They met in 1919… a gifted young painter, Ketevan Maghalashvili,
and a highly educated artist, Dimitri Shevardnadze, who had returned from
Munich several years earlier. The relationship that could be described
as a romance was terminated in 1937, when Dimitri Shevardnadze was shot.
Ketevan Maghalashvili's archive has preserved Dimitri
Shevardnadze's letters, beginning in 1920. Unfortunately, Ketevan's letters
to Dimitri have not been retained, but poet Ana Kalandadze's records exist,
dating back to the time when the painter was working on her portrait.
“Ana, I want you to know this!” - Ketevan often used to say
and this prompted me to record her narrative with a shorthand accuracy”.
(Ana Kalandadze, “Translations and prosaic works”, Tbilisi, 1996)
“When a picture does not appeal to me, I tear it. Perhaps
I am making a mistake by doing so. Jacob Nikoladze kept telling Dito Shevardnadze
to take the pictures away from me. What she does is abnormal. Dito did
indeed preserve some of my works but after his arrest everything got lost…
He sacrificed his life to Metechi and I always imagine Dito's grave next
to Metechi!”
A letter without a date and end, Tbilisi:
“Ketina,
I have already written a reply to your first letter (it
was a hasty reply, though). I hope that by now you have already received
the letter and the fifty million manats. Tomorrow, on Sunday, Mikheil Zandukeli
will be travelling to Borjomi, so I am taking this opportunity to send
this message to you. Both of your letters have an air of nervousness
about them. I am very fond of your chatting, however. The main reason for
your nervousness is the lack of money. Please calm down, my dear,
and don't worry about it. I have sent you fifty million and am going to
forward some more shortly. Don't restrict yourself in meals and make
sure that you benefit from staying there. I will try to join you by all
means… Keto, I take the plan of your travel abroad very seriously. For
this reason I visit the Commissariat nearly every day. Yesterday, on July
13, the Commissar signed a paper regarding one hundred pounds sterling
and the paper has been sent somewhere. In short, have no worries about
that.
Yesterday I finished work on the medal and delivered it
to Kandelaki. It appealed to them very much and they sent it to the Central
Committee. Still, it could be rejected.
Well, what can I tell you about the news here? It has
been very hot and the heat disturbed us. Today (it's Saturday) is a rainy
day and we can breathe a little. I miss you immensely and I'd be happy
to see you. I'll try somehow to come over for a day…”
“Dito Shevardnadze was a very active person, full of
energy. There are many good painters but … deprived of this trait,” Ketevan
noted.”
Tbilisi, September 3, 1920 (a letter without an end):
“Keto,
Mito has delivered your letter to me. I also received
a telegram from Tamar. Upon receipt of the telegram, Archil found a driver
from Tianeti and learned that the car is going back on September 1st. So,
I am also getting ready to travel on that date. I have obtained a three-day
leave from the Ministry of Education. What bad luck! On the very day of
my departure Archil told me that the car turned out to be so damaged that
it needed a month's repair to be fixed. Now it is impossible to travel
by car and he suggested riding horses. Here we had no luck either. See,
how unlucky I am! I barely managed to get freedom for three days and then
failed to use it. Now I am back to work again and I won't make a move until
I get it done. The Art Gallery is arranging an exhibition of old painters'
works. The paintings are going to be collected both from public institutions
and from individuals. Holding this exhibition requires a great deal of
effort. I will also need to go to the provinces to this end. I have been
advised that there are around a hundred old pictures in one family in Tsinandali.
I must go there to see them and if they turn out to be interesting, I'll
bring them for the exhibition.
I'll probably travel this week. How close to you I'll
be! But I won't be able to come over to your place. Keto, please find out
if anyone has got samples of old paintings in Tianeti as well. If so, try
to bring them for the exhibition…
I must reveal the truth to you. I miss you so much! Mita
told me Keto has gained so much weight that we are even making fun of her.
I hope that your mother and Tamar are well and have also put on some weight.
How interesting it would be to see you…
Take care of your health and leave the rest to me to look
after. I'll find such a job for you that you will need nothing at all.
I have recently bought oil paint for you for 5,000 manats. They will last
you a long time. We have plenty of canvases as well and my studio is at
your disposal. So, the only thing that you would need is your health and
energy. I do hope you will bring them along with you.
You are complaining in your letter that my letters to
you are too curt. But there is nothing much that I can write you
about. I have been very busy this summer but I think you would find it
boring if I kept writing to you all about it. And there was nothing else
worthy of interest …”
“Third-rate paintings from Russia were to be sent to
the republics. Dito refused, saying that he was going to found a Georgian
Louvre in Georgia. Dito was right. If the decision were up to me, I'd have
filtered out all the museums, leaving only the fine quality pictures.”
