-name of the Georgian poet and writer Luka P. Razikashvili , a classic of the new Georgian literature.- The biography :...

 as well as stage decorations for the Rustaveli

Rustaveli Theatre

Rustaveli National Theatre also referred to as Rustaveli State Drama Theatre, is found in Tbilisi, Georgia. The theatre is conveniently located at 17 Rustaveli Avenue, one of the main streets in Tbilisi...

 and Marjanishvili

Marjanishvili Theater

Kote Marjanishvili State Drama Theatre is the second state theatre in Tbilisi, Georgia. Originally founded in Kutaisi in 1928 by Kote Marjanishvili, the theatre moved to Tbilisi in 1930 to Brothers Zubalashvili Public House, the building it occupies up to date.The roots of Georgian theatre date...

 theaters and costume designs for the films Arsena

Arsena Odzelashvili

Arsena Odzelashvili commonly known as Arsena of Marabda was a Georgian outlaw said to have robbed the rich to help the poor...

(1937), Giorgi Saakadze

Giorgi Saakadze

Giorgi Saakadze was a Georgian politician and military commander who played an important but contradictory role in the politics of the early 17th-century Georgia...

(1942), and David Guramishvili (1945). Much of her achievements are in the field of sculpture. Noted for the dynamism of composition and artistically rounded forms, Abakelia was responsible for much of the progress of Soviet Georgian sculpture. The example is her series of sculptured friezes on the former Museum of Marxism-Leninism in Tbilisi

Tbilisi

Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...

, depicting the various phases of socialist

Socialism

Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...

 upbuilding in Georgia (1936-37). Abakelia died in Tbilisi in 1953 and was buried there, at the Didube Pantheon

Didube Pantheon

The Didube Pantheon is a burial in Tbilisi, Georgia, where some of the most prominent writers, artists, scholars, scientists and political activists of Georgia are buried. It was opened in 1939.- See also :* Mtatsminda Pantheon* Saburtalo Pantheon...

.