THE NEVER-ENDING APPRAISEMENT Drawings from the Museum Collection of the National Academy of Art
11 December 2024 – 2 January 2025
Opening: 11 December 2024 (Wed), 6:00 pm, Academia Gallery, 1 Shipka Street, Sofia
The Never-Ending Appraisement exhibition represents part of the museum programme at the National Academy of Art and of a same-named long-term project initiated by the institution in 2019. The exhibition goal is to "open" the fund of the National Academy of Art to both students and teachers, and to the general public.
The Museum Collection of the National Academy of Art is one of the oldest collections of Bulgarian art. Its formation began with the founding of the educational institution as the State School of Drawing in 1896. Unique in their nature, its various collections comprise paintings, prints, original woodcarving works, embroideries, dishes, jewellery, weapons, etc. Currently, the drawing etudes kept in the collection are the main evidence for the development and the methodology of art education in Bulgaria, and continue to impress in terms of great artistic skill, mastery of performance and high academic results.
The exhibition presents the trends in the development of educational drawing and its creative interpretation in the learning process from the first years of the State School of Drawing to the 1980s. The included works reveal some basic aspects of the theme of DRAWING AND THE ACADEMY: the drawing of a nude body from nature as one of the mandatory educational tasks in the educational programme in the period from the end of the 19th throughout the whole 20th century; the transition from direct and exact following of the anatomical form and copying of classical models within the educational environment from the first years of the State School of Drawing to the gradual overcoming of the academic canons of classicism – a process that was particularly noticeable in the period 1930s–1945; the application of free drawing into the decorative watercolour projects over the period between the two world wars; the problem of paper sheet form, tonal ratios, scale, details, chiaroscuro and spatial relationships in the painting etude in the second half of the 20th century.
The exposition includes over 50 black-and-white and colour sketches, whereas the presented artists are some of the most famous Bulgarian artists – graduates of the Art Academy from different generations – Boris Mihailov, Andrey Nikolov, Ivan Milev, Alexander Bozhinov, Iliya Beshkov, D. Topliyski, Iliya Petrov, Dechko Uzunov, Genko Genkov, Lyuben Zidarov, Nikola Gyuzelev, Svetlin Rusev, Hristo Yavashev, Keazim Isinov, Atanas Yaranov, Nikolay Maistorov, Lyubomir Savinov and others. The magnificent student sketches by Anton Mitov, created in the 1980s in Italy, having been for years a benchmark for those studying at the Art Academy, have their befitting place in the exhibition.
The exhibition takes place within the framework of 2024 Competition for Funding Projects on Scientific Research and Artistic Activities at the National Academy of Art.
Gallery
