The Hidden Fate of Georgian Avant-Garde Genius petre Otskheli

Petre Otskheli (1907–1937), the Georgian modernist set and costume visionary, was a pivotal figure in 1920s–30s theatre in Tbilisi, Kutaisi, and Moscow. A student of the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts, he rose to fame alongside director Kote Marjanishvili in Kutaisi (invited in 1928) and later worked at the Moscow Maly Theatre under fellow Georgian Sergo Amaghlobeli

You’ve seen his sketches—bold lines, dreamlike shapes, movement frozen in ink. But what you probably didn’t know? Petre Otskheli, Georgia’s theatre design legend, was executed in 1937. And no one knew the truth until 1991.

For decades, Soviet records claimed he was just “exiled.” But the real story was darker. Otskheli and his friend were arrested in Moscow, called enemies of the state, and shot the very next day. He was only 30.

Years later, a dusty archive file revealed the truth.

Petre’s vision was too big, too modern, too loud for his time. He didn’t just design sets—he sculpted worlds. After his death, his works won gold at a London exhibition. Ironic, right?

Today, we remember him not just for the art—but for the silence that followed it. And the truth that finally broke it.