We're diving into the colorful world of Nico Pirasmani, a self-taught master painter whose unique style captures Georgian life from way back in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His art, described as primitivist and naive, is all about those vibrant colors and everyday scenes that resonate with the heart of Georgian culture. We’ll chat about how this guy went from odd jobs to becoming a beloved figure in Georgian history, and how his tavern paintings actually led to his big break. Spoiler alert: he painted with his fingers and used all-natural materials! So grab a glass of Georgian wine and join us as we explore the life and legacy of this incredible artist!

In this episode of Tbilisi Podcast, hosts Tom and Meg explore the life and legacy of Georgian artist Niko Pirosmani. They discuss his unconventional techniques, his impact on Georgian national identity, and his infamous tavern paintings. They also touch on the uncertain history surrounding his death and the enduring popularity of his artwork.

Diving into the vibrant world of Georgian art, we uncover the life and legacy of Nico Pirosmani, a self-taught master painter whose unique style captures the essence of Georgian culture. Born in the late 19th century, Pirosmani's art reflects a naive and primitivist approach, showcasing scenes from everyday life, traditional customs, and the struggles of his time. As we explore his upbringing in a small village and his journey through hardship and creativity, we find that his paintings, often created on black waxed cloth and using natural materials, tell a story of resilience and cultural pride. From his tavern wall art to his eventual recognition in the Russian art scene, Pirosmani's life is a testament to the power of creativity in the face of adversity. Join us as we celebrate his works that continue to inspire and resonate with audiences today, proving that art can indeed come from anywhere.

In this episode, we take a closer look at the significance of Pirosmani's work within the context of Georgian identity. Amidst the political upheaval during his lifetime, his art became a beacon of national pride, depicting the traditions and daily lives of Georgians. Although he faced numerous challenges, including financial struggles and societal rejection, his dedication to art allowed him to leave behind over a thousand pieces, many of which were tragically lost or neglected over time. As we discuss the vibrant colors and striking imagery that define his style, we also reflect on the impact of his life story, reminding us that sometimes the most profound influences come from the most unexpected places. Pirosmani's art not only captures the spirit of Georgia but also serves as an enduring reminder of the transformative power of creativity, showing that even the simplest expressions can hold great cultural significance.

Takeaways:

• This episode dives into the art and life of Nico Piranmani, a self-taught painter known for his unique style.
• Nico's art captures the essence of Georgian life and its traditions, making him a beloved figure.
• His works often feature vibrant colors and unconventional techniques, showcasing his creative spirit.
• Piranmani painted on various materials, even using natural pigments from berries and leaves.
• Despite his talent, Nico lived a tragic life and struggled with alcoholism throughout his career.
• His influence remains significant in Georgia, inspiring artists and representing cultural heritage even today.

gamarjoba. This is the Tbilisi podcast covering life, travel and more in the country of Georgia.

Brought to you by foodfuntravel.com expathub.ge and eat this tours.com this episode we are talking about Nicole Pirasmani, a self taught master painter. His works are unique with a primitivist and naive style that captures the essence of Georgian life in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Hello, welcome to another episode of the Tbilisi Podcast, a show about life and travel in Tbilisi and Georgia. I'm your host, Meg. I run a little website called foodfuntravel.com a little website? Yes.

There's quite a few hundred articles on there. It's not that little, is it? No, you're underselling yourself a little bit here.

Well, I mean there's websites that are much bigger than mine.

Sure, that's true.

Yeah.

So moderately not that little website, but not massive websites.

Exactly, exactly. Yeah, it's there, it exists. Come check it out sometime if you want.

But that's what I do in my spare time when I'm not podcasting or mumming or drinking or eating that sort of stuff.

Mumming.

Mumming.

Just a word for it.

I do mum stuff sometimes as well. Yeah. With a little man.

Yep.

And our little man. Because you are my husband.

Ah. What?

Yeah. Oh, you forget, you forget. It happens.

It gets confusing. It's quite tired sometimes as a parent and sometimes you forget that you're a parent because you're too tired to remember you're a parent.

