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Reviews / Athanasios Semoglu, The Journey Beyond the Tomb of the Virgin in the Byzantine Art of the Descent into Hell to the Rise to Heaven
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Reviews / Religious Architecture and Art in Northeast Bulgaria (15th-20th Centuries)
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Subject of this study are architectural details, used as secondary spolia in the Boyana church. In both construction periods fragments of reliefs have been used in the construction of the church and the capital. The spolia come from Roman and Early Byzantine periods. The general direction of the secondary use of material is visible in the Boyana church as well, however there are also some specific features. As in most churches, where details have been places in the walls, with attention to their relief, in spite of the fact they were plastered over. Hence, without being treated as ordinary building material, their functions is not decorative. Spolia have a substantial ideological function, seen as relics as well as apotropeic means. The placing of spolia in the Boyana church is also seen in the context of the periodical revival of interest towards Byzantine culture, towards Antiquity and the Golden Age of Justinian.
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The Iconography of the Theotokos Peribleptos Church has attracted the attention of many Byzantinists that have dealt with multifarious aspects of Byzantine art history. The main task of this study is to decipher the prophetic texts written upon the scrolls in comparison to other contemporary monuments throughout the Byzantine cultural realm. The Peribleptos Church anticipated the new tendencies in Byzantine art, as a prolegomenon to many further features both stylistic and iconographic. The uppermost part of the dome in the celestial sphere of the Microcosm is reserved for the head of Celestial Church the omnipotent ruler of the Universe-Christ. The medallion of the Pantoctator is supported by six flying angels. The Inscription around the medallion is written upon a white band, illustrating 79 (80) Psalm. It seems, that the angels supporting the medallion do not have a more complex and profound liturgical role in the composition. Beneath the medallion of the Pantokrator supported by angels, twelve prophets are depicted in the drum of the cupola (Ezekiel, Zechariah, Jeremiah, Habakkuk, Daniel, Joel, Solomon, David, Nahum, Zephaniah, Micah and Isaiah). Byzantine theologians regarded them as ideal archetypes for the kinghood and priesthood of Christ. Most of their prophecies inscribed upon the scrolls, refer to the mystery of Incarnation and the Second Coming of Christ, but they display as well a subtle Christological and Marian connotations that correspond, or are juxtaposed to particular scenes from a Great Feast cycle depicted in their vicinity. It is important to emphasize that the painters and their theological advisers in Peribleptos had chosen the most delicate and refine quotations from the Old Testament. By imposing them in the uppermost part of the dome, on the scrolls of the prophets, they managed to elevate the mind of medieval men towards contemplating and revealing the eschatological nature of Byzantine theology, transposed in multifaceted images.
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The aim of this paper is to present the newly revealed wall paintings from the narthex of the Monstery church of the Dormition of the Virgin at Arbanasi (the end of the 17th century), which gave a new direction in the study of dynamic processes in art towards the last quarter of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th century. The study offers for the first time an analysis of the iconographic programme and the artistic merit of the wall paintings in the monastery narthex, as well as a hypothesis as to who was the author and the dating of the wall paintings. The iconographic programme of the narthex of the monastery church is similar to the subject depicted and the themes to the remaining Arbanasi nathexes and above all to the church of St. Athanasius (1667). The wall paintings are built up in dense and deep murals, done with the love of detail and icon-like style, characteristic for the 17th century.
