Sculpture

Icons depicting Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the saints were produced on wood or etched into silver then covered with gilt during the Golden Age. Sculpture most often took the form of elaborate frescoes on the outside of churches. (Although frescoes often are associated with paintings, they are actually colored plaster that, when used in thick layers, becomes sculptural.) Elaborate mosaics also decorated many churches, although few survive today.

The tradition of sculpture continues today. Elaborate metalwork graces even the most simple structures, and several extremely large sculptures produced in the 1960s and 1970s depict Russian heroes and folktales. In the 20th century, several Georgian sculptors have gained international recognition. Among them is Elguja Amasukheli, whose monuments are landmarks in Tbilisi.

Large figurative sculpture was considered heretical by the Orthodox church and therefore never prospered in Georgia. The consummate artistry of Georgian stone carvers can be seen, however, in the relief work on building facades and capitals, and on altar screens. Carving techniques developed hand in hand with metalworking. Both traditions date to antiquity, when native skills had already reached a high level. Contact with the Roman and Hellenistic worlds also contributed to the evolution of a Georgian style. The early incorporation of Christian iconography with pagan motifs is an interesting element of fifth-century sculpture.

In the sixth century the influence of Sassanid Iran can be seen in some of the forms. The altar screens demanded by Georgian liturgy within the church became a focal point of sculptural decoration from the early Middle Ages. From the 11th through 13th centuries, as mural painting gained in importance, attention to interior sculpture was almost wholly transferred to the facade.

Monumental sculpture is certainly a feature of Georgia's 20th-century artistic landscape. Only a small number are executed along the lines set down by the tenets of Socialist realism. The overwhelming majority of works, especially when celebrating Georgian themes, bear the distinctive features of a national sensibility where the lesser goal of faithful likeness is replaced by the search for the embodiment of Georgian archetypes. Particularly noteworthy are the monumental sculptures of Elguja Amashukeli throughout Tbilisi: the colossal Mother Georgia, the kneeling Pirosmani, and the equestrian statue of Vakhtang Gorgasali.