Like you see those videos of people that are like rocking the baby in the rocker but they're actually holding the baby. They're like what are you rocking? And it's like they're so tired, they're like rocking nothing because they're holding the baby. Anyway.

Yeah, yeah, we're tired parents anyway. Yeah. So we run a little show called Tbilisi Podcast. That's what you're listening to right now. Thank you for joining us.

Yeah. And Tom here again. I come on this show quite a lot because I'm the co host so, you know, I'm quite off occasionally. I'm the host.

I've done a few episodes where I'm the host as well. So, you know, I've been upgraded to slightly better occasionally. And yeah, from experub.ge and eatthisthistours.com.

Yes.

Eatthistores.com. eat it, eat it or drink it because it's wine as well. Yeah, you probably know that by now.

Well, we're not actually doing an episode that has anything to do with food or wine? No, actually it does have something to do with wine. It always has something to do with wine because it's Georgia.

Literally every episode has to have something to do with wine. There is no way to come to Georgia and ignore wine completely.

I mean, you don't have to drink it, but you can't ignore it there even if you don't drink.

Yeah. So this episode we are talking about, Nicol Piani, it is another history episode talking about important people in Georgian history.

And Nico Pirismani is a self taught master painter. So his works are unique with a primitivist and naive style that captures the essence of Georgian life in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

This naive style, of course, is a technical term. We're not just trying to insult one of Georgia's greatest painters as a specific technical, artistic term.

Well, it's not technical at all. It is exactly as it is described.

It is described. That is the style. It is what it is that he's doing.

Yes. So, yes, Join us as we dive into the world of his incredible art and learn more about his life. Art troubles all of that.

We're going to jump into that in this episode.

Yeah, It's a distinctive style and you'll see it as you walk around Tbilisi. If you go out to Tsignagi, which is close to where he grew up, and all over the country, you're going to see his artworks. He is very popular indeed.

Very much so. So who was Nico Purismani? Nico Puresmani was born. Nico Piros Manishvili.

Of course, there has to be a Shvili on the edge.

Got to be. He was born in the late 19th century and as we mentioned before, he's known for his primitivist and naive style.

So for non art people like me, I googled it, I'll look at it.

Yeah, I also, not really a massive.

Art person, totally googled it. Primitivism is art that involves the appreciation and imitation of cultural products and practices.

So perceived cultural products such as wine, for example.

Exactly, yeah. Primitive culture that sort of displaying those sorts of things.

And naive art is defined as a visual art that is created by a person who lacks the formal education and training that a professional artist undergoes. So it is exactly as it sounds, naive.

He is self trained, as we said.

He is. Yeah. So there you go, you're welcome. Now you know.

Now you know. I mean, that's what the episode was for, was for us to learn what Paris Marty was doing. So. Yeah.

His parents, Aslan and Teclay were farmers who owned a small vineyard and they had a few cows and oxen and stuff like that and they had a nice little life until he was left an orphan. Yikes, yikes. And then the vineyard fell into disrepair. It did not go well.

So at a relatively young age his sister Miriam sent for him to come and live with her and her husband in Tbilisi. But she was taken by cholera apparently and her grieving husband sent him to work for a middle class family.

19Th century was rubbish, wasn't it?

It really was.

It wasn't even that long ago and yet it was still rubbish. So quite crazy. But I mean everyone knows this already. I'm not spreading new information here.

Everyone knows late 19th, early 20th century was a little rubbish.

Yeah, people just drank gin and died. I mean that was English people, but you know, that's pretty much what was going on. And there you go, history, history, folks, history in a nutshell.

People just drank gin and died. That's English history.

English history.

The whole of English history. Done, done. Sit. Don't need to learn anything else. Everything else that England did was completely pointless to learn.

Don't even bother reading up about it din death.

So yeah, that was one story that I read. I heard another that he like his two sisters asked him to come and live with them and then I don't know, it's all.

And then they got cholera and died.

Eh, it wasn't good.

I mean anyway, why invite someone around if you're just gonn during the meeting?

No matter what happened, people died and it didn't go well for people.

Yeah, yeah, okay. Mainly he wasn't having a great time. That part we could probably assess.

About 90% of the population of the entire world were not having a good time in the 19th century.

