Iakob Nikoladze was born in 1876 in Kutaisi. He was the first Georgian professional sculptor and the founder of the round sculpture school. Nikoladze was a People’s Artist of the USSR of Georgia, a People’s Artist of the USSR, and a full member of the Academy of Arts of the USSR. He was also one of the founders of the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts and its first professor (1922).
Nikoladze received his artistic education at the Stroganov Moscow State Academy of Arts and Industry (1892-1894), The Odessa School of Art (1894-1898), and Paris School of Arts (1899-1901). In 1906-1907 Nikoladze worked in the studio of Auguste Rodin and authored a book about this period, titled One Year with Rodin.
One of his significant work was the statue of Mourning Georgia for the grave of Ilia Chavchavadze which was set up in the Mtatsminda Pantheon in 1913.
In the late 1930s, Nikoladze created high-reliefs for the Institute of Marxism-Leninism.
Nikoladze primarily worked in the genre of portrait sculpture, producing both historical and contemporary portraits. Among his notable works are portraits of the 12th-century poet Chakhrukhadze and Shota Rustaveli, as well as the works in the field of small-scale statuary.