Presentation of the catalogue "Museum Collection of the National Academy of Art. Stefan Kanchev Collection"
2025.02.18
25 February 2025 (Tuesday), 6:00 pm, Academia Gallery, 1 Shipka Street, Sofia
The publication will be presented by Dr. Milena Balcheva-Bozhkova and Assoc. Prof. Nenko Atanasov, PhD.
The Stefan Kanchev Collection contains some of the most remarkable specimens in the treasury of applied graphics kept in the Museum Collection of the National Academy of Art. It not only fully embodies the mature work of the unsurpassed virtuoso Stefan Kanchev, but is also extremely valuable because of its nature – originals painted by hand.
The catalogue "Museum Collection of the National Academy of Art. Stefan Kanchev Collection" represents the seventh museum publication in the established scientific series. It includes a selection of works by Stefan Kanchev collection donated to the Museum Collection of the Academy in 2006.
Stefan Kanchev's artistic work has long been an established standard for the highest achievements in all areas of graphic design. For the past ten years, his collection within the Museum Collection has been the subject of constant interest from artists and researchers both academically, nationally and internationally. The creation of the bilingual catalogue dedicated to Stefan Kanchev's collection is an important step in the process of research and promotion of the invaluable cultural heritage of Bulgaria.
Stefan Kanchev (1915–2001) was a pioneer of graphic design in Bulgaria. He won worldwide reputation and has been included in a number of prestigious encyclopedias about graphic design and trade marks. Japanese journals Igarashi and IDEA analyzed respectfully his philosophy and refinement in graphic design. Numerous publications in American, Hungarian, and German journals (Novum Gebrauchsgrafik, Neue Werbung), feature Kanchev as a representative of Bulgarian graphic design and an artist of singular talent and professionalism.
In 1967, he was presented at the Trademark internationall, New York, with 23 trademarks. In 1994, Stefan Kanchev was officially listed among in top ten most prominent graphic artists in the world. At the international trademark center in Ostend, Belgium, he was placed among legends like Paul Rand and Saul Bass, Yusaku Kamekura, Jacques Garamond, Franco Grignani, Josef Müller-Brockmann, Jan Rajlich, Anton Shtankovski, Hermann Zapf. Stefan Kanchevʼs work is a remarkable mix of cosmopolitanism and faithful adherence to Bulgarian folk art and visual heritage. His trademarks impress by his imaginative ideas and aesthetic virtuosity. His professional development followed the traditional order: apprentice, journeyman, master.
Son of a well-known icon-painter from the old town of Kalofer, he studied, eyes and hands, traditional Bulgarian decorative codes. He worked with the teams of famous Bulgarian artists even as a student. By the mid 1970ʼs, he was already an institution, an artist of indisputable aesthetic sense and exceptional industriousness.
Some of the most popular logotypes of his were those of the TABSO (the Balkan airlines later on), of the National Palace of Culture, the State Puppet Theater, the Petrol fuel company, the Central Department Store (TSUM) and the Bulgarian National Television. Novelty inspired him: abstract art, op-art; this is apparent in his work after the 1960ʼs–instead of “chattering” ornamental rhythms, he built a graphic system of stringent structure and mathematical logic. The graphic vignettes and signs he painted using brush and tempera impress even today with their flawless vectors and lines, geometric figures and color harmonies, the result of a perfect aesthetic and semantic order.
Team
Milena Balcheva-Bozhkova, PhD (project manager, compiler, text)
Assoc. Prof. Nenko Atanasov, PhD (compiler, text, graphic design)
Assoc. Prof. Rossen Toshev, PhD (photographer)
Sylvia Miloslavova (editor, proofreader, translator)
Dimitrina Spasova (promotion of the catalogue)