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The Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul at the Orlitsa monastery, belonging to the Rila Monastery was restored and decorated in the 15th century. Three main sources give information about these events - two donor’s inscriptions of the church, dated 1478 and 1491, as well as the Rila Povest of Vladislav the Gramarian. The inscription of 1478, which in its present day appearance speaks of the construction of the church in the same year, is however in contradiction with the Mediaeval author, according to whose information the church was built before the return of the relics of St. John of Rila to the Rila Monastery, respectively before 1469. This paper deals with the inconsistency of the sources, which in turn has led to a variety of versions in literature. The view has been expressed that even when it fell within events from the 15th century, the two donors inscriptions in the church were written in their appearance in the 19th century. More- over this sounds quite logical as it is well known, that the church was restored by the monastic community, redecorated by Nikola Ikonopisets the master painter from Samokov, and partially in 1862-1863. However while the inscription from 1491 was sufficiently preserved, allowing to present it comparatively fully in its first publication in the 19th century, as well as in its present day version, according to Neophyte of Rila, the inscription from 1478 was no longer entirely preserved in his day. Today however, we find a complete text of the inscription in Church Slavonic from a quotation in literature from 1901. We understand the this inscription ‘emerged’ somewhere from the first half of the 20th century, most probably as the outcome of the constant striving to give it an authentic character, which accompanied many of the older monuments in the last century. In this case these steps have led to a serious misunderstanding, as in fact the inscription from 1478 not only was completely intact in the 19th century and hence not only had been ‘restored’ quite loosely, but also it had another part, in Greek, fortunately preserved to this day in Neophyte of Rila’s copy. From this copy we learn that the inscription does not speak at all of the construction of the church, rather of its decoration in that year. Yet determining what exactly this decoration stood for is difficult, because of the variations in the translation of the copy, hence several hypothesis concerning the construction and decoration of the church. The most probable is that the church must have been built at the time when Abbot David was abbot of the monastery (1463-1469). After that in 1478 the vault of the church was decorated and still later, in 1491 the entire church was decorated anew by Abbot Theokistos, with a donation from Bishop Jacob II, also donor of the murals of the church of St. Demeter at Boboshevo (1488). Owing to the present condition of the vault of the church, it is not clear today whether this full decoration with...
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The opening on May 22, 2005, of the Svetlin Rusev Studio-Collection on 18 Vrabcha St. in Sofia as a permanent museum exhibit presenting part of Svetlin Rusev’s collection of visual art works is a fact in the contemporary history of Bulgarian culture. Statistics reveal that the studio’s spaces contain more than 300 works by 100 Bulgarian artists, 30 icons created between the 17th and 19th centuries, marble sculptures from the ancient Roman era, wooden sculpture from Goa (a Portuguese maritime colony in southwestern India), African sculpture, Tibetan cloth, works by Auguste Rodin, Eugène Carrière, Aristide Maillol, Edgar Degas, and Corneliu Baba. But these statistics hide more important things: first and foremost is the motivation expressed in the desire for openness and for emotional and intellectual enrichment. S. Rusev’s collecting activities are the result of his personal understandings and discoveries of shared ideas with artists such as K. Petrov, V. Emanuilova or A. Spasov, and of his deep familiarity with Bulgarian visual art. The collection has peaks that provide a basis for well-justified pride – My Mother by Tz. Todorov, Zafirka by Z. Boyadzhiev, Refugee by I. Petrov, and Reaper by V. The Master Dimitrov, sculptures by А. Nikolov, I. Lazarov and M. Markov, compositions by G. Datsov, B. Georgiev and I. Milev. But its significance also lies in its leading works that trace the fundamental tendencies in the development of art in Bulgaria. The collection includes works by I. Nenov, B. Obreshkov, V. Nedkova, I. Beshkov, L. Dalchev, D. Uzunov, N. Raynov, N. Petkov, as well as artists from the second half of the 20th century such as A. Yaranov, G. Malakchiev, Y. Leviev, V. Starchev, G. Genkov, L. Dimanov, A. Stanev, E. Popov, S. Tsanev, and M. Bozhkov. Similar additions by artists who differ in their developmental trajectories, in their beliefs and approaches expands the informative value of the collection. Among the basic purposes of the Svetlin Rusev Studio-Collection is not only to preserve works of Bulgarian visual art, but also to make them accessible to all those who value the fine arts. For this reason, a series of steps have been taken to popularize Bulgarian art as a whole and the collection in part, beginning with exhibits from the cycle Passing through Time: Contemporary Bulgarian Painting, New Achievements, and The Teacher and the Students, as well as the participation of works from the collection in exhibits at the National Art Gallery (NAG), the National Archaeological Museum, the Shipka 6 National Exhibition Center for Contemporary Art, the Sofia City Art Gallery (SCAG), the National Palace of Culture, and the George Papazov Art Gallery in Yambol, among others. This is also the essence behind the desire to encourage cooperation between educational institutions in developing initiatives – the organization of lecturers and courses in the history of visual art for students at specialized art schools and the National Art Academy...
