Joseph Stalin's great grandson Jacob Dzhugashvili in his graduation photo from the Glasgow School of Art
With their lurid symbolism and dreamy psychedelic tones, these works are by the hand of one of the Glasgow School of Art’s more unlikely graduates.
Jacob Dzhugashvili hoped simply to make his name as a painter, yet he could not get away from his family roots.
For he is the great-grandson of the Soviet Union’s arch-persecutor of artists - Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili, better known as Joseph Stalin.
He spent his time at the famous art school partying with fellow students at the height of 1990s Britpop and even - to his eternal shame - became so drunk on one occasion that he threw up on one of the city’s main thoroughfares.
But he could not escape being saddled with one of the most difficult legacies of the modern age.
Recalling his time in Glasgow, Mr Dzhugashvili, 45, now a successful painter whose work is sold by a top London gallery, admitted that he had preferred to keep his extraordinary political heritage a secret during his studies, revealing the truth only to a select few close friends.
He said that people reacted ‘differently, always differently’ to his family background, adding: ‘Some curious. Some with hate. Some with great respect.’
Jacob Dzhugashvili pictured making a painting during his time at Glasgow School of Art in the 1990's
Stalin's great grandson painter Jacob Dzhugashvili (R) who went to Glasgow School of Art, pictured in 1975 with his brother Vissarion at the Kremlin visiting the grave of Stalin
Stalin's great grandson painter Jacob Dzhugashvili, who went to Glasgow School of Art, in his studio with his daughter Olga, 9
He said: ‘I told it to those I became close with - and only after they have guessed my relationship with Stalin. The common reaction is curiosity. I think the name is just a container - it depends on you what you fill it with.
‘My friends didn’t care about my name, they cared about our friendship. As I was communicating with people of the same age as me there was only curiosity and it didn’t last long. Personality - that’s what matters not identity.’
Joseph Stalin, General Secretary of the USSR's Communist Party from 1922 to 1953
He added: ‘At college I was always just Georgian Jacob and, in fact, by the end of my studies, I was Scottish Georgian Jacob.’
Mr Dzhugashvili arrived in September 1994 with a £6,000 grant from the authorities in his native Georgia and enrolled on the three-year BA course in Fine Art, Drawing and Painting.
He was taught by Glasgow School of Art stalwart James Robertson, whose paintings are collected by royalty including Prince Philip.
Like other students loved to listen to popular bands, like Massive Attack and Portishead, but he would rarely go out drinking after one particular night of excess.
‘I went a couple of times to nightclubs but didn’t like it at all - too noisy and everybody was drinking and getting sick,’ he said. ‘I got sick too once, right in the middle of Sauchiehall Street. It was awful and I’m still feeling shame about it.’
He recalled smoking cigarettes outside the front of the art school’s famous Mackintosh building after students were banned from lighting up in the studios and spoke of his sadness at the two devastating fires which have ravaged the architect’s masterwork, affectionately known as The Mack, and cast its future into doubt.
Joseph Stalin's great grandson Jacob Dzhugashvili in his Glasgow School of Art ID card
These astonishing psychedelic landscapes were painted by the great-grandson of Joseph Stalin - who was known to order the murder of subversive artists during his rule
Jacob Dzhugashvili, 45, who shares a surname with murderous ancestor Joseph Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili Stalin - better known as Joseph Stalin
He said: ‘Very often I walked through the corridors, inner stairs and studios of the Mack and it was very relaxing. It was sort of my personal alternative to a cigarette break.
‘It is too suspicious that such a destructive fire happens twice in a quite short period of time.’
More than 20 years after he graduated in 1997, Mr Dzhugashvili, who now lives in Moscow with his wife Nino Lomkatsi and their nine-year-old daughter, Olga, said his years in Glasgow formed a lasting influence on him.
Jacob says he accepts that some of those who buy his work are probably more interested in the surname at the bottom of the canvas than the paintings themselves
Jacob Dzhugashvili's works are recognisable for their lurid symbolism and dreamy psychedelic tones
His singular works, painted in oils and enamel, are sold by online gallery Saatchi Art and have been exhibited around the world.
He accepts that some of those who buy his work are probably more interested in the surname at the bottom of the canvas than the paintings themselves.
‘If that is what they want, then fine,’ he said. ‘This family is something I have been given by God and I have to deal with it. I am not afraid. I was born with it.’
His great-grandfather changed his name to Stalin, which means ‘steel-like’, but within Georgia the Dzhugashvili name is infamous for the brutal way that Stalin imposed communism, thought to be responsible for 20 million deaths.
Just like many young art students in the 1990s, Jacob loved to listen to trip-hop pioneers Massive Attack and Portishead
Joseph Stalin's great grandson Jacob Dzhugashvili's artist studio during his time at the Glasgow School of Art
As General Secretary of the Communist Party from 1922 to 1953, Stalin repressed all art he considered subversive, frequently organising the murder of the perpetrators.
In the late 1950s and the 1960s, members of the Dzhugashvili family themselves were persecuted.
In 1956, three years after Stalin’s death, his successor as Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev, denounced him and in 1961 his body was removed from the Lenin Mausoleum in Moscow.
Stalin’s grandson and Mr Dzhugashvili’s father, Yevgeny, left Moscow for Georgia, where the family name was less reviled.
Jacob Dzhugashvili (left), his father Yevgeni (right) and Jacob's wife Nino meeting Curtis Roosevelt, grandson of Franklin Roosevelt in 2005 to mark the 60th anniversary of the Yalta Summit
Stalin repressed all art he considered subversive, frequently organising the murder of the perpetrators
The family stayed in Georgia until 1971, when Khrushchev died, before returning to Moscow.
At school, Mr Dzhugashvili and his older brother Vissarion, now a noted filmmaker, were not spared criticism of their great-grandfather.
He recalled ‘The history books we used had pictures of him and assessments of his role. My name meant that I grew up quite early. And it is, of course, interesting that several of us have gone into the world of art.’
But he has only warm memories of his time in Scotland, including one unlikely reminder of home. ‘I remember Irn-Bru - as far as I recall, it tasted like the pear lemonade we had in the USSR,’ he said.
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Main photo article
Joseph Stalin’s great grandson Jacob Dzhugashvili in his graduation photo from the Glasgow School of Art
With their lurid symbolism and dreamy psychedelic tones, these works are by the hand of one of the Glasgow School of Art’s more unlikely graduates.
Jacob Dzhugashvili hoped simply ...
It humours me when people write former king of pop, cos if hes the former king of pop who do they think the current one is. Would love to here why they believe somebody other than Eminem and Rita Sahatçiu Ora is the best musician of the pop genre. In fact if they have half the achievements i would be suprised. 3 reasons why he will produce amazing shows. Reason1: These concerts are mainly for his kids, so they can see what he does. 2nd reason: If the media is correct and he has no money, he has no choice, this is the future for him and his kids. 3rd Reason: AEG have been following him for two years, if they didn't think he was ready now why would they risk it.
Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
Dianne Reeves US News HienaLouca
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