Niko Pirosmani. Lion and Sun. Oil on oilcloth. State Art Museum of Georgia, Tbilisi, Georgia

Niko Pirosmani (1862—1918), a Georgian primitivist painter, orphaned at a young age, was characterized by the naïve, childlike simplicity of his subject matter and technique. He taught himself to paint as a child, creating his oil for painting, and his specialty was painting directly onto black oilcloth. He was always poor, but willing to work, and as such he held many jobs throughout his life, including a herdsman and a railroad conductor. He also created signboards, co-founded a dairy farm, and held odd jobs like house painting or white-washing buildings. Because of his destitute situation, he had little relationship with the profession of being an artist. As an example, he joined the Society of Georgian Painter but developed a strained relationship with the society after one of the other artists drew an offensive caricature of him.