Opening: Thursday, 12 December, at 6 p.m.
Lyuben Dimitrov is not only a figure notable for his rich oeuvre in Bulgarian decoratively monumental sculpture of the 20th century, but also a kind of school for the synthesis between that sculpture and architecture.
Over 60 works produced by the artist between 1929 and 1986 are to be found in Sofia and around Bulgaria: figurative and decorative sculptural decoration of public buildings, monuments, portraits of famous intellectuals. Between 1939 and 1975, he lectured at the National Academy of Arts.
Even as a child, Dimitrov became enthralled by the powerful expressiveness of sculpture, after having discovered a reproduction of ‘They Won’ (1913), by Ivan Lazarov, in a reader. Later, through a publication on the history of the ancient world, illustrated by Gustave Doré with drawings of the figural exhibits he had made in museums, he became acquainted with the arts of Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, Ancient Greece, and Rome, defining as ‘realism’ the relationship between plastic form and natural assets. This view of his developed over time and found its embodiment throughout his professional career.
This aesthetic standpoint might explain Lyuben Dimitrov’s engagement with exhibition life throughout the 1930s; despite being one of the founders of the Society of New Artists in 1931, only a year later he refused to be counted among its leadership and did not even take part in the annual exhibition. At the same time, he accepted Danail Dechev’s invitation to display works at the 20th jubilee exhibition of the Society of South Bulgarian Artists. Ultimately, he remained permanently associated with Native Art—both because of the close ties he maintained with his colleagues from this circle, but mainly owing to Prof. Ivan Lazarov’s initially inspiring connection.
Institutions in Sofia for which the sculptor worked included the Central Cooperative Bank at 2, Ivan Vazov St. (1929); the Seventh Secondary School at 28, Tsar Ivan Shishman St. (1938); the Bulgarian National Bank (1939); the Ministry of the Interior (1939); the Ministry of Defence (1941–42); the Sts Cyril and Methodius Public Library (1942–43); and the building on the junction of Princess Maria Louisa Blvd. and Exarch Joseph Street (1961). For St Kliment Ohridski Sofia University, he designed the pair of lions at the entrance to the library (1932) and the figural cartouches on the southern (1954) and northern (1979–83) wings. During the major reconstruction of the Ivan Vazov National Theatre between 1972 and 1976, he sculpted the bifigural compositions above the four corners of the viewing tract, the figures for the niches in the side façades and two free-standing allegorical figures for the Balcony I foyer. In 1985, six allegorical figures sheltered in niches were installed on the façade of the then National Gallery of Foreign Art (today, Kvadrat 500).
Among Lyuben Dimitrov’s emblematic works is the bifigural composition titled ‘All Quiet on Shipka’, created for the interior of the ossuary on the historic peak (1957). To celebrate the centenary of the heroic events of August 1877, a decorative wall with relief compositions was completed along the steps leading up to Shipka Peak. A monument to Hadji Dimitar (1961) was also erected in the same region of the Balkan Mountains, in the Buzludzha locality. Other works around Bulgaria include ‘The Surrender of Osman Pasha’, a relief at Yasen Railway Station, near Pleven (1965); the allegorical figure on horseback at the entry point to Gabrovo (1966); the figures on the bridge over the Banska River in Kyustendil (1969); the monument to Ivaylo’s Warriors in the Demir Kapia locality near Kotel (1972); and that of Panayot Volov in the centre of Shumen (1978–84).
The exhibition also features seven easel works owned by the National Gallery, the Sofia City Art Gallery, the Kazanlak Art Gallery, and the artist’s heirs. Several of the listed monumental sculptures will be displayed as photographs.
Media Partner: BTA / Bulgarian News Agency
Vessela Christova-Radoeva, exhibition curator
