Werner Rüdiger's photo diary
On October 4, at 18:00, an exhibition of photographs taken by the German artist, traveler and researcher Werner Rüdiger in Georgia and the historical Tao-Klarjeti in the 70s-80s of the twentieth century will open at the Palace of Arts with the support of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany.
The exhibition is interesting in many ways, because many of the Georgian historical monuments captured in the photographs have already been changed or no longer exist. In addition to artistic and ethnographic, the photographs also have scientific significance, since the author has photographed lapidary and fresco inscriptions in detail; of these, the 12-line Asomtavruli inscription of Mamatsminda is worthy of special mention.
Within the framework of the exhibition, a presentation of the bilingual (Georgian/German) catalog “Werner Rüdiger’s Photo Diary” will be organized.
The German traveler first arrived in Georgia in 1971. According to his diary entries, there was almost no literature about Turkey and Georgia at that time. He learned a little from the book “Gurjistan” by Ahmed Ozgan and Alia Melashvili, published in Istanbul in 1968. Later, in Munich, where Rüdiger worked as a graphic artist, he came across A. Sanders’ book “Caucasus” published in 1924 in an antique shop. It was a collection of historical essays that described in detail the historical and architectural monuments of Georgia.
It is worth noting that the collection of paintings by Werner Rüdiger has been kept at the Georgian Palace of Arts since 2009, and the artist donated more than 300 unique photographs to the museum in 2018.
The exhibition will run at the Palace of Arts until October 21.