Articles From the Experts

Bulgarian authors with artistic education until 1948

Enakor Auction No. 47, 10 April 2025

Rouzha Marinska (1944-2022) – the great art historian, the best contemporary expert on Bulgarian fine art, the outstanding teacher and friend – left us suddenly before Christmas of 2022. Apart from no longer having whom to consult for professional or personal advice and support, we, several of her students, were faced with the difficult task of documenting the collection of artworks among which she lived. Neither she nor we were prepared. She had not expected to be leaving so soon and had not described the collection. Her heirs allowed us to work with her archive, and thanks to their funding, we were able to publish the collection: Dimitrov, Vl. (author, compiler), R. Gicheva- Meimari (scholarly editor), Ruzha Marinska – Life among Art. Catalogue. New Bulgarian University, Sofia, 2024. We made efforts beyond our abilities, but we did not succeed in everything. Due to the short time for work, there have remained unidentified authors, unread signatures, unspecified elements and possible mistakes. However, the authors could be identified in the future, the errors can be corrected, but the entire collection is documented. Part of the collection is now offered in this auction.

In the auction No. 47 of Enakor Auction House in April 2025, half of the 500 works in the collection are included: graphics, paintings, drawings, ceramics, sculptures, photography. Their offering at auction by the heirs is a kind gesture to the close friends of Rouzha. It is a beautiful, warm and meaningful way for her to touch her many friends, students and admirers, to visit their homes again, to mark another imprint – visual-aesthetic, emotional and meaningful. In this unconventional way, she would leave a tangible and spiritual personal memory with more people who have before their eyes and interact with a work from her personal collection. I think so because of what Dr Vladimir Dimitrov shared in the introduction to the collection’s catalogue (Dimitrov 2024:7), “Rouzha Marinska not only understood and loved art, she wanted others to understand and love it as she did. This was the cause of her life.” 

Moreover, connoisseurs of art who have not had the privilege and honour to be close to Marinska, can acquire precious works, the quality and value of which they can rely on the unquestioned assessment of the greatest expert on Bulgarian fine art of our time. Here I draw on a second, very true observation by Dr Vl. Dimitrov (Dimitrov 2024:7): “Rouzha Marinska’s whole life was devoted to her love of art, and for more than half a century she was devoted to the study of fine art. A study based on the most modern methods, combined with the classical ones, containing a comprehensive and multiply verified factuality, all this always set in a very broad cultural context.“

Rouzha Marinska’s collection has been formed for a long period. A small part of it is a family heirloom – from her grandparents and her father – the artist and art historian Lazar Marinsky (1915-2005). The largest part (according to the dedicatory inscriptions) are gifts from friends and especially from artists whose artistic career she unconditionally supported with exhibition openings and publications. A small number are works purchased by her. For this reason, and because according to Marinska she was not a “collector” in the modern conventional sense, Vladimir Dimitrov preferred to call the object a “gathering” rather than a “collection” (Dimitrov 2024:8). Although the motives for collecting are unusual, I would define it as a collection. Although there is a small inherited portion, it is not a collection randomly formed by different people through a variety of peripheral external circumstances; on the contrary, I see in its construction a distinct concept defined by the personality. Marinska herself uses the word “gathering” to refer to small museum and community centre gatherings (Marinska 2020: II, 356-357), and she uses the term “collection” to refer to the personal or family collections of intellectuals (not “collectors” in the modern sense) to which she had access from early childhood and throughout her life (Marinska 2020: II, 375). The preference for the word-term with the Latin root “collection” also refers to the scholarly character that the collection undoubtedly holds.

The collection is unusual because it is formed of works of art by authors who have attracted the research interest and passion of Rouzha Marinska. Works that have been purchased, that I have been able to track down, are also of this kind. The concept of the collection is to contain one or two works by authors that Rouzha Marinska has studied. The works of art in her collection function as sign-symbols in the pictorial narrative, as notes in melody, as keystones in architecture – of her professional path as an art historian. I would call the collection a visual-objective text of her collected writings, an artistic composition of her life with and among art, which she described as “a happy – despite all obstacles – destiny” (Marinska 2020a: I, 10).

