Painter, Author. Ilia Zdanevitch was a 20th century Georgian painter, author, along with being a publisher. Born the younger of two sons to a Polish father, Mikhail Andreevich Zdanevich, who taught high school French, his mother was Valentina Gamkrelidze, a Georgian pianist, who had been a student of Tchaikovsky. His older, Kirill, brother became an artist and the two did exhibit their works together. After finishing local schools in Georgia, he attended law school at Saint Petersburg State University, graduating in 1917. In 1913 he published in the February 13, 1913 issue of "Zakavkazskaia Rec" an article about Georgian painter, Niko Pirosmani, titled "A Natural-Born Artist"; this was his first publication. Using the pen name of Eli Eganbyuri, he published articles about two avant-garde artists, Natalia Sergeevna Goncharova and Mikhail Fyodorovich Larionov. In 1914, his article on Pirosmani was republished in another magazine. He became involved with the Russian Futurism movement, publishing articles addressing this subject. During World War I, he returned to Georgia as a newspaper correspondent. During his "Tbilisi Years" in 1917 to 1919, he was part of a peaceful support system of a vibrant community of poets, artists, and composers. Joining them in 1917, his brother, Kirill, returned as a Russian military officer from the East Prussian Front with battle wounds. In 1918 he joined a Futurist group called "41 Degrees." In 1919 he began using his pen name of "Iliazd" and left Tbilisi for Batumi. In 1919 Iliazd published his first collection of zaumist styled verses, "Easter Island." After World War I and the Russian October Revolution, he immigrated to Paris, France, but was delayed as he had to stay a penniless year in Constantinople waiting for a visa to enter France by 1921. While waiting, he wrote his autobiography, "Iliazd." His brother, Kirill, attempted to join in France or immigrate to the United States, but failed, spending all but three years of life in Moscow or Tbilisi. Breaking all the rules of writing a composition, he began in 1923 his novel, "Parizhachi," which was not published until posthumously in 1994. In March of 1930 he published his not as successful second novel "Voskhishchenie" or "Rapture." In 1923, he created an avant-garde poster, Tristan Tzara's "Soirée du Coeur a barbe" or "Evening of the Bearded Heart." This was the beginning of his numerous posters, which have become very renowned through the years. As an East European refugee, he never fit in with the Parisian artists, but could be seen walking among with a couple of pet cats following him. In 1942 he was made president of Conde Nast Publications. His biography interview was published in "Vogue" magazine. During the last forty years of his life, he was busy with a host of artistic projects, including but not limited to, the analyses of church elevations, created fabrics for Coco Chanel, and created deluxe limited-edition books with the collaboration of worldwide-recognized art figures Picasso, Max Ernst, Miro, and others, who did the illustrations. Published under the house of "41 Degrees," these beautiful books were collectors' items. After learning that his brother, Kirill, was sentenced to a work camp from 1949 until 1957, he worked to have him immigrate to France, which was accomplished in 1966, yet regrettably, his brother died in 1969. From a young artist until he was age 81, his work was always an avant-garde, even though avant-garde art was constantly changing. The exhibit, "The 20th Century of Ilia Zdanevich" held in 2016 at Moscow's Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts. He married three times: His first wife was the model Axel Brokar and the couple had two children. Coco Chanel is the godmother to his daughter Michelle. His second wife and Nigerian poet was Ronke Akinsemoyin, and the couple had a son before her death from tuberculosis that was contacted in a Nazi Vichy internment camp during World War II. The third marriage in 1968 was to Madame Hélène Zdanevich, who is his widow.