The centenary of the birth of Joseph Sumbatashvili. The palette of the master

16 September – 15 October 2015

Joseph Sumbatashvili was born in 1915 in Tiflis. In 1941 he graduated from the Art Faculty of the Tbilisi Academy of Arts. In 1942 he became the chief artist of the Tbilisi Opera and Ballet Theatre. For the next twelve years, Sumbatashvili designed a lot of productions in many Georgian theatres. In addition to the intensive work in theatre, he participated in making movies ("Keto and Kote" and "Lurdzha Magdany") and animation. In 1958 Sumbatashvili moved to Moscow. From 1962 he worked as the chief artist of the Soviet Army Theatre. In collaboration with its director Leonid Heifets, Sumbatashvili designed a lot of productions including "The Death of Ivan the Terrible" (1966). For this work he was awarded a gold medal of the international scenography exhibition "The Prague Quadrennial". Sumbatashvili worked at the Moscow Art Theatre, Vakhtangov Theatre, Maly Theatre, Kirov Theatre, Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theatre and in different theatres of Poland, Bulgaria and Germany.