The authors studied by Marinska have become intimately close not only to Rouzha’s mind but also to her heart – a characteristic mixed emotional-rational attitude, which she describes in the introduction to her collected works. “In my approach I see a certain combination of two seeming opposites – an immediate excitement about the work, expressed in a sought-after distinctly literary form, and a purely intellectual striving to reach general conclusions and syntheses.” (Marinska 2020a:I, 9-10). This is what makes the works in her collection particularly significant: in addition to their own artistic and cultural value, they carry the additional value of Rouzha Marinska’s personal, most intimate, emotional yet professional relationship to art. It was these works, among which she lived, that inspired her to write her insightful texts on the history and theory of Bulgarian fine art: “That is why I have been thinking and writing with love about Bulgarian artists and what they have created. Of course, circumstances have come together in such a way that not all the artists I value have become the object of my research. Nevertheless, all those I have written about or spoken about publicly have been chosen by me, by my will. In all of them, I have seen high models of artistic thinking and original imagination. I owe all of them a debt of gratitude for giving me the opportunity to develop my own understanding of art.” (Marinska 2020a:I, 10).

Manifesting unusually high ethical values for our times, Marinska not only respectfully thanks artists for the opportunity to develop her understanding of art, but also passes the torch – she doesn’t just keep the works of art she owns for herself. Whenever the occasion is right, she publishes them in her research or catalogues, sharing them with the public and scholarly audiences. Thanks to these publications, we have also been able to more accurately describe a significant portion of the works in her collection.

I group the works in the auction by several criteria. First, I divide them into Bulgarian and foreign artists. Then I divide the Bulgarian artists into those who received their artistic education up to the critical year of 1948, when the communist regime introduced the requirements of the propaganda style, the so-called “socialist realism” and the persecution of the so-called “bourgeois formalism” began. The next group are the authors who received artistic education after 1948 and worked mainly in the era of socialism. In the last group, I place authors educated in the freer last years of socialism and after 1989.

Bulgarian authors who received their artistic education before 1948.

About two-thirds of the works in this group in the collection are by artists whose artwork Rouzha Marinska has researched and published. Many of them were little known or completely forgotten and were appreciated, became famous, and were sought after in the art market only after she organized exhibitions and published research about them. I begin with Dimitar Dobrovich (1816-1905), the first Bulgarian artist with an academic education, for whom Marinska, together with the team of the Center for Bulgarian-European Cultural Dialogues, organized a year-long celebration with an exhibition, a monograph (Marinska 2014a; 2016), a scientific conference, and more (see The Year of Dobrovich). The auction features an eleophotograph on a tree by Dobrovich, “Women from the Vicinity of Rome” (Fig. 1). A monographic essay, catalogues, and brochures have been published about one of her favorite artists, Naoum Hadzhimladenov (1894-1985) (Marinska 1972:22; 1974; 2014b; 2020b:372-373). He is represented by two ink drawings, “Christ in the Temple,” 1943 (Figs. 2); and “Lokal” (Figs. 3). Marinska has supervised Dr. Angela Daneva’s doctoral thesis at New Bulgarian University, which explored the history of Bulgarians who studied at art academies in Italy (Daneva 2013:36-43; 2014: 146-154). Related to this topic is the wonderful oil portrait “Gavroche”, from ca. 1922 (Fig. 4), by Dimitar Krachkov (1896-1973).

The oil painting “Shepherd” (Fig. 5), by Dobri Dobrev (1898-1973), will be appreciated by those who remember that Rouzha Marinska’s last monograph was about this great artist (Marinska 1988:47; 1989; 2019). In an interview (Vassileva 2020), she says that Dobrev’s works were an inheritance from her grandmother in Sliven, to whom the artist (who was a relative of theirs) had gifted several of his paintings while he was a student in Prague. Her research (Marinska 1977b:36-39; 1986) on Petar Slavov-Kera (1908-1988) was undoubtedly inspired by the exquisite oil painting “Street in Paris,” 1975 (Fig. 6). Most personally associated with Marinska was her father, Lazar Marinski (1915-2005). She published an album of his work (Marinska 2007), from which is the elegant work “Coast,” ver. 1937, dry pastel (Fig. 7). Marinska has written an article and a catalogue (Marinska 2000:5) on exhibition of Georgi Bakardzhiev (1899-1972), represented by three ceramic vessels (Fig. 8).

