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The Official Record and the Receptive Field: Zlatyu Boyadzhiev in Communist Times

2010; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 79; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/00233601003640053

1651-2294

Suman Gupta, Milena Katsarska,

Art, Politics, and Modernism

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes 1. All translations from Bulgarian sources are by the authors. Igor Golomshtok and Alexander Glezer, Unofficial Art from the Soviet Union, Secker & Warburg, London, 1977. 2. Igor Golomshtok, Totalitarian Art: In the Soviet Union, Third Reich, Fascist Italy and the People's Republic of China, Collins-Harvill, London, 1990; Vladislav Todorov, Red Square Black Square: Organon for Revolutionary Imagination, SUNY, Albany, NY, 1995. 3. Boris Groys, The Total Art of Stalinism: Avant-Garde, Aesthetic Dictatorship, and Beyond, trans. Charles Rougle, Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ, 1992, observed that »socialist realism was not created by the masses but was formulated in their name by well-educated and experienced elites who had assimilated the experience of the avant-garde« (p. 9); and recalled parallels in such widely dispersed cultural forms as French neoclassicism, American regionalism, arts and monuments in Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, traditional political writing in England, Hollywood posters etc. 4. Alexander Tolnay, »East/West Artistic Exchange in a Changing Europe«, Kunst & Museumjournaal, Vol. 4, No. 2, 1992; Matthew Cullerne Bown, Socialist Realist Painting, Yale University Press, New Haven, 1998; Boris Buden, »The Revolution of 1989: The Past of Yet Another Illusion«, in The Manifesta Decade: Debates on Contemporary Art Exhibitions and Biennials in Post-Wall Europe, eds Barbara Vanderlinden and Elena Filipovic, Roomade and MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2005; Lóránd Hegyi, »Re-Thinking the Cultural Field in Central and Eastern Europe«, Third Text, Vol. 2, No. 2, March 2007, pp. 129–135. 5. For instance: Artists of Central and Eastern Europe, Pittsburgh's Mattress Factory, October 1995; Europa Europa: das Jahrhundert der Avantgarde in Mittel- und Osteuropa; Kunst- und Austellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn, May–October 1994; After the Wall: Art and Culture in Post-Communist Europe, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, October 1999–January 2000; the Manifesta: European Biennial of Contemporary Art exhibitions (seven thus far) in different European cities since 1996; Slovenian Artist collective IRWIN's online and exhibition project East Art Map: (Re)Construction of the History of Art in Eastern Europe, launched in 2001. 6. Such as: the 1992 travelling exhibition entitled Art as Activist: Revolutionary Posters from Central and Eastern Europe in London and Washington, followed by an extended exhibition in 2000 in Signs of the Times: Posters from Central Europe 1945–1995, Imperial War Museum in London and Manchester Metropolitan University; Beyond Belief: Contemporary Art from East Central Europe exhibition, selected by Laura J. Hoptman, opened in September 1995 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (it was also seen at Oberlin's Allen Memorial Art Museum, the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia and Omaha's Joslyn Art Museum before closing in 1997); the Samizdat: Alternative Culture in Central and Eastern Europe from the 1960s to the 1980s exhibition, and other samizdat products exhibitions that have been doing the rounds of various European galleries and museums since the early 2000s. In this connection, also see Laura Hoptman and Tomáš Popiszyl, eds, Primary Documents: A Sourcebook for Eastern and Central European Art, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1992. 7. The following have been consulted for background reading: John D. Bell, The Bulgarian Communist Party from Blagoev to Zhivkov, Hoover Institution Press, Stanford, 1986; Glenn E. Curtis, ed., Bulgaria: A Country Study, GPO for the Library of Congress, Washington, DC, 1992; Ivaylo Znepolski, Bulgarian Communism, Socio-Cultural Aspects and Power Trajectory [Bulgarskiyat komunizum, sotsiokulturni cherti i vlastova traektoriya], Institute for Studies of the Recent Past, Open Society Institute, and Ciela, Sofia, 2008. 