Aleksandr Sharvashidze

Aleksandr Konstantinovich Chachba-Sharvashidze (Georgian: ალექსანდრე კონსტანტინის ძე შარვაშიძე, Abkhaz: Алеқсандр Константин-иҧа Чачба-Шарвашиӡе, 1867–1968) was a painter from the Russian Empire and member of the Chachba- Sharvashidze princely dynasty of Abkhazia. He was the grandson of the Abkhazian ruler Sefer Ali-Bey.^[1] His father Constantine was part of the 1832 conspiracy of Georgian nobility against Russian rule. Following the death of his cousin, Giorgi Sharvashidze in 1918, Alexander was the locum tenens of the Abkhazian throne.

From 1907 until 1918 Sharvashidze worked a scenographer at the Saint Petersburg Mariinsky and Alexandrinsky theatres. He co-operated with Alexandre Benois, Aleksandr Golovin, Valentin Serov and Pablo Picasso.^[2] He requested for all his work to be left to Georgia after his death.

After the Russian Revolution, Sharvashidze went into exile in France. He died on 17 August 1968 at the age of 101 in the hostel for the elderly in Monaco, and was buried at the Russian cemetery in Nice. On 12 May 1985, Sharvashidze was ceremonially reburied in the centre of the Abkhazian capital Sukhumi.^[3] On 24 December 2013, a monument was unveiled on his grave.^[4]

On 21 January 2024, the Central Exhibition Hall,^[5] in Sukhumi, which stored precious artworks from Abkhazia's National Art Gallery, burned down, resulting in the tragic loss of over four thousand artworks, including up to 300 pieces by Alexander Chachba-Shervashidze.^[6]