Kalandadze Edmond (Gabriel)
Edmond (Gabriel) Kalandadze (b. May 4, 1923, village of Khidistavi, present-day Chokhatauri Municipality – d. August 13, 2014, Tbilisi), painter, graphic artist, People's Artist of Georgia (1985), winner of the Shota Rustaveli Prize (1998), winner of the 1st World Festival of Youth and Students in Moscow (1957). He graduated from the Faculty of Painting at the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts (1955). He was a participant of World War II. He participated in art exhibitions from 1950. In 1955–1974, he was a pedagogue at the Tbilisi Academy of Arts. Kalandadze organized a number of exhibitions in Tbilisi. He was the Minister of Culture of Georgia (1991). In 1998, Kalandadze's paintings (Self-Portrait, Portrait of Levan Davitashvili, Pines and the Sea, Crusaders) were awarded the Grand Prix at the Christmas exhibition at the Georgian National Gallery.
Some of his works include: Still Life, Portrait of Zurab Nizharadze, Portrait of Eter Andronikashvili, Karl Marx Bridge (1955, all Sh. Amiranashvili Museum of Fine Arts), Metekhi (1977), Refugees (1978), View of Tbilisi (1985), Execution at a Brick Wall (1986), Teleti Basilica, Guria, Three Graces (all 1998); graphic portraits: Shota Rustaveli, Grandmother, Wife; graphic landscapes, compositions (1999), etc. Exhibitions: Exhibition dedicated to the 1st Congress of Soviet Artists (1957, Moscow), Exhibition of Georgian Artists (1958, Riga), Retrospective Exhibition of Georgian Artists (1988, Moscow), Exhibition of Georgian Artists (1988, Vienna), Exhibition of E. and Ts. Kalandadze (1995, Tbilisi), etc. Personal exhibitions: Luxembourg (1991), National Picture Gallery (1995), Sh. Amiranashvili Museum of Fine Arts (1998, 2011), Gallery “Hobby” (2002, 2008, Tbilisi), etc. Kalandadze's works are preserved in: Sh. Amiranashvili Museum of Fine Arts, D. Shevardnadze National Gallery, Batumi Art Museum, Georgian Patriarchate, State Tretyakov Gallery (Moscow), Moscow Museum of Art of the Peoples of the East, private collections, etc.
He is buried in the Didube Pantheon of Writers and Public Figures.
N. Shervashidze
