[1] Together with Lado Gudiashvili and David Kakabadze, he is considered a key figure in Georgian art of the early 20th century.

He was born in a remote Georgian village Bakhvi, Guria, Georgia.

In 1916, he took part in an expedition to the Georgian village Nabakhtevi and made copies of the 15th-century murals from the local church.

As a cartoonist, while still studying in Moscow, he began to collaborate with the Georgian Humor  magazines Lakhti (Skippng Rope), Eshmakis Matrahi (the Devil’s Whip),  as well as theater magazines: Theater and Life, Theater and Music  and the Russian-language magazine Art – all published in Tbilisi.

Afterwards he moved to Paris, where he, together with his fellow painters, Gudiashvili and Kakabadze, held an exhibition in 1921.