Projects

120 YEARS SINCE THE BIRTH OF TSANKO LAVRENOV (1896 - 1978)

Presentation of the project for the already realized edition

Organizers: Tsanko Lavrenov Foundation and Sofia City Art Gallery

Idea: Tsanko Lavrenov is among the famous Bulgarian artists of the twentieth century, whose work determines the appearance of our culture. The celebration of the 120th anniversary of his birth is an occasion to realize the first in scale and design representative printed edition, which will gather on its pages a significant part of the pictorial and graphic art of the artist, combined with texts by and by Tsanko Lavrenov. The volume of the edition is expected to be about 450 pages. For the first time, after extensive work in the archive of Lavrenov, will be placed interesting documents and photographs related to his life and career. The idea is to present one of the great Bulgarian artists as closely and variously as possible, by making a new reading of his creative work. A separate edition will be printed in English,

Background : The last major exhibition of Tsanko Lavrenov was arranged in 2002 at the National Gallery in Sofia. This exhibition, as well as the others after his death, focused mainly on his painting and without in-depth research. The only monograph for the artist from 1972 is with a text that is influenced by the conjuncture of the time and can not claim professional art analysis. Therefore, the designed book-album for Tsanko Lavrenov will be practically the first in-depth, professional presentation of the artist, realized through a rich illustration of his work.

Aim of the project : The publication is expected to show works from all stages of the artist's work - paintings, watercolors, drawings, photographs, documents, detailed and well-illustrated biography. An interesting highlight will be the early, modernist works of the 1920s. Works from the 30s and 40s related to the theme "Old Plovdiv", the artist's travels to Mount Athos and the painting cycle with monasteries will stand out as special accents. Of interest are the historical paintings of Tsanko Lavrenov and his compositions from the late period (60s-70s) of his work.

Contributions : The edition is the first in its comprehensiveness and as a quality of the polygraphic reproduction of Tsanko Lavrenov's paintings it has the ambitions to be incomparable. Due to its strongly research character and the analysis of the works, based on the newly discovered documentary material and the memoirs of Tsanko Lavrenov, the project has an indisputable contribution to the study of the history of Bulgarian art. It would be of interest to the specialized audience - art critics, artists and collectors, as well as to art lovers who meet for the first time the work of Tsanko Lavrenov, as it also has an educational character.

English edition of the book

After the press exit is complete bibliography of Tcanko Lavrenov with author Janet Miteva, the "Tcanko Lavrenov" continues its activities in the monograph - in 2020 will come from the English-language print edition, the financing of which continue to recruit Cleaners.

THE ARCHIVES OF THE TSANKO LAVRENOV FOUNDATION

In addition to documentary material and memoirs of Tsanko Lavrenov, the Foundation acquires, preserves and restores archival materials related to the work of important Bulgarian artists. Some of them were presented for the first time within the exhibition "Small stories - drawings and documents" in 2019. Others included in the section "Archive" on the page of the foundation, which is to be expanded with new sections and materials. One of the missions of our Foundation is to continue collecting and digitizing with high quality as much of the archive as possible owned by the Foundation, so that it is available for use by researchers and other interested art lovers.

145 YEARS SINCE THE BIRTH OF HRISTO BERBEROV

Hristo Berberov was born in the town of Elena. He was one of the first artists to study at the Royal Academy of Arts "Albertina" in Turin. After returning to Bulgaria he was a teacher in Plovdiv and Sofia. From 1912-1922 he taught anatomy and perspective at the School of Art and Industry. He deals with graphics, paints portraits, landscapes and compositions.

2020 marks the 145th anniversary of his birth. The event will be celebrated in the NG-Palace with a proper exhibition of his paintings and graphics.

On the occasion of the artist's anniversary, the team of the Tsanko Lavrenov Foundation and the Bulgarian-European Cultural Dialogues Center are preparing a bilingual monograph with documentary and artistic material.

COLLECTION OF TSANKO LAVRENOV FOUNDATION

Without undue modesty we show the visible results achieved in the last year in the activities of the collection . We are confident that this request will motivate us even more purposefully to devote ourselves to this field. We hope that over the years we will create a valuable collection that will be public. Our exhibits are always available for both professionals and the general public. We do not accept that access to valuable artifacts is a privilege for a few, nor that "collectors" should be associated only with select circles and secret societies.

In the exhibition "Small Stories - Drawings and Documents" from 2019, the Tsanko Lavrenov Foundation showed works from its collection that are not part of the family heritage of the artist Tsanko Lavrenov. As a testament to the purposeful gathering that has become one of the foundation's missions, this exhibition has naturally been a continuation of the presentation of the new acquisitions in the fund, organized by the foundation in 2015 again in the hall of the Laurent Gallery. we plan to turn the new arrivals into an annual tradition and event related to the celebration of spring and the new during the year.

Tsanko Lavrenov Foundation is pleased to provide works from its collection when organizing exhibitions by other organizations. Thus, in 2020, works from our fund were included in the exhibition dedicated to the 130th anniversary of the birth of Konstantin Shtarkelov at the Sofia City Art Gallery .