Gamrekeli Iraklii Ilich

Born May 5 (17), 1894, in Gori; died May 10, 1943, in Tbilisi. Soviet theater designer. Honored Artist of the Georgian SSR (1934). Member of the CPSU since 1939.

In 1922, Gamrekeli began to work at the Sh. Rustaveli Theater in Tbilisi, where he designed the sets for more than 50 plays, including Shakespeare’s Hamlet (1925) and Othello (1937), Schiller’s The Robbers (1933), and S. Shanshiashvili’s Anzor (1928), Arsen (1936), and Georgii Saakadze (1940). During 1936-37 he also created sets for the production of Z. Paliashvili’s operas Abesalom and Eteri and Daisi at the Z. Paliashvili Theater of Opera and Ballet in Tbilisi, as well as sets for many plays at other theaters. Gamrekeli’s early works are characterized by the prevalence of abstract geometric constructions. Although in his later works he kept his early style as a foundation, Gamrekeli turned to complete architectural forms, usually treating them in the spirit of monumental romantic art. He was awarded the Order of the Badge of Honor.