Oskar Schmerling Georgian painter and graphic artist of German origin. He studied first at the St. Petersburg Art Academy (from 1884) and then in Munich (1891–1892). He returned to Tbilisi in 1893. He was the director of the Tbilisi Art School, and then the School of Painting and Sculpture (1902-1918). Since 1921, he had been teaching at the newly founded Tbilisi Art Academy. Shmerling is one of the founders of Georgian caricature. Since 1901, his caricatures were printed in “Tsnobis Purceli” (Notice Sheet). He collaborated with the magazines: “Eshmaki Matrakhi”, “Tartarozi”, “Shurduli”, “Bziki”, “Devil’s Side”, “Village Aliakoti” and other humorous magazines published in Tbilisi at that time. In 1922, an Art Academy was founded on the basis of the school, where Oscar Schmerling worked as a professor. His disciples were: Lado Gudiashvili, Ketevan Goliashvili, Aleksandre Tsimakuridze, Mikheil Chiaureli. He painted landscapes, battle and genre paintings. He made a great contribution to the development of Georgian book illustration. His drawings for children’s books are especially noteworthy (Yakob Gogebashvili’s “Deda Ena” (Mother Tongue), engraved by G. Tatishvili; “Devoted Georgians”, 1895; “What Has Lullaby Done?!”( “Yavnanam ra hqmna”), 1904; Tales, published by the Georgian Women’s Circle, 1905 and others).