Yeah, one of the things that working for the middle class family, he actually learned to speak Russian in that time and I think he actually learned to read as well, which was actually relatively useful for someone of that period. But from that time onward he did like a whole bunch of odd jobs. He was an odd jobsman. He worked as a herdsman.

Is that an official word? Odd jobsman?

Oddjsman, yeah.

Is that in the dictionary? Yeah, sure, yeah. We're definitely not going to Google it or check.

Don't look it Up. Definitely there. Absolutely there. No need to look it up.

I like it. Odd jobsman.

Odd jobsman.

If it's not in the dictionary, I'm going to write to Oxford myself and tell them that it should be.

Yeah, but because he ended up, you know, not being particularly good at anything in particular, just like he's good at the odd jobs jobs, you know. What do they say? Jack of all trades, master of none. Yeah, there you go.

They say that his life became a precarious dance on the edge of poverty, which is not fun.

And he thought, hang on, art, that's the way to make money.

It's interesting.

Historically, that's always worked so well.

He did, like a whole bunch of odd jobs, but then he started doing things like painting houses and doing signs for shopkeepers and all those sorts of things.

And from doing signs for shopkeepers, he ended up doing different paintings and he ended up doing portraits according to people's orders and all of that sort of stuff. Apparently, he also even owned a dairy farm for a while, but the dairy farm didn't last. It didn't go so well.

So through all of this, Nico slowly taught himself to paint. One of the interesting things that he's known for is his preference to work on black waxed cloth.

So you'll see a lot of his paintings, the background is completely black and, like, that's why the colors are so fabric.

Very like, the contrast is crazy. It's very striking artwork.

He also painted on glass metal walls and use natural materials such as berries, leaves and bark for his pigments. As he had zero classical training, he just used what was around him and created from that, which is what makes him so unique.

That's pretty amazing in itself to just go, I'm just going to reinvent art. Why bother studying anything? I've got my own. My own deal going on.

I can use this.

And it worked.

Yeah, that's.

That's what's amazing about it, really. It just went like, yeah, I'll figure it out. Yeah, got it done.

So a lot of his paintings were often of animals, forest scenes, markets, tradesmen he was working alongside. He was also known for his unconventional painting techniques. He would use his fingers instead of brushes as well.

So that's where the primitive, cheaper. Yeah, totally primitive and naive stuff comes in. So he was continuing to do this, working the odd jobs.

But as many people as he were just talking about with the good old British history, Nico took up the drink to wash his troubles away, as many people have throughout history. So through this, painting actually became A form of barter.

He was poor, he didn't have a lot of money, so he would do simple portraits and he would trade them for hot tavern meals. And it's in these taverns where his works were first discovered. So basically he would paint on the wall of a tavern.

So there are lots and lots of his actual works that have been lost because they were just on taverns and stuff like that.

So I mean, what we're saying here is that he became significantly more successful because he turned into an alcoholic and just hang around in bars doing paintings on Wal.

Yeah, that's where he actually was discovered.

There was an exhibit held in Moscow where self taught painters were, you know, exhibited their works and among them were four by Piras Mani.

So there was a portrait of Zandenovich as he did portraits, Still Life, Woman with the Beer Mug, which I've seen definitely seen around in Reprints and the Row.

So critics writing later stated that they were actually really impressed with his talent and he did really well with a lot of the sort of Russian art scene. But it just didn't trickle back down to him financially in any way, shape or form. People were like, bravo, I love it.

It never does. It never does it.

You're doing an amazing job. Oh, you want me to. No, no money. No money yet. You're just new. So it didn't help him at all.

Come here, do some artwork for the exposure. One day.

One day you'll be rich working for exposure.

Yeah, always works, doesn't it?

Exactly. He also had a little bit of success here in Georgia as well in the early days.

One day he presented a painting called Georgian Wedding to the society and from that one of the other members published a caricature in the local newspaper of him. And he was greatly offended by it.

It obviously was not very nice and it caused him to just disappear again into the world of taverns and drink and stuff like that.

So while he was alive he would kind of make this appearance and you know, he would do quite well and people would applaud him for the work that he was doing and the Beautiful paintings and portraits and everything. But then something would happen, and also you as it is like he needed money more than he needed accolades.

