Exhibit Review: The Traveling Museum of the Caucasus

During my one-week stay in Tbilisi, I had the great fortune to attend a temporary exhibit (now closed) at the Museum of Georgia featuring the photographic work of Alexander Roinashvili, a 19th century ethnographer popularly known as Georgia’s first photographer.  He was, it seems, interested mostly in the documentary function of the camera, which he carried across Georgia recording the folk ways of the country’s many villages, towns and cities.  He worked in a variety of genres to document all manner of life, from landscape to portrait to still life.  He was as well a collector of artifacts, amassing a huge collection of tools, weapons, clothing, furniture, and other items of everyday life, many of which were on display at last month’s exhibit, along with a selection of photos, largely landscapes and portraits.  While the collection on display was quite impressive, I was somewhat disappointed in the relative lack of images compared to artifacts, but otherwise thrilled to learned about such an important, resourceful, and dedicated photographer.  A two-volume set of images has been published in Georgia, and before better sense prevailed I almost bought one. For those that might be interested in exploring, two useful web links are provided below.

Through the biography displayed at the exhibit I learned of Roinashvili’s burial place at the Didube Pantheon and paid a visit the following day.  I was fortunate to meet whom I suppose was the cemetery groundskeeper, who led me to Roinashvili’s grave, which I never could have found on my own given my lack of facility with the local language.  For those who may have stumbled on this blog post and are interested to visit, photos are included.  His grave is located center rear.

The [Online] Georgian Museum of Photography:  Alexander Roinashvili 
(click on the Photos button top-left to display an album of  Roinashvili images)
http://www.photomuseum.org.ge/a_roinashvili/index_en.htm

The Georgia Photo Files:  Alexander Roinashvili https://georgiaphotophiles.wordpress.com/2013/02/03/photographs-by-alexander-roinashvili-1849-1898/

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