site.btaUPDATED Georges Papazoff Major Retrospective Opens in Sofia

An exhibition entitled "Georges Papazoff: The Illuminator"  - the first of its kind in Sofia since 1988 - opened at the National Gallery of Art on Friday evening. The major retrospective marks the 50th death anniversary of prominent Bulgarian artist Georges Papazoff (1894-1972).

The title of the exhibition echoes "Eclaireurs", a series of Papazoff's works evoking his memories of the world and soldiers on reconnaissance who, reconnoitering the situation, illuminated the battlefield with lanterns. 

Opening the event, National Gallery Director Jaroslava Bubnova said that Papazoff linked the Bulgarian art scene with the world. As she put it, he can always, freely and without reservations be described as a European and international artist. "I hope that this exhibition makes noticeable the extent to which Bulgaria felt neither modest nor isolated," Bubnova pointed out.

The exhibition curator, Dr Maria Vassileva, said the effort crowns a years long process of research into the artist's work and numerous articles and publications in various institutions, libraries and museums worldwide.

"I believe this is only the beginning. From now on, we have to work very hard  - all of us together - to make the name of Georges Papazoff heard across the world," Vassileva said at a news conference ahead of the exhibition opening.

"Georges Papazoff is a figure that links many countries. As you know, he started off in Yambol, went through Prague, Vienna, Munich, Berlin, Paris... He worked with people from Geneva, Stockholm, New York, elsewhere. It has always seemed odd to me how a boy from such a small place [as Yambol] soaked up - so quickly and so well - everything that was happening in Europe during those years. To absorb all that incredible energy and create art that is so strong and so captivating, that combines cubism, futurism, dadaism and surrealism," Vassileva added.

At the National Gallery, over 60 paintings and 20 drawings, owned by the National Gallery in Sofia, the Art Gallery in Yambol (Southeastern Bulgaria), the Association of the Friends of the Petit Palais Museum in Geneva, the National Museum of Modern Art in Zagreb, and the corporate collection of Universal Investment Advisory SA, Geneva, are arranged by theme. The exhibits exemplify each period and each theme that interested the artist. "The earliest works are from 1916: watercolours done in Prague, where his career as an artist started, drawings prompted by his meetings with the German expressionists in Munich and Berlin. The latest works are from 1966. The exhibition shows a very intense 50-year-long artistic career," the curator explained.

In addition to seascapes and landscapes from the Dordogne area in France, there are also some pieces of a series titled "Bathers" and paintings inspired by Bulgarian folklore tradition from 1925-1928. The centerpieces include a portrait of the artist's mother and pictures dedicated to his friend Andre Derain. Another highlight is the artist's 1957 rendition of Henri Rousseau's "The Sleeping Gypsy".

"Papazoff's two books which, too, are dedicated to Derain, can also be seen in this hall," the curator said. "We tracked down and purchased six of his author's books because this part of his oeuvre is less familiar in Bulgaria. Some of these books have yet to be translated," Vassileva pointed out.

Collector Gueorgui Vassilev, who was involved in organizing the display, said that Papazoff was among three artists who spread Bulgaria's fame across the world. The other two are Jules Pascin and Christo. Vassilev sees the exhibition as a completion of Papazoff's comeback to Bulgaria in the early 1930s, when his lectures on modern European art met with an ambivalent response.

Simultaneously with the retrospective in the National Art Gallery, the Square 500 Gallery in Sofia will host guest exhibitions of the artist's works from the art galleries in Sliven and Yambol.

Most of the works are displayed in Bulgaria for the first time.

The project is supported by an Honorary Committee composed of collector Gueorgui Vassilev, writer Georgi Gospodinov, Irina Petrescu, Cultural Cooperation Attache, the French Institute in Bulgaria, BTA Director General Kiril Valchev, Marina Ludemann, Director at Goethe-Institut, Sofia, and Raymund Furrer, Swiss Ambassador to Bulgaria.

Who is Georges Papazoff

Born in Yambol (Southeastern Bulgaria) on February 2, 1894 to the family of merchants. In 1917-1918 he was sent to study park engineering in Prague. He was not happy with that field of study, and in 1918 he moved to Munich, Germany, where he enrolled at Hans Hoffmann's Painting School.

After 1924, he settled in Paris, France and made it his home until his death. He was patronized by Galerie Vavin-Raspail, whose owner, Swiss poet and writer Max Berge, bought his first works. The very next year Papazoff had his works in the Salon des Independents. In 1926, he participated in the first Surrealist exhibition with Joan Miro, Max Ernst, Andre Masson and Pablo Picasso, and in the exhibition Dance in Art with Braque and Dufy. That same year his works were included in the Salon of Modern Art in Brooklyn, New York.

In 1925 the group of poets led by Andre Breton invited him to sign the Surrealist Manifesto, but Papazoff refused because he did not want to be part of any school.

The artist did not accept the role of visible reality and built a new world in his paintings, rejecting entirely the artistic experience of the time, thus shocking the European elite. Because of his contribution to the art of Dada and Surrealism, he was classified as a member of the "Paris School".

In 1933, Papazoff held an exhibition at Stockholm's Museum of Modern Art. In 1935 he displayed his works in Prague.

The expressionist painter Oskar Kokoschka said that Papazoff's art was accepted in Paris as an independent branch of modern painting.

Papazoff never severed ties with his homeland. He exchanged letters with writer Svetoslav Minkov, poetess Elisaveta Bagryana and others. During his lifetime he organized four solo exhibitions in Bulgaria: in 1919, 1928, 1934 and 1938.

In the 1980s, two exhibitions of his works were presented in Bulgaria. One was in 1982, at the Gallery of the Union of Bulgarian Artists, showing works owned by Bulgarian museums and collectors. The second one was arranged in 1988 in the Art Gallery of the Sts Cyril and Methodius Foundation, with works on loan from the Petit Palais Museum.

Papazoff published seven books, almost all biographical. His only non-biographical book, "Paris. Creativity and Fate of Great Artists", was published in Bulgaria in 1938.

Georges Papazoff died in Vence, France, on April 23, 1972. According to his will, his ashes were scattered over the Mediterranean Sea.