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The exhibit Monuments of Religious Art from the 14th-19th Centuries at the National Archaeological Museum (NAM) stands out as one of the key events marking the International Day of Museums in Sofia, yet it undoubtedly goes beyond the boundaries and goals of that celebration. It is an initiative by the NAIM and the Institute of Art Studies at BAS. The exhibition includes more than 80 artworks from the period from the 14th-19th centuries: icons, fragments of wall paintings, prints and engravings on metal and wood, works in metal and mother-of-pearl, and wood-carvings. All of them are being shown for the first time. The exhibit presents valuable information and traces directions in specialists’ research, while the small catalog (written by Ivanka Gergova) published to accompany the exhibit constitutes an important academic contribution to the popularization of these artworks and the attributions of some of them. Furthermore, the exhibit gives an idea of the state of the collection of artifacts of Orthodox religious art held in the Archaeological Museum’s Medieval Collection, which was inherited from the National Museum. The majority of the works in the exhibition are post-Byzantine and Revival Period works; however, despite their smaller number, the emphasis is on works from the 14th century. They include the Epitaphios icon, a fragment of the scene of Lazarus’s Resurrection from the St. Marina stone church near Karlukovo and to metal molds for the casing of Evangeliaria. Another highlight of the exhibition is the icon St. Dimitar on a Throne (late 15th century), which is representative of one of the leading tendencies in the Balkans during that period. The most interesting works from the 16th-17th centuries include a bronze fragment of horos from the Church of the Virgin Mary Peribleptos in Ohrid (1549) and a crucifix from the iconostasis of the St. John the Theologian Church in Poganovski Monastery (1620), among others. The most widely represented period is the Revival Era, represented by a selection of works by Greek (Mount Athos), Russian, Romanian, Polish and, of course, Bulgarian masters from prominent artistic centers. They include the Mount Athos engraver Brother Parteniy and the icon painter Apostol Longianos Vodeniotis, a Bulgarian born in Voden, Greece. Works by the Samokov masters – icon painters and engravers – bear witness to the development of the Samokov Artistic School of the 18th-19th centuries. Two of the artifacts can be attributed to the founder of the school, Hristo Dimitrov, while two others of the work of Zahari Zograf. Of particular significance is the icon The Virgin of Kikos (1829), since it is the earliest work signed by Zahari Zograf.
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The appearance and development of museums in Sofia was due to the public-cultural and state-political interest characteristic of the first few decades following Bulgaria’s liberation. Museums and museum collections gradually multiplied, and by the 1930s the country had 83 such collections. The idea of creating a Sofia city museum that would preserve the local past, authentically reflect history and serve as a collective memory had been long considered. Founded as an independent museum, the gallery received its space in the building at 1 General Gurko St. in 1973. The gallery opened its doors in 1977 after the necessary architectural restructuring of the exhibition halls and storage vaults. The museum’s first exhibition was prepared. The 1977 exhibition included some of the most representative works of Bulgarian art from the 1920s until the 1980s. In the course of several years this exhibit alone was renewed and expanded. In the three decades since the opening of the first exhibition, the Sofia City Art Gallery has established itself as one of the capital’s important cultural spaces. In 2006 it opened a filial branch, the Vaska Emanuilova Gallery, which possesses a collection of 89 sculptures, 38 drawings and 48 watercolors by the famous Bulgarian sculptor, which are on display in a permanent exhibition. The Sofia City Art Gallery presents museum exhibits, curatorial projects, and visiting solo and group exhibitions by Bulgarian and foreign artists. Works from the gallery’s collections are displayed in thematic, genre- specific, stylistic and historical exhibitions. Visiting exhibits are an important part of the gallery’s policy and reflect its openness to international processes in art. It also organizes retrospective exhibits on prominent Bulgarian artists and also works actively with young artists and curators. The gallery partners with a series of Bulgarian and foreign institutions in its striving to develop the contemporary artistic scene.
