In May 2024, the Pesti Vigadó halls will host an exhibition titled “A WOMAN ARTIST - THE FACE OF THE ERA,” the first-ever event in Hungary to introduce the art of Georgian women of the last century and current millennium to the Hungarian audience and to celebrate Georgia's Independence Day on May 26.

The show will last till the end of June.

The exhibition will feature works by Elene Akhvlediani, Ketevan Magalashvili, Tamara Abakelia, Esma Oniani, Lia Shvelidze and Sophia Cherkezishvili representing four generations of Georgian women artists.

The show spanning a 100-year period (1924-2024), includes pieces from the so-called Georgian Modernism movement, Socialist Realism, non-ideological art of the Thaw, and Postmodern art.

Pieces united under the theme Woman – A Symbol of Modernization and Emancipation showcase mostly the first half of the twentieth century which enable the audience   to explore the works of those artists who themselves became the harbingers of emancipation.   

Another set of works by contemporary women artists is united under the general category – Woman as the Main Motive in Art, which investigates the inner self of a woman in the postmodern era, with its loneliness and fragility, and yearning for self-sufficiency. 

Both movements, Modernism and Post-modernism, which developed in Georgia despite a few decades of the Iron Curtain and the subsequent difficult period of the young state’s self-determination, confirm major compliance between Georgian and European cultures.

The exhibition of Georgian painters is being hosted by Pesti Vigadó for the first time. The majority of the exhibits come from the Georgian National Museum of Art and The Georgian National Gallery’s collections.

The event is organized by the Ministry of Culture and Sport of Georgia in collaboration with the Embassy of Georgia to Hungary, the Hungarian Academy of Arts and the Pesti Vigado.

The project is being curated by the Georgian National Gallery.

Featured image - Ketevan Maghalashvili: Self Portrait