R. Marinska has written articles, essays, and catalogues (Marinska 2000:5) on Pencho Georgiev (1900-1940), represented by two woodcuts, “Ploughman” (Fig. 9) and “Burial” (Fig. 10 ), (Marinska 2015). She has written (Marinska 1997:359-360; 2011) about Ivan Nenov (1902-1997) and some time ago bought from Enakor this fine print of his elegant print (Fig. 11), recognizing a variation of the 1931 oil painting “Unemployed.” She wrote (Marinska 1977a:36-38) about Vladimir Rilski (1905-1969), represented by “Landscape with Revival Houses,” a work in pastel (Fig. 12).

Rouzha Marinska had small studies or speeches (Marinska 2006:4; 2008) about Pencho Balkanski (1908-1985), represented by the lithograph “Rhodope Maiden” (Fig. 13); (Marinska 1981:2-3) about Zdravko Aleksandrov (1911-1998) and she highly valued his oil landscape “Spring in the Village of Dolen”, 1980 (Fig. 14), which was published soon in a monographic study by her student (Avramova 2024). She wrote (Marinska 1983:10-13) about Venko Kolev (1915-1997), represented by two landscapes (Figs. 15-16).

One of her favourite artists to study (Marinska 1978:448-455; 1984:18-20; 2014c), Naiden Petkov (1918-1989), is represented by Marinska’s (2020:II, 38) published oil painting “Landscape from Balchik,” 1983, and the drawing “Chinese Peasants,” 2007 (Fig. 17-18). Marinska has written (2007:77-78; 2015b) about Georgi Kovatchev-Grishata (1920-2012), represented by two monotypes (Figs. 19-20), “Winter in the Mountains,” 1963, and “Quiet Street, Paris,” 1966.

R. Marinska organized an exhibition and wrote (Marinska 2002) about Hristo Boyadzhiev (1912-2001), represented by the oil painting “Still Life,” 2000 (Fig. 21); (Marinska 1995; 2006:5-6) about Magda Abazova (1923-2011), represented by the magnificent oil canvas “Still Life with Flowers” (Fig. 22). Much esteemed (Marinska 2020: II, 138-141) were the works of Lyuben Zidarov (1923-2023), two of which are offered in the auction (Figs. 23-24) – the lithograph “Silver,” 2015, and a watercolor from “The Old Man and the Sea,” 2001, with a dedication by the artist.

We have heard of other artists of the modern era that Rouzha was considering writing about, but unfortunately – could not (it is possible, due to ignorance, that we have missed someone who was studied by her). Such are the etching “Landscape with a Bridge” (Fig. 25) by Mikhail Krastev (1877-1956); the ceramic relief “Child Riding a Buffalo” (Fig. 26) by Anastas Doudoulov (1892-1971); the oil painting “Vase with Wildflowers” (Fig. 27) by Boris Sharov (1894-1986); “Cityscape” (Fig. 28) by Assen Popov (1895-1976), oil pastel; and the three drawings from the scenographic project “Totko” (Fig. 29) by Georgi Atanasov Petrov (1904-1952). However, these artists, as well as the following ones, are mentioned in her survey or thematic studies.

Inspiration for the unwritten studies were probably the engraving “Everyday Life,” 1943 (Fig. 30), by Evgeny Kourdov (1905-1989); the ink drawing “City Scene,” 1939 (Fig. 31), by Preslav Karshovsky (1905-2003); the studies of male profiles, 1931 (Fig. 32), by Boris Kolev (1906-1982); the lithograph “Sozopol”, 1980 (Fig. 33), by Lyuba Palikarova (1906-1999); the watercolour “In the Garden”, 1966 (Fig. 34) by Angel Tilov (1914-1972).

