Background
Gevorg Bashindzhagian was born on September 16, 1857 in Sighnaghi in eastern Georgian province of Kakheti, part of the Russian Empire at the time, now Georgia. His father, Zakar, died in 1872 during a trip to Persia, when he was 15.
Գևորգ Բաշինջաղյան
Gevorg Bashindzhagian was born on September 16, 1857 in Sighnaghi in eastern Georgian province of Kakheti, part of the Russian Empire at the time, now Georgia. His father, Zakar, died in 1872 during a trip to Persia, when he was 15.
After finishing the school in Sighnaghi, Bashinjaghian was admitted to the Arts School.
In 1878 he moved to St. Petersburg, Russia, where he became a student at the Imperial Academy of Arts a year later. Mikhail Clodt was one of his teachers. Bashinjaghian graduated from the Academy in 1883.
Bashinjaghian returned to Sighnaghi in 1883. Soon he started to travel throughout the Caucasus: Lake Sevan, Yerevan, Ashtarak and the holy capital of the Armenian Church - Ejmiatsin, Georgia and the Northern Caucasus, which caused the artist to make a row of canvas of the local landscapes. During the next year, Bashinjaghian also visited Italy and Switzerland, where he learnt about the classic European art.
Bashinjaghian returned to Russia and settled in Tiflis (now Georgia). In 1890s Bashinjaghian had exhibitions in Moscow, Odessa, Saint Petersburg and Novocherkassk. In 1897 he created a series of oil painting of Ani, the medievial Armenian capital of thousand churches. It is known that Bashinjaghian was a citizen of Armenia.
Bashinjaghian lived in Paris from 1899 to 1901. In France he made a trip throughout the country and produced over 30 paintings.
Gevorg Bashinjaghian died on October 4, 1925 in Tiflis, Georgia, and was buried at the side of Sayat-Nova's tomb in the backyard of Saint George Cathedral.
Quotations: "The Alps are beautiful, but they cannot win your heart if you have seen the Caucasus."
Bashinjaghian became a member of the Armenian Artists' Society in 1923.
Gevorg Bashinjaghian was married to Ashkhen Katanian and had three children.