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Study of Serdica’s necropolis began in the 1880s. The number of tombs known today, either discovered in systematic archaeological digs or found accidentally during excavations, is significant. During excavations for the construction of a new building for the National Library on the location of the royal riding-school during September 1940, ten early Christian tombs were discovered. A well preserved wall painting decoration was discovered in Tomb No. І, from which the first fragment was removed using the strappo technique. Use of the strappo technique in Bulgaria is associated with the name of Karl Yordanov, who between 1939-1949 worked as a restorer at the National Archaeological Museum in Sofia. Information published to date suggests that the earliest use of the technique was around 1941, when he removed several wall painting fragments from the ruins of the St. Nikola Church in the village of Zhelezna. In the process of documenting transferred wall paintings held in the NAIM-BAS collection in July 2006, a heretofore unknown fragment was discovered with a removal date of 1940. It was later established that this was the fragment from Tomb No. І, discovered in September 1940 during excavations for the construction of the National Library in Sofia. During May 1939 K. Yordanov was sent to Germany and Italy to study and familiarize himself with contemporary practices in the removal of wall paintings. His return to Bulgaria one year later coincided with the archaeological discovery. Until now data about the fate of the wall paintings has not been published. According to the newly discovered restorer’s reports, K. Yordanov managed to remove several fragments before construction on the new building began. Only one of them has arrived to the present day, which bears witness to the earliest use of the strappo technique in Bulgaria.
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One of Sofia’s emblematic museums is the St. Cyril and Methodius National Gallery for Foreign Art (NGFA). It is the only one of its kind on the Balkan Peninsula. Its permanent collection displays art from several continents. This study focuses on examples of traditional Indian sculpture and miniatures, since many of them represent the specific connection between visual art and music in Indian culture. Many of the works contain a plethora of frozen music – a specific iconography and elements that radiate musical knowledge. This large percentage of musicality in the Indian collection at the NGFA in Sofia also gives an idea about concrete musical knowledge. The examples in it describe specific pan-Indian subjects and represent deities connected with the concept of the sacred role of music in Indian culture. This is achieved through illustrations of epics and myths, as well as in images of secular scenes from the life of the ruling aristocracy. Such descriptions also capture a geographic dimension, since the artistic examples contain local characteristics and document local culture. From the musical instruments, as well as the figures of dancers and musicians, various layers in Indian musical culture can be distinguished: north and south, classic and folkloric, old and new, local and pan-Indian. The music, which may seem frozen at first glance, comes alive. Through the use of relief, round sculpture and miniatures, through polychromy and monochromy, a dialogue is created between the viewer and the museum pieces. This dialogue leads to the deciphering of yet another musical layer from the images and meanings. This multi-layeredness is characteristic of knowledge in Asia, since there every piece of knowledge can be understood on at least three levels.
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This article examines the problems related to the founding and development of the Sofia Studios for Animated Films, as well as the formation of a Bulgarian national school of animation. The studios were founded in 1970. This date, however, marks only the legal act that established animation in Bulgaria as an independent legal entity and separated it from the framework of the Studios for Feature Films. Prior to this moment, leading artists had already been established, a basic model for drawn film had been found, and the professionalism of Bulgarian artists was beyond all doubt. In this sense, the prehistory of the Sofia Studios is the fact the foundation that popularized its trademark throughout the world. Bulgarian animation received its first international award in 1959. Within only a decade – for the middle to the end of the 1960s – foreign professional circles were already talking about the Bulgarian animation school. During this period the leading model for Bulgarian animated film was created, which in its rich layers relied on satirical miniatures that criticized the status quo in society, while its imagery relied on the grotesque. A fundamental characteristic of the new model was the increased symbolism of the films, which were often based on an exaggerated social subtext. Its freedom of choice and interpretation of themes made Bulgarian animation an international hit at festivals. Simple statistics show that concisely this combination of socially significant themes and individual authors style won Bulgarian animators more than 150 prestigious international awards during the 1960s and 1970s alone. This rapid production tempo, which was kept up into the first half of the 1990s, showed that authors of Bulgarian animation were serious competition even for the most popular and beloved foreign authors. The article focuses on the examination of films emblematic of Bulgarian animated cinema – The Three Fools and A Clever Village (dir. by Donyo Donev), Esperanza (dir. by Ivan Andonov), Little Diurnal Music and Fear (dir. by Ivan Veselinov), Marriage (dir. by Slav Bakalov and Rumen Petkov), and films by Henri Koulev and Nikolay Todorov.
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