The Graphic Art Atelier of Prof. Vasil Zahariev at The State Academy of Art (1922-1944)

The Museum Collection of The National Academy of Art

March 2, 2016 – April 9, 2016 г

 

Opening – March 2, 2016 at 18:00 ч.

Art Gallery – Stara Zagora

 

... Nowadays, graphic arts experience special importance and are a matter of great interest to artists and connoisseurs of art. Their diverse productions are a sign of high culture - they are an eloquent document of the vast infinite soul of the contemporary artist ...

Vasil Zahariev, 1927

 

The Museum collection of the National Academy of Art began its chronicle way back together with the founding of the State Drawing School in 1896. By the number of works and content, it is one of the most significant collections of Bulgarian art: nearly 2,000 paintings, about 10,000 graphics and drawings, a significant collection of ethnographic works, wood engravings, ceramics and numerous gypsum replicas of antique and Renaissance works.

 

Vasil Zahariev’s Graphic Art Collection

Today in the fund of the museum collection, a prominent place is taken by a collection of graphic educational assignments that came as a donation by the long standing professor of graphic and decorative art and Rector of the Academy (1939-1943) - prof. Vasil Zahariev. Within the period of twenty-two years of teaching practice he managed to keep over 350 pieces of graphic art works by his students, among which there are valuable works both for this particular museum collection and in general for our art2. This collection deserves special attention. Being carefully preserved, the graphic art educational tasks series are an important part of the history of the Academy. Not being presented so far in its overall appearance, questions of a different nature arise together with the nature of the educational tasks in the graphic art studio and also about the leading trends and demands in our art during the 1920s, 1930s and early 1940s. Unfortunately, due to the scarce museum documentation it is hard to say when, exactly, the graphic art collection entered the museum. Most likely, that took place after the termination of Vasil Zahariev’s teaching activity in 1944.

 

Who was Vasil Zahariev?

It is very hard to imagine the artistic life between the world wars that took place in our country, without the personality of Vasil Zahariev. Having the talent of an eminent graphic artist, wide erudition and scientific interests, he was one of the outstanding figures of his generation. Came to be known in the early 1920s as an artist who brought new outlooks and trends, Vasil Zahariev lived an active life in the Academy throughout his educational and methodical practice. As Head of the Graphic Art Studio for more than two decades, he trained a number of our graphic art artists as Veselin Staykov, Sidonia Atanasova, Lyuba Palikareva, Pavel Valkov, Dimitar Draganov and others. His discipline and persistence appear in numerous activities related to the Academy. Vasil Zahariev is the author of the first Rules of the Museum of the Academy3. Due to his donation, today the fund of the museum keeps a valuable collection of paintings, vellum (anthivolo) for icon painting by painters from Samokov. In the period 1939-1943, with subtle devotion and orderliness he managed the complicated bureaucracy of the Academy. His activities, however, were not confined within its walls. He was among the founders of the Union of Bulgarian Artists, member and Chairman of the Native Art Society, member of the Archaeological Institute, the Institute for Preservation of Monuments of Culture and the Union of Scientists in Bulgaria; he also participated in the Artistic Council of the National Art Gallery.