FAMOUS BULGARIAN PAINTERS

Vladimir Dimitrov Maistora Vladimir Dimitrov - the Master is a prominent Bulgarian painter. One of the biggest names in Bulgarian painting. He worked in the first half of the twentieth century. Manifested in portrait or landscape genre and household composition. His portraits and compositions have expressive colors, idealistic and highly symbolic pattern transmission

The best of his pictures

I v a n M i l e v Ivan Milev Lalev was a Bulgarian painter and scenographer regarded as the founder of the Bulgarian Secession and a representative of Bulgarian modernism, combining symbolism, Art Nouveau and expressionism in his work. Ivan Milev was born in the town of Kazanlak in the family of shepherd Milyu Lalev. In 1917-1918, he fought as a soldier in World War I. On 18 November 1918, the same year that he finished high school in his hometown, he arranged an exhibition in Kazanlak. For two years he was a teacher in Gorski Izvor, Haskovo Province. In 1920, he was admitted to the National Academy of Arts in Sofia, where he studied under Prof. , and had three one-man exhibitions. In the summer of 1923, he visited Turkey, Greece and Italy with a group of fellow students. He was introduced to the achievements of the Italian Renaissance and the Italian Baroque in Rome, Naples, Florence and Venice. In 1926, he graduated in set decoration from the National Academy and worked for the Ivan Vazov National Theatre as a stage designer.

Dimitar Giudjenov Born on 26th January 1891 in Stara Zagora. Son of the artist Atanas Gudzenov. In 1915 graduated from the Arts Industrial School in Sofia, art of painting, the class of Prof. Tzeno Todorov. At the same time /1913 - 1915/ he had been student at the National School of Fine Arts in Paris, the class of Prof. F. Kormon. From 1920 to 1933 he had been lecturer at the Academy of Arts in Sofia. After 1925 the main style in the creative works of Gudzhenov became the historic art of painting. His works cover other styles as well – genre painting, portrait, landscape. He regularly participated in the exhibitions of the Society of South Bulgarian Artists, of which he has been fellow-founder, 1911/, the “Modern Art” Society /fellow 1920 - 1927/ and the Society of the Artists in Bulgaria /he has been its chair for the period 1931 -1941/. He took part also in joint exhibitions in Berlin, Prague, Vienna, New York. Gudzhenov is author of the mural paintings and icons in a number of churches in Sofia, Varna, Stara Zagora, Plovdiv. From 1933 to 1945 he worked as artist with the headquarters of the Bulgarian army. He created a gallery of historic figures and numerous genre painting scenes. He deceased on 25th August 1979 in Sofia.

Ivan Mrkvicka Ivan Mrkvička (23 April 1856 – 16 May 1938) was a Czech-born painter and an active contributor to the artistic life of newly-liberated Bulgaria in the late 19th and early 20th century. He is regarded as one of the founders of the modern Bulgarian fine art tradition. Born in the village of Vidim pri Duba, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague and the Munich Academy. Mrkvička came to Plovdiv in 1881 after an invitation by the then-Eastern Rumelian government and worked as a teacher in the Cyril and Methodius high school, where he co-operated with the most important cultural figures in the city — Ivan Vazov, Konstantin Velichkov, Petko Karavelov, Petko Slaveykov. Mrkvička settled in Sofia in 1889 and was one of the founders of the National Academy of Arts in 1896, but briefly returned to Plovdiv in 1892 to take part in a special exhibition in the Plovdiv Fair main pavilion. He there presented 15 paintings. The painter's most significant achievements are in the everyday life genre, although he also worked in the historic painting sphere and is the author of many high-quality portraits. One of the creators of the then-coat of arms of Bulgaria and the coat of arms of Sofia, he became a Bulgarian Academy of Sciences member in 1918.

Svetlin Rusev Svetlin Rusev Valchev Bulgarian artist, publicist, collector of works of art, academician of Academy of Sciences. Ends painting in 1959 under Professor Dechko Uzunov. In 1977 he became a professor. President of the Union of Bulgarian Artists in the period 1973-1985 From 1985 to 1988 was director of the National Art Gallery.

Stoian Venev Born Sept. 21, 1904, in the village of Skriniano, Kiustendil Okrug. Bulgarian artist. Venev studied in the Art Academy in Sofia. In the 1920’s and 1930’s he became a master of proletarian satirical graphic art. Since the second half of the 1930’s he has produced mostly humorous scenes from peasant life (The Merry Year, 1957, National Art Gallery in Sofia). His painting is festively bright and physical, with a generalized treatment of stocky figures and rhythmic composition. A series of his late paintings is characterized by a severe dramatic and heroic spirit. He received the Dimitrov Prize in 1950 and 1953 and was named a People’s Artist in 1954.

Tsanko Lavrenov Born Nov. 24, 1896, in Plovdiv. Bulgarian painter and graphic artist; People’s Artist (1963); Hero of Socialist Labor (1969). Lavrenov attended a private art school in Vienna (1921–22). Using the icon and miniatures traditions of the Bulgarian Renaissance, as well as making detailed study of ancient architecture, Lavrenov concentrates on painting ancient cities and monasteries, often set in mountain landscapes—for example, Old Plovdiv (1946, the painter’s private collection). He prefers historical, folkloric, and occasionally fairy-tale and fantastic subjects and is fond of the triptych form. His painting For Freedom (1932, National Museum of the Bulgarian Revolutionary Movement in Sofia) protests fascist terror. Lavrenov’s paintings are imaginative, display vivid details, and use a decorative and harmonious palette.

Zlatio Boiadjiev Zlatio Georgiev Boiadjiev (October 22, 1903 – February 2, 1976) was a Bulgarian painter. He is known for his portraits and landscapes, depicting mainly the Old Town of Plovdiv and village life in its vicinity. Born in the village of Brezovo, Plovdiv region, Boiadjiev graduated in painting from the Academy of Fine Arts, Sofia in 1932. His work is generally divided into two main periods — up until 1951, when he fell ill by a stroke and temporarily gave up painting, — then from the time of his partial recovery a few years later until his death in 1976, in Plovdiv, the second largest Bulgarian City. After the stroke he was working with his left hand and in a completely different manner.