So he would take jobs and do other things rather than focus on his art because he needed to survive. He disappeared back down into his own world of booze and taverns and, you know, just taking odd jobs and doing all of that sort of stuff.

But actually, in this time, Pyrrhus Money actually produced an astonishing number of works.

The total figure is actually said to be over a thousand different pieces of art, but only a few have survived, which is mainly due to the negligence of owners or the closure of spaces where his paintings were housed. Cellars, tea rooms, taverns, all that sort of stuff. You know, these things get.

People don't realize or care that they're important, and they just get painted over or destroyed or any of that sort of stuff.

Yep. Yeah.

Others now you can see at the National Museum and a few other museums around the world. So there's also a. At the Signage museum as well. You can go and see quite a few of his works there as well, which is really cool.

I didn't know it was there. And we walked in the other day and I was like, oh, yeah, Pierce Money. And I didn't think it was real. I thought it was like, yeah, I.

Assume it's copies or something.

It was copies. And I. I stepped over the red line to have a closer look at something, and the alarm went absolutely berserk at me. And I was like.

The lady came up and I was like, is this real? And she's like, yeah. Oh, my goodness. It's a real Paris body. I didn't realize. My bad.

Fortunately, it turned out that the lady who was in charge of the line crossing happened to be the owner of the guest house. We'd stayed the night before.

So random.

And she was totally fine with us. She just breaking the rules. Yeah.

And then she just occupied Isaac for the next 15 minutes, playing peekaboo with him. It was fantastic.

Parenting stuff. Parenting and art. Apparently that's what's happened in this episode.

There you go. You can go to museums and art galleries with your kids.

Because in Georgia, as long as the person who's in charge of the art is the guest house owner from the previous night.

Ah. People play with them anyway.

Yeah. And definitely a fun side tangent that the ability of anyone in Georgia to help you out with your kids if you're a tourist is great.

Yeah, they're wonderful.

Everyone's really happy to see kids here. It's really Helpful.

This is the one that is near Signagi. But not in Signagi.

No, no, this is the one that's by Station Square. He died in Tbilisi.

There is an additional. Yeah, there's a small.

I went to go there the other day, but it was a public holiday and they were closed, so I took a picture of the door so I can share that on social media.

Was it painted with Peresmani arts?

But when you went inside, you could see pictures of pictures they had taken pictures of his.

It's a bit of a meta museum.

I don't think there's actually any Pyrrhus money work there. I think it's more of a monument. Yeah, this is where he lived. This is like the sort of what his like room was like. It basically was.

He Harry Pottered it and lived under the stairs pretty much, I think. But yeah, one.

Yeah, Spanish flu.

Yeah, Spanish flu at that time.

And now we just had a massive pandemic and a stupid war. Yeah, we thought that we'd all moved on history and we're just doing the same thing, but we stupid.

We're doing a slightly better job of it this time around. Hopefully we can have a more successful outcome with the whole war situation. Yeah, yeah.

So Pyrrhus Manius actually is an unmarked grave. Nobody actually knows where he is to this day. There was a guy who thought he knew where it was like back in the.

I think it was like back in the 60s or something, and he was digging up a whole bunch of areas to try and find. They thought they'd found his grave, but it turned out that it was the grave of a woman, so it wasn't him.

So people actually don't know where he's buried. It's not Mark during pandemics, they just get rid of the bodies back in those days.

Yeah, yeah.

So it wasn't until his. After his death that Pirasmani's work gained widespread attention and fame.

He was just, you know, some people can just say that he was just, you know, some drunk guy that, you know, whatever, some naive primitive did some paintings, like, why is he so important?

To me, I mean, they're amazing. I love the work.

I think the vibrant colors and everything is so unique and so it doesn't.

Look like anyone else's.

Exactly.

It's very his.

It's very, very unique. But also, there are other reasons why his art is so important to the Georgian people.

So during Piras Marty's lifetime, Georgia was under the rule of the Russian Empire, which is the early 20th century.

His paintings just depicted everyday life of Georgians. It was their traditional costumes, their traditional customs, their struggles, like animals in the field.

