A Study of Polish Artists in the Georgian Press (1910s–1920s)

At the beginning of the 20th century, some Polish artists who lived in Georgia, collaborated with Georgian print media – newspapers and magazines and they published graphics, portraits, cartoons, documentary sketches like reportage style, drawings with headlines, etc. The goal of this interdisciplinary research paper is to study the Polish painters’ works in the Georgian periodical issues. This research paper is an attempt to study the role of Polish artists in the decoration of magazines and newspapers of this period. Polish artists published graphics, portraits, cartoons, social-political satirical drawings with headlines, etc. During this time, there were very few illustrations and decorations in the Georgian print media. Accordingly, polish painters were one of the first along with other Georgian artists. This is the period when the Georgian press begins to publish drawings and documentary sketches for the purpose to visualize magazines and newspapers. Thus, the relevance and novelty of this work are beyond doubt, as no one has examined the Georgian media of the 1910s–1920s from this perspective. Therefore, it is important to study the issue not only from the point of view of the history of Georgian journalism, but also from the point of view of studying the Polish cultural heritage and Georgian-Polish relations. These Polish artists were: Henryk Hryniewski, Zygmunt Waliszewski, Brothers Zdanevichs. They are often referred to as “Georgian Poles”. The study, which was prepared with a grant from the Mieroszewski Research Center, was conducted in Poland as well as in Georgian Libraries. According to the results of this study the life and work of Polish artists working in Georgian media is a clear proof of the crossing of cultures and civilizations. They are part of both Georgian and Polish culture, and as a whole, they create European culture and spiritual values.