By March 4 the Sofia City Gallery presents one of the most spectacular creative unions in Bulgarian art – the Society of New Artists. It was founded in 1931 and was on until 1944 when a pro-Soviet regime took over in Bulgaria. In fact artists in Bulgaria explored various association formats starting from the early 20 c. By the middle of the century they had formed various groups based on a diversity of creative quests. Well, of course there was an exchange among the groups with some artists leaving and joining a other creative circles.
“Back at that time they united based on creative principles, including the interpretation of European art”, Adelina Fileva, CEO of the Sofia City Gallery, says in an interview for Radio Bulgaria. “In the same society we can see people with different biographies, political views and occupations. Some worked as pedagogues, for instance, unlike the rest of members, but what brought them together at the end of the day was art, its styles, methods and solutions. In 1930s there was a clear will for a change in Bulgarian art. The Society of New Artists was unique with that it had only young members who had recently finished their education. And they saw the change in taking art closer to reality, closer to the average people while at the same time using the up-to-date principles of painting, print and sculpture.”
The New Artists were 67 men and women. There was a permanent nucleus while the rest of the members did not stay for long. The exhibition marking the Society’s 80th anniversary displays a register book. One can see from it how artists paid their membership fee, how much money they deducted for the Society from revenues raised from common exhibitions. There is a clipping on how the press covered purchases made at the exhibitions.
The New Artists were destined to live in times of transition. In the wake of World War 2 they lived through their creative boom and boasted of serious achievements. They traveled to Europe, worked in Bulgaria and maintained a brisk exchange of creative ideas. However, as the communist regime took over, many of them were labeled as formalists. So quite a few decided to withdraw from the creative circles. Others subscribed to left-wing ideas. In 1981, in communist Bulgaria, Svetlin Roussev, the Chairman of the Union of Bulgarian Artists, decided to organize an exhibition and mark the 50th anniversary of the Society of New Artists. He himself had borrowed a lot from them in creative terms.
“We have to bear in mind that this Society, this generation of artists, who survived World War 2, and the changes in Bulgaria that followed, became the teachers of the new generation of talent in 1960s”, Adelina Fileva comments. “This means they helped revive the power of Bulgarian art with their experience and knowledge. They would support the revival of its diverse genre structure that had suffered the blows of communist dogma. They worked to revive the genres of the still life, of the nudes, of the lyrical portrait and others. So, the Society of New Artists played a high-profile role in Bulgarian art on two occasions – in 1930s and 1940s as innovators, and in 1960s as revivalists of the diversity of styles and formats in Bulgarian art.”
The exhibition mounted at the Sofia City Gallery features all 67 artists form the Society of New Artists. Visitors are invited to relish portraits and compositions by Kiril Tsonev, Stoyan Sotirov and Bencho Obreshkov, landscapes and still lifes by David Perets, prints by Vesselin Staykov, sculptures by Ivan Founev and Vaska Emanuilova. The columns of the gallery are lined with clippings from the press back when the Society had its heyday and got plenty of reviews. The Vaska Emanuilova Gallery, a branch of the Sofia City Gallery, presents a documentary exhibition about the movement. There is a film program too with video stories about their time, life at the Society and about some of the New Artists themselves.
Translated by Daniela Konstantinova