Among the younger artists, educated shortly before 1948, are; the oil painting “Flowers”, 2008 (Fig. 35) by Olga Valnarova (1914-2012); and an ink drawing (Fig. 36) by the founder of Bulgarian animation, Todor Dinov (1919-2004). Artworks probably inherited from Lazar Marinski are included, such as the painting of the dean and rector of the Higher Institute of Fine Arts during early socialism, Georgi Bogdanov (1910-1974), Peasant in the Field, 1944. (Fig. 37); two linocuts (Figs. 38-39) by Nikolai Vladov-Shmirgela (1911-1999), Portrait of Nikola Vaptsarov, 1967, and a work from the Melnik series, 1961.

Rouzha Marinska and “Enakor”

Rouzha was a great and invaluable friend of Enakor Auction House. We benefited from her advice and expertise, accepted her criticism with gratitude and followed her recommendations. We have held auctions for artworks that she had curated for exhibitions. At “Enakor”, she has often conducted classes and practices with students of art studies from New Bulgarian University. In our gallery, we have presented her monographs, including the latest on Dobri Dobrev (Marinska 2019). She was a regular guest at our auctions and a special honorary seat was always reserved for her in the front row. To this day, we call it “Rouzha’s armchair”.

With this auction, we want to bring artworks from Rouzha Marinska’s collection to her friends, students, admirers and connoisseurs of fine art. For this reason, the artefacts in the auction are offered at very affordable starting prices. We believe that the memory of Rouzha will remain tangible, alive and rich, including in this unusual way – object-visual, emotional and personal. Pieces of the visual-objective text of her collected writings, of the composition of her life with art, will scatter among us; they will remain to move us, to communicate with us. Art connoisseurs, on the other hand, will be confident in the quality and lasting value of the artworks from the acknowledged expert’s personal collection.

Rositsa Gicheva-Meimari, PhD

Senior Assistant Professor in the Art History and Culture Studies Section and member of the Bulgarian-European Cultural Dialogues Centre at New Bulgarian University 

February 1st 2025

Bibliography:

Avramova 2024: Аврамова, Марияна, Пейзажът стана моя съдба – Здравко Александров 1911-1998. София, Галерия “Лоранъ”, 2024.

Daneva 2013: Данева, Анжела, Българи в италианските академии за изящни изкуства (1878-1944). София, Нов български университет, 2013 г.

Daneva 2014:Данева, Анжела (2014) Необикновената история на художника Димитър Крачков (1896-1973). In: Между образа и текста : Сборник в чест на доц. Ружа Маринска. Нов български университет, София, pp. 146-154.

Dimitrov 2024: Димитров, Владимир (съставител, автор), Росица Гичева-Меймари (научен редактор) 2024. Ружа Маринска – живот сред изкуство. Каталог. Нов български университет, 2024., на бълг. и англ. език. Dimitrov, Vl. (compiler, author), R. Gicheva-Meimari (scholarly editor), 2024. Ruzha Marinska – Life Surrounded by Art. Catalogue. New Bulgarian University, 2024.

Marinska 1972: Маринска, Ружа, Юбилейна изложба на Наум Хаджимладенов. – Изкуство, 1972, №10, с.22.

Marinska 1974: Маринска, Ружа, Наум Хаджимладенов. Български художник, София, 1974.

Marinska 1977а: Маринска, Ружа, Владимир Рилски. – Изкуство, 1977, №9, с.36-38.

Marinska 1977б: Маринска, Ружа, Петър Славов. – Изкуство, 1977, №4, с.36-39.

Marinska 1978: Маринска, Ружа, Найден Петков. – Съвременник, 1978, №4, с.448-455.

Marinska 1981: Маринска, Ружа, Пейзажите на Здравко Александров. – Народна култура, 25.12.1981, №52, с.2-3.

Marinska 1983: Маринска, Ружа, Керамичните пластики на Венко Колев. – Изкуство, 1983, №3, с.10-13.

Marinska 1986: Маринска, Ружа, Петър Славов. Български художник, София, 1986

Marinska 1987: Маринска, Ружа, Владимир Фаворски. Предговор. Във: Владимир Фаворски, За изкуството. Сборник теоретични статии. „Наука и изкуство“, София, 1987

Marinska 1988: Маринска, Ружа, Енциклопедия на народния живот (90 години от рождението на Добри Добрев). – Сливенско дело, 16.12.1988, №47.