8. Georgi Dimitrov, »Speech Delivered at the Congress of Bulgarian Railwaymen and Sailors: December 5, 1945«, On the Revolutionary Education of the Working Classes, Sofia Press, Sofia, 1982, p. 189. 9. Kostadin Popov, Cultural Policy in Bulgaria, Unesco Press, Paris, 1981, p. 27. 10. Instituted with an Order of the Presidium of the People's Assembly on 23 May 1949, the Prize began being awarded in 1950. The Dimitrov Prize awarding mechanism was dissolved in 1990. 11. »How is the Dimitrov Prize Going to be Awarded« [Kak shte stava udostoyavaneto s dimitrovski nagradi], Izkustvo, book 7–8, 1960, pp. 78–79. 12. After the 10:1 denomination in 1962 that would amount to 4000 leva. According to the data published in The Statistical Yearbook of the People's Republic of Bulgaria [Statisticheski godishnik na Narodna Republika Bulgaria], Central Statistics Department at the Ministry Council, Sofia, 1964, p. 80, the average gross annual salary for the country in 1962 was 1020 leva for all spheres; for the sphere of education, culture and art, it was 964 leva; and, in 1963, they were 1051 leva and 973 leva, respectively. 13. In a broad way these comply with the characteristic features of Socialist Realism outlined point-wise in Maynard Solomon, »Zhdanovism«, in Marxism and Art, ed. Maynard Solomon, Harvester, Brighton, 1979, pp. 235–236. 14. Marin Pundeff, »Bulgarian Historiography 1942–1958«, American Historical Review, Vol. 66, No. 3, April 1961, pp. 688–689. 15. Evidence of resonance and synthesis of religious and socialist iconography can be found in a number of public art projects since the 1960s, reaching a peak in the 1980s. Among others we can refer to »Revival« wall paintings in the »Perla« Residence near Burgas by Mihalis Garudis and Kolyo Getsov, 1981) and the »Bulgarian Enlighteners« fresco in the Bulgarian Book and Printing Association in Sofia by Nikolay Drachev, 1981) – see Anton Donchev et al., Contemporary Bulgarian Monumental Art 1956–1986 [Suvremenno bulgarsko monumentalno izkustvo], State Publisher Petur Beron, Sofia, 1986, pp. 139 and 146. Noteworthy also are the frescoes in the Patriarch Church on Tsarevets Hill in Veliko Turnovo, done by Teofan Sokerov in 1985. 16. Ulf Brunnbauer and Karin Taylor, »Creating a ‘Socialist Way of Life’: Family and Reproduction Policies in Bulgaria, 1944–1989«, Continuity and Change, Vol. 19, No. 2, 2004, p. 289. 17. Narodna Kultura, issue 52, 26 December 1959, cited in Dimitar Avramov, Chronicles of a Dramatic Decade: Bulgarian Art between 1955–1965 [Letopis na edno dramatichno desetiletie: bulgarskoto izkustvo mezhdu 1955–1965 g.], Nauka i Izkustvo, Sofia, 1994, p. 235. 18. Avramov, 1994, p. 236. 19. Effects of Destalinization in Bulgaria« (Radio Free Report from Munich), 29 November 1961 – available in the Open Society Archive, at http://www.osaarchivum.org/files/holdings/300/8/3/text/5-5-28.shtml 20. »Effects of Destalinization«, 1961. 21. Maria Vassileva, »The Department of Painting«, at http://sghg.bg/newsite/index.php?module=pages&lg=en&page=collection 22. Lyudmila Zhivkova, The National Complex of Artistic Creation, Cultural Activities and Mass Media as a New Stage in the Guidance and Organisation of Bulgaria's Culture, Report to the 4th Plenary Session of the Committee of Arts and Culture, 25 October 1974, Sofia Press, Sofia, 1976, p. 13. 23. Zhivkova, 1974, p. 17. 24. Kostadin Popov, Cultural Policy in Bulgaria, Unesco Press, Paris, 1981, p. 30. 25. Kostadin Popov, The Democratic Development of Modern Bulgarian Culture, Sofia Press, Sofia, 1977, pp. 73–74. 26. Amerope-Hemus Art Corporation, »Introduction« Seven Bulgarian Painters (Catalogue), Amerope-Hemus Art Corporation, Washington, DC, 1978, pp. 1–2. 27. Lavrenov, 1958, p. 41. 28. The exhibition halls on 125 Rakovska Street are the »official« quarters of the Bulgarian Union of Artists. Exhibiting on their premises was a marker of professional recognition in the period in question. 29. Atanas Patsev, »Art – Fate< [Izkustvo – sudba], Narodna Kultura, issue 40, 7 October 1961. 