Kirill Zdanevich

Kirill Zdanevich was a Russian-Georgian painter associated with Cubo-Futurism and the elder brother of the poet Ilya Zdanevich. Born in Kojori to a Polish father and Georgian mother, he graduated from the St Petersburg Art Academy in 1918, joined the Donkey's Tail group alongside Larionov and Goncharova, and became a central figure of the Tbilisi avant-garde, notably helping discover and champion the painter Niko Pirosmani. Arrested in 1949 on a false charge and imprisoned until 1957, he was later rehabilitated and spent his final years working in illustration and stage design.