Moscow, February 18, 1930
“My dear Keto,
Hello from Moscow! I traveled like a pasha and I've been
well accommodated here thanks to the Kaluzhskis…
As soon as I arrived, that is, on the 15th February, the
Kaluzhskis took me to their place. They spoke of all of you with much love
and of you in particular. Eliso asked me why you were not writing to her.
I told her you were a piglet and that's why… didn't I tell her the truth?…
I haven't been to theatres at all. I was too busy, I have too many things
to get done. Now I'm going to see Zdanevich. Finding his address turned
out to be a hard job. I do hope I'll manage to buy pictures from
him. Yesterday Nata, Kolia Shengelaia and I had dinner together and drank
to your health. Nata has had her hair cut short and it becomes her very
much…
Dito”
“I'm very fond of jewelry,” she told me, taking the ring off her finger. A young rider was carved on the carnelian (the stone was a present from by Dito Shevardnadze, Dito had a collection of many precious gems and stones)...”
Moscow, February 22, 1930
“All my efforts at criticizing you before Eliso and Zhenia
(for your piggishness) have failed. They still love you and drink to your
health. I can do nothing about it and I am joining them.
Dito”
“…I hate writing letters. And it's so utterly disrespectful when you are not responding to the letters you receive!”
Tbilisi, April 25, 1930
“Keto,
Your folks at home are upset because you are not writing
to them. It won't be a big deal if you would send them postcards occasionally.
We hear news about you from other people. Neither your family nor myself
have heard anything from you for quite some time. Stop being that piglet,
will you…
Dito”
“Ketevan could not conceal her amazement when in one article Dito Shevardnadze happened to be a director of the State Art Gallery. 'Dito Shevardnadze was not the director but the founder of this gallery,' she told me. 'Dito established its fund, he brought pictures from everywhere, even from private collectors! …Dito knew how to arrange expositions with such exquisite taste that even the Germans were astonished when the exhibition opened there. He had also organized an exhibition in Moscow.'”
Moscow, November 25, 1930
“My dear Keto,
It's been a fortnight already that I left Tbilisi and
haven't managed to write a proper letter to you… my trip abroad was scheduled
for the 21st of this month but it has been put off. They told me it's going
to happen soon though. I don't know what the outcome is going to be… Since
we have plenty of time, the day before yesterday, on November 23rd, we
arranged the exhibition of Pirosmani's pictures… There was a grand opening
in the Museum of Fine Arts (the former Museum of Alexander III).
…I received a telegram from Giorgi Natidze saying that
he was planning to buy Pirosmani's “The Ortachala Beauty”. Has he bought
it? I wrote him to buy it. If the picture has already been purchased, please
tell Susana to make a shot of it and sent three copies to Moscow. Also
tell her to print the following photos of Pirosmani's pictures: 1) The
hen and the chickens (the small one), 2) The hen and the chickens (the
big one) belonging to Titsian Tabidze and 3) Baking bread in a tone. Please
send the photos to Eliso's address… I'd appreciate if Giorgi could write
me in detail about the gallery…
Dito”
“Dito was collecting Pirosmani's pictures. That is why the director of the Mirzaani Museum asked me to sell Dito Shevardnadze's portrait to the Mirzaani Museum. I refused by telling him that if I decided to give Dito Shevardnadze's portrait away, I'd hand it over only to the museum that he founded in Tbilisi.”
Leningrad, December 25, 1930
“Greetings, Keto!
It has been a long time since I last wrote you. You haven't
been prolific either. Here in Leningrad I've got as much time now as I
want so I keep writing letters to everybody.
Yesterday, on December 25, we had the opening of the exhibition
of the Pirosmanishvili's paintings. In Moscow the opening day was much
more formal. Here the atmosphere was more intimate and warmer. Many painters
came, introduced themselves and thanked me. “It is a great occasion for
all of us here. Pirosmanishvili offers a stimulating experiences. His works
enlighten and invigorate. It's a pity that you cannot stay longer.” The
same day one group of painters invited me to their studio (at Lebedev's)
and we were discussing Pirosmani until two o'clock in the morning...
Your Dito”
“Kornelia von Fewerberg has sent Rembrandt's big album as a gift from Holland. The album has nearly everything in it, she says, but it still isn't comprehensive. She also said that in Munich she saw his “Rabbi” (from a private collection) and it was so fantastic that although she hates writing letters, she sat down and wrote a letter to Dito Shevardnadze telling him that she'd seen such and such painting of Rembrandt.”
Moscow, December 3, 1936
“Dear Keto,
I'm writing from Moscow as I have promised. I arrived
here from Leningrad on December 1st. I had all the museum exhibits packed
in Hermitage by November 20, but I've been delayed because sending the
unaccompanied baggage turned out to be a big problem…
By the way, there's some news that I want to share with
you. Something that was absolutely unexpected for me. I am invited to Leningrad
by “Lenfilm” as a consultant for “The Trip to Arzrum”.