30. Tsanko Lavrenov, »The Exhibition of Zlatyu Boyadzhiev in Sofia« [Izlozhbata na Zlatyu Boyadzhiev v Sofia] Izkustvo, books 9–10, 1961, pp. 14–19. 31. Maria Georgieva, »With Love and Craftsmanship« [S lyubov i maistorstvo], Narodna Kultura, 2 September 1961. 32. Information about such international interest can be found in several of Lavrenov's letters – see Radka Koleva, ed., A Life is Not Enough: 132 Unpublished Letters of Tsanko Lavrenov [Edin zhivot ne stiga – 132 nepublikuvani pisma na Tsanko Lavrenov], Poligrafia, Plovdiv, 1996, pp. 48, 159, 186. 33. With Decision N93 of the Council of Ministers from 16 July 1962, referred to in Radka Koleva ed., ibid., p. 145, which suggests a discrepancy with the entry in the Encyclopedia (see next note) where the date stated is 1963. 34. Listed in The Encyclopedia of Fine Art in Bulgaria [Entsiklopedia na izobrazitelnite izkustva v Bulgaria], vol. I A–L, Bulgarian Academy of Science, Sofia, 1980, pp. 109–110. 35. Excerpts from »Characteristics [Personal profile] of the People's Artist Zlati Boyadzhiev – Laureate of Dimitrov Prize« [Harakteristika na narodniya hudozhnik Zlati Boyadzhiev – laureat na Dimitrovska nagrada], provided by Atanas Krustev in Nevena Stefanova, A Book about Zlatyu Boyadzhiev, 1981, pp. 195–196. See note 37. 36. A.Kamenskii, »Zlatyu Boyadzhiev«, Tvorchestvo, USSR), No.7, 1975, pp. 14–17; Dimitar Avramov, »Zlatyu Boyadzhiev: A Classic of Bulgarian Art«, Zlatyu Boyadzhiev: klassik Bolgarskogo iskusstva), Iskusstvo (USSR), No. 9, 1974, pp. 45–49. 37. Nevena Stefanova, A Book about Zlatyu Boyadzhiev [Kniga za Zlatyu Boyadzhiev], Hristo G. Danov PH, Plovdiv, 1981. 38. Letter 64, of 128, dated 30 March 1962, Sofia, in Radka Koleva, ed., A Life is Not Enough, 1996, pp. 147–151. 39. Letter 64, 1962, p. 149. 40. Letter 64, 1962, p. 150. 41. Dimitar Avramov, Chronicles of a Dramatic Decade: Bulgarian Art between 1955–1965 [Letopis na edno dramatichno desetiletie : bulgarskoto izkustvo mezhdu 1955–1965 g.], Nauka i Izkustvo, Sofia, 1994. 42. This volume had an uneven publishing history, as the writer notes in his afterword to volume 1, »The Big Cheating Called the ‘April Line’« [Golyamoto nadlugvane narecheno ‘Aprilska liniya’], dated November 1991(i.e. after the regime change of 1989), ibid., pp. 413–428. The manuscript was prepared in view of the perestroika climate of revisionism and submitted for publication in 1986 to initial positive responses that it »fits the demands of the times«. Its publication, however, was delayed and then withdrawn, and it appeared eventually in 1994. 43. I. Shivarov, »Public discussion of the works of Zlatyu Boyadzhiev«, Otechestven glas (Plovdiv), issue 2057, 20 May 1951. 44. Avramov, 1994, p. 260. 45. » The Citizens Have the Word« [Dumata imat grazhdanite], Narodna Kultura, cited in Avramov, 1994, p. 242. 46. Avramov, 1994, p. 243. 47. Avramov, 1994, p. 329. 48. Avramov, 1994, p. 337 49. Atanas Bozhkov, Bulgarian Art, trans. Gregor Pavlov, Foreign Languages Press, Sofia, 1964, p. 19. 50. Contacts: A Magazine for Art and Literature, chief editor Andrei Goulyashki, Foreign Languages Press, Sofia; Obzor: Quarterly Review of Bulgarian Literature and Art, editor Lilyana Stephanova, was supported by the Committee for Friendship and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries, the Union of Bulgarian Writers, and the National Committee of UNESCO in Bulgaria. 51. Velichko Kolarski, »The Bulgarian National Art Gallery«, Obzor, No. 3, 1968, pp. 33–39. 52. In The Encyclopedia of Fine Art in Bulgaria (1980) – the entries for Boyadzhiev, pp. 109–110, and for Lavrenov, pp. 510–511. 53. Kostadin Popov, The Democratic Development of Modern Bulgarian Culture, Sofia Press, Sofia, 1977, p. 73. 54. Atanas Bozhkov, »The World of Zlatyu Boyadzhiev« [Svetut na Zlatyu Boyadzhiev], Narodna Kultura, issue 8, 24 February 1968. 55. Bozhkov, 1968. 56. Nevena Stefanova, »Zlatyu Boyadzhiev«, Izkustvo, XVIII, issue 4, 1968, p. 13. 57. Stefanova, 1968, p. 12. 58. Mois Bassan, »The Artistic Consciousness of Zlatyu Boyadzhiev« [Hudozhestvenoto suznanie na Zlatyu Boyadzhiev], Problemi na izkustvoto, Vol. 1, No. 3, 1968, p. 12. 59. Bassan, 1968, p. 12. 60. Bozhkov, 1968. 61. Bassan, 1968, p. 17. 62. Bassan, 1968, p. 16. 63. Footnote to Bassan, 1968, p. 11.