Prof. Vladislav Paskalev will be awarded the honorary title of Doctor Honoris Causa of the National Academy of Art
2024.11.07
Professor Vladislav Paskalev will be awarded the honorary title of Doctor Honoris Causa of the National Academy of Art on 12 November 2024, 4:00 pm, in Academia Gallery.
The reason for this ceremonial event is the absolute necessity to emphasise the personality of and to declare recognition to a great artist, who with his individual character and creative achievements has raised the prestige of the profession of "book artist".
Vladislav Paskalev (b. 1933, Sofia, Bulgaria) graduated with a degree in Illustration and Book Layout under Prof. Iliya Beshkov. The fact that his teacher drew the artist's attention to the problems in illustration composition provoked him to think about the composition of the book itself and its overall spatial structure. That also pre-determined his further path (in Paskalev's own words) as a "designer artist".
Prof. Vladislav Paskalev has created emblematic examplars of Bulgarian book design. The graphic design of the 8-volume encyclopedia "History of Bulgaria" and of "The Bulgarian Icon" by Atanas Bozhkov, the book covers of "Wild Tales" by Nikolay Haitov, Shakespeare's sonnets, Aesop's fables, Penyo Penev's poems, and of impressive book series, such as "Philosophical Heritage" and "Panorama", represent a small part of his overall artistic accoplishments. His works are highly recognisable and distinguished by powerful graphics, categorical and sometimes aggressive composition and perspective, as well as by hard-to-define intuitive artistry.
Having been a long-time teacher in today's Department of Book, illustration, Printed Graphics, whose leader he was from 1984 to 2003, Rector of the National Academy of Art in the period 1992–1995, the artist is a teacher and mentor to most contemporary practicing artists.
Vladislav Paskalev linked his fate with publishing houses, such as "Science and Art", "Bulgarian Artist" and "Narodna Kultura". Among the recognitions he has received are those from the National Book and Illustration Exhibitions, the Boris Angelushev Award for high achievements in the art of Bulgarian book, the awards for typography and high achievements in monumental art, as well as participations and awards from book fairs in Leipzig, Moscow, Brno and Bologna. The events of 1989 thwarted his chance to receive the prestigious international Gutenberg Prize awarded by the Gutenberg Society and the city of Mainz for contributions to the book art, for which he was nominated. In 2007, Vladislav Paskalev was the first artist in the field of visual arts, who was nominated in the category "Overall Contribution to the Art of Bulgarian Book", and for the Hristo G. Danov National Award of the Ministry of Culture.
Prof. Kapka Kaneva, PhD
Gallery
