Shalva Kikodze, one of the important representatives of Georgian modernism, was born in 1894 in the village of Bakhvi in Georgia.
From 1902 to 1912, he studied at the Tbilisi Noble Gymnasium. In 1914, he went to Moscow with a scholarship from the Society for the Spreading of Literacy among Georgians and initially enrolled in the Faculty of Law at Moscow University. Along with studying law, he studied painting at the Moscow Institute of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture from 1916 to 1918.
While studying at the art school, Kikodze was actively involved in Moscow’s theater life. He collaborated with the magazine Theater and Life and the Nikita Baliev’s Theater-Cabaret La Chauve-Souris (The Bat). During this period, he also created caricatures for Georgian humorous magazines Lakhti (Skippng Rope), Eshmakis Matrakhi (the Devil’s Whip) and collaborated with the Russian-language magazine Art published in Tbilisi. He published caricatures, wrote reviews, and was a member of the editorial board.
During his vacations in Georgia, Shalva Kikodze participated in joint scientific expeditions organized by the Society of Georgian Artists and the Historical and Ethnographic Society of Georgia. Together with Lado Gudiashvili, Mose Toidze, Giorgi Eristavi, and Mikheil Chiaureli, he created the paintings of Nabakhtevi Church.
After returning to his homeland in 1918, Kikodze engaged in active creative and public work. He was elected secretary of the Society of Georgian Artists. As a result of his trips to the mountains of Georgia, he created important pictorial and graphic works. In 1918, he began working as a scenic designer in the theater studio of director Giorgi Jabadari, who had recently returned from France.
From 1920 to 1921, Shalva Kikodze lived in Paris as one of the first scholarship recipients from the Society of Georgian Artists, engaging in active creative work. Contributing to contemporary Parisian painting, he created his most important works-both his own and those reflecting national heritage.
According to the artist, every art and every nation is created within the national framework, and only the form emerging within the national framework can gain international importance.
In 1921, together with Davit Kakabadze and Lado Gudiashvili, Shalva Kikodze’s works were exhibited at the Galerie La Licorne and the Salon des Indépendants in Paris. In the same year, he left Paris for Germany. In Freiburg, he tragically died at the age of 27, suffering from severe illness.
Despite his short life, Shalva Kikodze’s artistic legacy is a significant treasure of Georgian modernism and Georgian culture. Thanks to the efforts of his friends, his works created in Paris were brought to his homeland. The main and most important part of Shalva Kikodze’s legacy is preserved in the Art Museum of Georgia.