Chardin Art Gallery

Chardin gallery is bringing an exceptional show to TAF this year, a duo of georgian artists who shared each other’s life in emigration in Paris, Vera Pagava and Vano Enukidze. Vano Enukidze was born in 1907 in Kutaisi. From 1924 to 1928 he successfully studied Social and Economic Sciences at the University and at the age of 22, he fled the Soviet regime and went to live in Paris where he was taken into the Pagava family. Also Georgians emigrants, they had left Tbilisi in 1919 for Switzerland and went to Paris in 1923, where the daughter Vera started her artistic practice at Andre Lhote studio ant at the School of decorative arts. Having become friends with Vera, Vano was integrated into her artistic circles, Manessier, Bertholle, Hilton, Vieira da Silva and more. Vera decisive moment was meeting Jeanne Bucher who started to show her in 1944 next to Dora Maar. She went on to participate in numerous shows in Europe and the US and represented France at the Venice Biennale in 1966. From 1937, Vano studied at the Ranson Academy of Arts in Paris and from 1955 he devoted himself entirely to painting. In 1958, he first participated in the group exhibition "Salon d'Art Sacre et Réalités Spirituelles" at the Paris Museum of Modern Art, Paris, France. In 1959, a show at the Galerie Charpentier was a turning point in his career, he then collaborated with several prestigious galleries in Paris, was exhibited in the Salon of the Independents, in Italy, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland. Le Monde wrote in 1959 « Vano’s paintings remind us of coded writing, the compositions seem to be shimmering networks, with a touch of elegance… ». Vano and Vera spent their whole lives together. They belong to the New School of Paris and their works are in prestigious collections and Museums, such as the Museum of Modern Art in Paris. 

Vera Pagava

"Theoreme". Oil on canvas. 46x55 cm. 1976

Vano Enoukidze.

"Abstraction". Oil, paper,canvas. 73x42 cm. 1959