Just, you know, it was that he basically just painted what he knew, which was, you know, it's that naive, primitive painting exactly as it is. He. He painted what he saw, and that was geor. Georgian culture.

So this helped to create a really powerful sense of community within the Georgian people. So despite living over a century ago, Piyosmani's art still really resonates with audiences today.

His unique style, his subject matter, it just continues to inspire contemporary artists. And his paintings remain a really important part of George's cultural heritage, as I mentioned.

Yeah, he's able to capture the essence of Georgian life in his traditions, in his art. It just makes him a really beloved figure in Georgian culture. And I don't think that will ever die.

Like, I think his work will continue to go on to be like, he'll be one of the leading painters of.

Georgian art for he's sealed a place in history for sure.

Yeah.

And also just in a world that often values conformity and traditional training, especially even in those days, like he might not have been taken as seriously by his peers because he didn't have that traditional training. But I think P. Mani's story is just a reminder that artistic talent can come from anywhere. And that creativity, it really just knows no bounds.

As we said, he painted with his fingers. He used berries and stuff as pigments. He painted on walls.

Like creativity can come from anywhere and have to be trained or taught in order to do it well. So, yeah, basically he just is an enduring reminder of the cultural heritage and transformative power of art in Georgia.

If you're looking for some of his most popular paintings, like if you want to look them up and have a look online, one of my particular favorites is the Fisherman in a Red Shirt. You'll see a lot of reproductions of this all over Tbilisi and Georgia of people reproducing this particular painting holding a fish.

Yeah, it's cool. It's a cool banner.

Yeah, it is a fisherman in a red shirt. Typical young man of the day, standing in a river. He's holding a fish in one hand and a bucket in the other.

And he's just wearing really simple clothes and a hat. One of my favorite pieces of street art, actually, it's over in Marginishville. There is a reproduction of this.

It's on a wall and it's done as a Simpsons character. And he's holding the three eyed fish from the Simpsons.

A good twist.

I absolutely love that page. So, yeah, that's a really popular one. And you'll see so many reproductions of that. Another really famous one of his is the Feast of Five Princes.

And you'll see this in a lot of restaurants, like reproductions of this. So it depicts a scene of a Georgian folk tale. It's.

The painting shows five princes sitting at a table enjoying a feast with a variety of dishes and drinks. The painting is full of bright colors and intricate details and is considered to be one of Piras Mani's most complex works.

So, yeah, if you see something of like a whole bunch of guys sitting around a table sort of, I guess, Last Meal style. They're all sitting on that one side of the table. Last Supper style.

Last Supper. Yeah, Last Meal. Different. Different group guys.

I don't do art.

I enjoy art or religion or history.

Stop.

Any of these things.

Yeah, you will see this in like restaurants and stuff, reproductions of this. And it's pretty cool. As I mentioned before, where to go see Nico Purismani's paintings.

There was a little bit of an art kerfuffle that happened the other week where an artist tore his painting off the wall and spray painted in its place. I can't remember what he wrote but he was not too happy with his art was being taken care of or something like that.

Fun.

Yeah, there was a whole kerfuffle. So I think it's closed at the moment. But when you're listening to this, it could totally be reopened again.

You can go to the Cygnagi Museum and go see his works there. I think that is a permanent fixture that you can go and work at that.

That appears to be opponent exhibits now because he was from the region and.

If you're wanting to head out to Station Square and see his last little home place. The museum I didn't get into because it was closed. The purest money museum. It's only like currently 5 gel to get in there so it's pretty cheap.

But I think also it's just like one or two rooms that has like a chair and a desk. It's one of those sorts of museums.

Yeah.

None of his actual paintings. But hey, you know, if you're looking for something to do out at Station Square other than just like check out the.

There's lots of things to do out there. So if you're looking for an additional thing to do out there there, go check out the museum.

The main thing to do at Station Square for those who've not been to Tbilisi is basically go to the big bazaar and do shopping. Best prices in Tbilisi on fresh produce.

Lots of things.

Yeah, yeah, well. And yeah, not just fresh produce as well but any type of market style shopping as opposed to modern convenient department store shopping.

