Traditional Wood Carvings by Georgian Artist Vladimer Vepkhvadze

Abstract

The article is devoted to the work of the Georgian artist Vladimer Vepkhvadze. Considered are his work on the manufacture of doors for public and church buildings, furniture, primarily for liturgical needs, church utensils (from shutters, analogies to altar doors and doors of the royal row), household items (from backgammon to spiral staircases), shebeke, shushabandi, grave crosses. Particular attention is paid to the genesis of his creative handwriting, which developed at the junction of the traditions of Byzantine shaping, the Greek canon, as well as authentic Georgian ornamentation and sacred symbolism. The examples of pulpits and sofas for the highest ecclesiastical clergy of Georgia, made by the author, starting from the throne for the Catholicos of Georgia Ilya II, are considered. A review of individual restoration works of the master, including such outstanding buildings as the palace of Mirza Riza Khan and the Romanov palace in Borjomi, is carried out. The characteristic features of the author's language of V. Vepkhvadze in the field of artistic woodcarving of the late 1980s-2010s are highlighted. The circle of the main monastic orders of the master is outlined, the repertoire of his creative searches is analyzed. The features of performance of works for Tbilisi monuments are outlined.