Henryk Hryniewski (Henryk Grinevsky)(Georgian: ჰენრიხ ჰრინევსკი; Russian: Генрих Викторович Гриневский) (November 22nd,1869–March 4th,1937) was a Polish-Georgian painter, graphic artist, and illustrator. He was also known as a scholar and an educator of standard Georgian architecture. He was arrested and put to death during Joseph Stalin’s Great Purge. Few of his native work survive.
Hryniewski was born into a relations of an exiled Polish patriot in the western Georgian city of Kutaisi, then allowance of the Russian Empire. From 1895 to 1898, he studied art and architecture at Florence and Karlsruhe. In 1898, he settled in Tiflis (Tbilisi) where he painted and taught. He directed the Tiflis Arts School from 1918 and 1921 and helped transform it into the Georgian Academy of Fine Arts, of which he became a professor in 1922 and vice-rector in 1927.
Hryniewski was dynamic in the major cultural projects of the time; he was instrumental in organizing a museum of the history of Tbilisi and was a devotee of a special commission for protection of the city’s cultural heritage. He studied Georgian folk and church architecture and produced “Old Architecture of Georgia,” an album of aquarelles, as skillfully as a cumulative analysis of conventional Georgian ornate art and a textbook upon linear perspectives and theory of shadows. Hrynievski’s illustrations regularly appeared in the Georgian press and in editions the works of leading Georgian writers, especially those of Ilia Chavchavadze. He in addition to created an iconostasis for the Kashveti Church of St. George and coauthored the project of the Georgian Bank of Nobility office (presently the National Parliamentary Library of Georgia). He opposed a program of ideological reforms in the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts (formerly the Tbilisi Academy of Fine Arts) pushed for by the Soviet authorities. Hryniewski was arrested and shot in a 1937 repression wave. NKVD officers destroyed his studio and a large number of his works. Hryniewski’s wife Maria Perini (1873-1939), an Italian dancer and a founder of the first ballet studio in Tbilisi was rapidly exiled from Georgia after her husband’s arrest.
The exhibition celebrates the all-round influence of Grinevsky, known for his illustrations to works, including compositions from 1914 by the author, entrepreneur and public figure Ilya Chavchavadze, sketches of Georgian medieval monuments from the 1910s and 1920s, as well as his work as a co-founder and professor. at the Academy of Arts As part of the ceremonies in the library of the national parliament, a hall of Polish art and literature in memory of Henryk Grinevsky (1869-1937), a Polish-Georgian painter, graphic designer and illustrator, was opened. On the occasion of the 150th birthday of the artist, who was born in 1869 to a Polish émigré family in the western Georgian city of Kutaisi, his paintings of Georgian cities were found by those who flocked to a free event at the museum. He was also known as a scholar and teacher of traditional Georgian architecture.
Henrik Grinevsky is a descendant of Polish immigrants living in Georgia, and his name is an integral part of contemporary Georgian art. Maria Perini was exiled as a foreign citizen in 1938 and died in Nice the following year.
The decorative ornament that he used for the exterior and, in particular, for the interior of the building, is a harmonious synthesis of medieval Georgian architectural motifs and motifs of Art Nouveau.
Grinevsky was born in 1869 in Kutaisi into a family of Polish emigrants. He was educated at the Florentine Art Academy in Italy and the Karlsruhe Polytechnic Institute in Germany. The works of Ilya Chavchavadze constituted the first fully illustrated Georgian edition of the 20th century, and Grinevsky was the first artist to illustrate the works of Chavchavadze. His artistic activity was mainly in the design of interiors and in the illustration of books by Georgian authors.
He also created an iconostasis for the Church of St. George in Kashveti and co-authored an office project for the Georgian Noble Bank (now the National Parliamentary Library of Georgia). The exhibition and the book are dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the Polish-Georgian artist Henrik Grvniewski. His legacy includes monumental and easel paintings, book illustrations, sketches of monuments of Georgian architecture, architectural details and ethnographic objects, as well as the design and decoration of numerous buildings.
He began working as a professor in 1922 and became vice-rector in 1927. From 1918 to 1921, he directed the Tbilisi Art School and helped transform it into the Georgian Academy of Arts. Grinevsky was born in 1869 into a Polish family in Kutaisi (western Georgia).
The artist made a significant contribution to the study of Georgian architecture in the Middle Ages. In preparation for the university opened in 1922, Toidze was assigned to the private art school of Georgian artist Moses.
The Chairman of the Lower House of the Polish Parliament Marek Kuczynski and the Chairman of the Georgian Parliament Irakli Kobashize opened a branch of the Polish Institute in Tbilisi, Georgia. The Art Academy quickly became the center of the Georgian art scene, and teachers hired many famous artists. Subsequently, other well-known representatives of the Georgian art world also joined this group. Tbilisi National Academy of Arts (T`bilisis saxelmcip`o samxatvro akademia) is one of the oldest universities in Georgia.
In 1937, the library received funds from the library of the Society for the Promotion of Literacy among Georgians, which operated in 1880-1927, which made it the most complete collection of national printed materials. In 2000, he was named after Ilya Chavchavadze, the great Georgian literary and public figure, who is considered one of the founding fathers of modern Georgia. The surname Grinevsky is usually added after the name or patronymic, also called the surname.
Thus, the desire of the Georgian society to have a library for all strata of society was fulfilled. He also called on young Georgians to listen to and respect their elders.
He refused to admit that he had crossed the international border and reiterated that he is “currently in Georgia, on Georgian soil.” On December 10, Georgian officials and civil society celebrated International Human Rights Day. Residents of Georgian villages close to the rural border are often detained for the same reasons.
He announced that a bill against “misinformation in the media” had been submitted to the Georgian parliament, which would be discussed with representatives of non-governmental organizations. Georgian government officials denied the accusations, instead accusing the opposition United National Movement Party of producing and distributing fake news.
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