If you want to go do old school market shopping then that's the place.

Should probably watch it.

Should.

Yeah. There's actually a big list of movies I need to watch and I just haven't got around to it because I don't watch movies anymore.

I just binge watch TV shows.

Yep, that's the way the world's gone.

So he even inspired Pablo Picasso. That's really cool. Good job, Pyrrhus Marty. Not that he knew it, but he would have been over 100 when that was done.

Pyrrhus money is also depicted on a Georgian Larry bill. The One Larry Bill, but this is very rarely seen.

I don't know. I don't know if they're still in circulation. I don't know if anyone has them tucked away somewhere or you can go see one.

Maybe at the National Museum. You can go see. But he was on the One Larry bill, but now we all use One Larry coins. So you really don't see the bill around much anymore.

But if you spot it, grab it.

Don'T give it to anyone. Keep it.

Yeah, so that's it. That's.

It's not quite it. I have another fun fact. What?

What fun fact?

Do you have wine? It's Purismani wine.

Oh, of course.

I mean, it's inspired by him. He didn't invent this wine. But there is a semi dry to semi sweet red wine from Carcetti because he was from Carcetti made from Saperavi grapes.

That is dubbed Pirasmani. That is his wine. It's a fruit forward, sort of fresh and exciting. If you're into semi sweet type wines, which a lot of people in this region are.

Yeah, it's a style of wine.

It's a way of making Saparavi. I mean, once you listen to any of our wine episodes, you'll know that Saparavi is used to make so many different types of wine.

This exact type of style is sort of a fruity, semi sweet, semi dry wine with his name on the label. So if you're walking around and you see a wine called Pirismani, it is named after him.

There you go.

So, yeah, just as you're walking around Tbilisi or you know, Karketti or even, you know, he was really, really important here in Tbilisi and Karketti region. But you might find his works in other areas.

But you'll find lots and lots of reproductions of, of people taking his work and putting it into their own work. Like he's. You will spot Pyrrhus money everywhere.

Like I went to visit the doctor the other day and I saw, like, these different artworks that all had Pyrrhus Money images in them, but it was like scrapbooking style, but in a really cool art way. You'll just see his influence absolutely everywhere and it's really cool. As Tom and I have both mentioned, his art is very vibrant and just.

Just unique and really stands out. So keep an eye out for it. If you are getting around Tbilisi, you will spot Parismani's influence all over the place.

Yeah, yeah. Literally all over the place, I don't think. Like, you may not know it when you come here, but once you do know what it is, you see it everywhere.

Yeah.

So while he did lead a very tragic life, as did many of the artists of that time, as do many artists of any time, they usually have a tragic story, but he has had a profound influence on Georgia, the nationalism of Georgia and also the art of Georgia going forward. He's a pretty important guy.

Yep. All right, so I guess that's the end.

That is. That is all for our Purismani episode.

So Purismani wine. Let's just leave on that note. Yep, try some red wine.

When you come here, enjoy the art and just remember, even if you are not a trained artist, give it a go. Give it a bash. Because you never know, you might end up creating something profound that people love for generations. Patience. So just give it a go.

All right. We will see you on another episode of the Tbilisi podcast. Yep.

Follow us on all the socials, which are Tbilisi Podcast, on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. So not all the socials. Just those socials.

Just those ones. We don't want to do all of them. Who's got time? Who's got the time for all of them?

No.

Who's doing that?

But please do come and follow us and just check out what we're doing there. We're gonna try and just get a little bit more active in. In those areas. I'll try. I say it. I say it.

But yeah, and then you get woken up at four in the morning and.

Go, nah, nah, not today.

I'm not doing anything today.

Yeah. So anyway, but come and check out what we're doing.

And I also just, like share random things of my day of, like me getting on a train or, oh, it's spring, look at the flowers. Or, oh, my God, it's snowing again. What? I thought it was spring. So that's. That's what you get from me.

All right, cheers, everyone. See ya. Well, we won't see you next time. Time hear you hear us. Listen to us.

Thank you for listening.

Listen to us again next time. That one.

Thanks for listening to the Tbilisi Podcast.

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