© Photo: Veneta Nikolova

A quiet haven of beauty and harmony amidst the city hustle and bustle, Zheny’s art house will never stop surprising us with its unorthodox exhibitions, presenting an art form that is not widely popular – puppet making. After the collection of elegant china dolls, clad in Belle Epoque fashion clothes from the end of the 19th and the turn of the 20th century, after the display of unique exhibits in national costumes from almost 50 countries, now the exposition is of Bulgarian folklore dolls. And don’t imagine the tacky souvenirs, on sale at all stalls by the seaside or in the major tourist centres, these are designer works of art, each with a character and spirit of its own. The unique collection of over 300 hand-made dolls, presenting the vast diversity of Bulgarian folk costumes, was put together in the course of over 50 years. It is owned by Vasiliy Gordienko (1930-2012), ballet dancer at the Sofia Music Theatre for many years. Collecting these “fairytale characters” as he himself put it, became a passion he could never explain, a passion he passed down to his daughter, along with his love of dancing. Evgenya Gordienko, former dancer with the Philip Koutev folklore ensemble, is still tending to the home collection of dolls, but she decided to let more people enjoy it, so she put them on display at the Doll House. Most of the models are unique, the work of Bulgarian artists who back in the 1960’s laid the foundations of a new craft – the making of stylized Bulgarian folklore dolls. Each one of these creatures is clad in an authentic Bulgarian folklore costume from different ethnographic regions.

© Photo: Veneta Nikolova

The oldest exponents date back to the 1960s

“For example, we have dolls wearing Thracian and Rhodope costumes, we have St. Lazarus day girls, clad in costumes from the Shoppe region,” says Evgenya Gordienko. “All Bulgarian ethnographic regions are represented – according to experts, they are seven in number. Take a look at the Thracian dolls! They are the most beautiful of all, their costumes are most ornate. Besides the costumes, they have what is known as kokoshnik – headwear, decorated with coins. In olden times, girls from the Thracian region wore the most sumptuous embroidered costumes. We also present dolls, depicting characters from folklore tales and literature. We can see here Sly Peter from the tale of the same name or Bay Ganyo with his phials of attar of roses, the village gossips, eyeing the young lads and lasses on their way to fetch water. We have men and women in typical Bulgarian costumes, riding donkeys – something so characteristic of Bulgarian villages. Some sit sipping rakia from the keg. We want to show how our grandmothers made their own costumes. Each one was individualized because each girl would imbue her dowry with her own character, and that is the source of the incredible variety of embroideries and colours…”

© Photo: Veneta Nikolova

Amidst the wealth of folklore dolls which seem to be on the verge of coming alive right in front of our eyes, two figures stand out – those of Sebastocrator Kaloyan and his wife Desislava, famous from the 13th century frescoes in Boyana church. In fact the noble couple is there to be seen in two other versions as well, next to other historical figures. And they are all wearing clothes typical of the age and their social standing. “Such stylized dolls have been made in Bulgaria for 40-50 years, it is a comparatively new craft,” says the gallery’s manager Zheny Kostadinova. And adds that the idea is for this exhibition to take us back in time to the beginnings of Bulgarian folklore. Because it gives us the knowledge of how our ancestors once lived, but also an insight into the psychology of the Bulgarian people. One whole cycle of exhibitions at the Dolls art house is dedicated to Bulgarian folklore. Alongside the dolls, visitors can also see the exposition of what are known as mummer masks by applied artist Penka Taneva, the paintings of beautiful women, wearing national costumes by Rumen Statkov, unique tapestries by Rossitsa Bakalova based on famous paintings by renowned Bulgarian artist Vladimir Dimitrov the Master, as well as other folklore works. In the coming weeks the doll house will also welcome famous folk singers, who will lend their beautiful voices to the expositions, creating a blend of emotion and colour.

English version: Milena Daynova