I must be back in Leningrad again by January 1st… Could you come to
Moscow by that time or to Leningrad for that matter?
That's it, my dear Ketevan. Such is the news update from
here.
I was expecting a letter from you would be waiting at Eliso's, but
you turned out to be even worse than I am.
Don't want to bore you any more. Your Dito is writing
to you at three a.m. on the third day of this month.
Dito”
“I hate being idle, unoccupied with my work. What on earth can be a more pleasant load for an artist? I'd be happy to work day and night…”
Leningrad, January 5, 1937
“Happy New Year, Keto!
I arrived in Leningrad on January 1st instead of December
30th. The train from Tbilisi was thirteen hours late and all the trains
for Leningrad had left already. Therefore, I had to spend one more day
at Eliso's place. Eliso thought that you were coming together with me and
she and Olga waited for you till four o'clock in the morning. I spoke with
Tamar by telephone. She was very sorry to learn that you haven't arrived…
I am staying at the Astoria hotel. It is a warm
room with a bathroom. We have already started working on the film. They
took my advice and have redone the script those pieces that are about
Georgia. They'll start shooting soon. We might be going to Moscow for a
couple of days to record Georgian songs there. The weather in Leningrad
is terribly rainy. I really prefer Moscow's frosts…
Regards to everyone and all the best,
Dito”
“When Dito Shevardnadze was dismissed from the director's
post (several months before his arrest), many of his “friends” and acquaintances
kept away from him. One of them was particularly striking - someone
who used to be with him day and night. I couldn't stand it and told him
in Grigol Tsereteli's presence, 'What a sly man that friend of yours!'
'Don't say so, Ketevan,' he said. Then Grigol turned to Dito: 'Yes, Ketevan
is right. She calls everything by their true names.'
Dito would never say anything bad about anyone. It
happened extremely rarely if at all.”
Tbilisi, July 28 (the year is not indicated)
“Dear Keto,
Today Valiko Eristavi is coming to Borjomi. If I receive
the money today or tomorrow (on Saturday), I'll be coming together with
Mikhako by all means on Sunday morning. If I don't get the money yet, then
I'll have to wait till I'm paid. Keto, my dear, please don't worry. Wait
for me and we'll come back together. All major things have been arranged
already. There has been no reply from Germany yet but we'll see to that
as well. In short, all your concerns on the issue are futile and your rush
to come back is a hasty decision…
Keto, I asked Valiko to lend you twenty million manats
until I arrive. He has money now. So, please have no worry. When we spoke
by telephone today, I could hardly hear you and couldn't make out much
of what you were saying. I only understood that you were planning to leave
and I asked you to wait. Valiko is going to tell you everything in detail…
Your Dito”
“Dito had an idea of having a new building constructed for the museum on the Metechi territory. At that time (1937) preparations for Rustaveli's anniversary celebrations were underway. Beria wanted to demolish the Metechi church and have a statue of Rustaveli there. Dito brought some eminent representatives of the city's intelligentsia together and they went to see Beria. It seemed they persuaded Beria to change his mind, but after the audience was over Beria asked Dito to stay. 'I'll have you bring the church down with your own hands,' he said.”
Tbilisi (no date)
“Dear Keto,
I have just received your letter and I am worried that
you are so nervous. Please calm down, my dear, and don't be concerned about
anything. Your affairs seem to be progressing pretty well. The Commissariat
for Education has already purchased one hundred pounds sterling for you
in the bank. Your passport will also be ready soon. I am collecting myself
all the information that they require and thus speeding up the process.
Today Baron and I are writing a document where we commit to being your
guarantors. So, dear Keto, have no worries.
As far as my arrival is concerned, it all depends on money
because I must bring Mikhako with me and, therefore, I need money for that.
Keto, I will come by all means and please wait for me there. If necessary,
you will return to Tbilisi together with me. We haven't received our salaries
yet. As soon as I get the money, I'll come immediately. But please be patient
till then. All of your folks are keeping well. At this point I don't have
a chance to let them know about this possibility of sending a letter to
you because the young man who has delivered your letter is waiting for
me to finish this message.
Ketina, scolding me for having forgotten you is really
unjust. Because I have never missed an opportunity to write to you if there
was anyone travelling to your place.
Anyway, Keto, wait until I arrive. I'll come by all means,
I'm just waiting for the money.
That's it.
Please take care and don't worry,
Your Dito”
“One night Dito knocked at my door… I realized that things were really bad. He returned the two thousand manats that he had kept for me in his safe for my brother's medical treatment. He also gave me his pocket watch which I later gave to his cousin. But she returned it to me very soon saying that the watch should be with me… Shortly after that Dito was arrested…”