Zurab Tsereteli

Zurab Konstantinovich Tsereteli (, ; born 4 January 1934) is a Georgian-Russian painter, sculptor and architect known for large-scale and at times controversial monuments. Tsereteli has served as the President of the Russian Academy of Arts since 1997. Life Zurab Konstantinovich Tsereteli was born in Tbilisi on 4 January 1934. Tsereteli studied at Tbilisi State Academy of Arts, graduating in 1958. The same year, he married Inessa Andronikashvili, a princess from a noble Georgian family that claimed patrilineal descent from Byzantine Emperor Andronikos I Komnenos. Between the years 1960–1963, Tsereteli worked as a staff artist as the Georgian Academy of Sciences, participating in research expeditions, which in turn served to influence his work. Tsereteli was then granted the position of senior master at the industrial combine of the USSR's Arts Foundation in Tbilisi, where he began to experiment with bronze, stone, glass, wood, and mosaics, as well as creating group commissions for public buildings. In 1964, he made his first trip abroad to France. He stayed in Paris for three months, during which time visited Pablo Picasso in his studio. This experience served to greatly shape his later creative production. At a later stage he also became acquainted with Marc Chagall and other Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artists, whose characteristic influences can also be seen in the artist's work.