Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Painting & Sculpture
Bulgarian painting has had little exposure overseas, but well-regarded Bulgarian artists of
the last 150 years include Vladimir Dimitrov (1882-1960), often referred to as 'The
Master', Georgi Mashev, Michail Lutov and Zlatyu Boyadjiev. Dimitrov, who during his
life was as famous for his asceticism as his art, is known for his colourful, sometimes psy-
chedelic, images of 19th-century peasants, and you will see his work in galleries across
Bulgaria.
Contemporary Bulgarian artists include the
sculptor Todor Todorov and the abstract paint-
er Kolyo Karamfilov. However, the most
widely recognised modern Bulgarian artist is
Christo.
Bulgarian sculpture developed in the 19th
and 20th centuries, and one of the leading lights of the period was Andrei Nikolov
(1878-1959), who was influenced by contemporary French styles. His home in Sofia is
now a cultural centre and hotel. He designed the stone lion outside Sofia's Tomb of the
Unknown Soldier and more examples of his naturalistic sculptures are on show in the
city's National Art Gallery (
Click here
)
.
Find out about contemporary artists working in
Bulgaria at
www.modernbulgarianartists.com
.
CHRISTO & JEANNE-CLAUDE
The most internationally famous living Bulgarian artist is Christo Javacheff, known simply as Christo. Born in
Gabrovo in 1935, he studied at Sofia's Fine Arts Academy in the 1950s and met his French-born wife, Jeanne-
Claude, in Paris in 1958. They have worked in collaboration since 1961, when they created their first outdoor
temporary installation,
Stacked Oil Barrels,
at Cologne Harbour. Since then, the couple, who moved to New York
in 1964, have made a name for themselves with their (usually) temporary, large-scale architectural artworks, often
involving wrapping famous buildings in fabric or polypropylene sheeting to highlight their basic forms. In 1985
they created
The Pont Neuf Wrapped,
covering the Parisian landmark in golden fabric for 14 days, while in 1995
the Reichstag in Berlin was covered entirely with silver fabric. In 2005,
The Gates,
an impressive installation con-
sisting of 7503 vinyl gates spread over 32km of walkways, was unveiled in New York's Central Park. Christo and
Jeanne-Claude are still working on major projects around the world, and current schemes still in the planning
stage include
The Mastaba,
a gigantic stack of 410,000 multicoloured oil barrels - first conceived in 1977 - to be
built in the desert in Abu Dhabi. For the latest news, see
www.christojeanneclaude.net
.