Marinska 1989: Маринска, Ружа, Добри Добрев. Каталог на юбилейната изложба на художника. София, Български художник, 1989.

Marinska 1995: Маринска, Ружа, Живопис с цвета на мечта (по повод изложбата на Магда Абазова на 24 октомври 1995 г.). – Дума, 30.10.1995.

Marinska 1997: Маринска, Ружа, Иван Ненов. Слово, произнесено при откриване на юбилейната изложба на художника в СГХГ, 1997. В: В: Маринска, Ружа, За изкуството, том I. София, 2020, с.359.

Marinska 2000: Маринска, Ружа, Животът на формите, или защо НХГ представя Георги Бакърджиев. Предговор към каталога на юбилейната изложба на художника. София, Национална художествена галерия, 2000, с. 5.

Marinska 2002: Маринска, Ружа, Христо Бояджиев. Дипляна по повод изложбата на художника в НХГ, юни-юли 2002. София, Национална художествена галерия, 2002.

Marinska 2006: Маринска, Ружа, Изкуството на Магда Абазова. – Везни, 2006, №3, с.5-6.

Marinska 2006: Маринска, Ружа, Българските художници и фотографията. – Проблеми на изкуството, 2006, №4.

Marinska 2007: Маринска, Ружа, Лазар Марински. София, Консултантска агенция „Аргос“, 2007.

Marinska 2007: Маринска, Ружа, „От ателието“ на Георги Ковачев-Гришата. Слово при откриването на изложбата на художника в галерия „Аргос“, 2007. В: Маринска, Ружа, За изкуството, том I. София, 2020, с. 77-78.

Marinska 2008: Маринска, Ружа, Пенчо Балкански на 100 години. Слово при откриване на изложбата на художника в галерия „Аргос“,  2008. В: Маринска, Ружа, За изкуството, том II. София, 2020, с. 76-77.

Marinska 2011: Маринска, Ружа, Още за италианския период на Иван Ненов (1902-1997). В: Изкуствоведски четения 2010. София, Институт за изследване на изкуствата, БАН, 2011, с. 68-73.

Marinska 2014а: Маринска, Ружа, Димитър Добрович. Ателие-галерия „Светлин Русев“, София, 2014.

Marinska 2014б: Маринска, Ружа, Наум Хаджимладенов. Каталог на изложбата в галерия „Средец“, посветен на 120-та годишнина от рождението на художника. София, 2014.

Marinska 2014в: Маринска, Ружа, Найден Петков. София, Национален дарителски фонд „13 века България“, 2014.

Marinska 2015: Маринска, Ружа, Пенчо Георгиев. Ателие-галерия „Светлин Русев“, София, 2015.

Marinska 2015б: Маринска, Ружа, Георги Ковачев-Гришата – слово за художника при откриване на изложба през 2007 г. В: Пейкова, Милка (съст.), Гришата, София, 2015. В: Данков, Борис, Художник с висока пластична култура. – в. „Дума“, 22.08.2025 – https://duma.bg/hudozhnik-s-visoka-plastichna-kultura-n107067?go=terms&p=gdpr Посетена на 30 декември 2024 г.

Marinska 2016: Маринска, Ружа, Романтикът Димитър Добрович (1816-1905). Нов български университет, София, 2016.

Marinska 2019: Маринска, Ружа, Добри Добрев (1898-1973). Нов български университет, София, 2020.

Marinska 2020а: Маринска, Ружа, За изкуството, том I-II. София, 2020.

Marinska 2020б: Маринска, Ружа, Наум Хаджимладенов. Каталог на изложба. В: Маринска, Ружа, За изкуството, том I. София, 2020, с. 372-373.

The Year of Dobrovich: „2016: Годината на Димитър Добрович (1816-1905)“, проект на Център „Българо-Европейски културни диалози“ в Нов български университет – https://www.becd.nbu.bg/bg/proekti/2016-godinata-na-dimityr-dobrovich-1816-1905 Посетена на 27.12. 2024 г.

Vassileva 2020: Василева, Щиляна, Ружа Маринска – за незабравените и незабравими български художници със сливенски корен. В: „Ирида-Сливен“ 2020/09, https://iridasliven.com/2020/10/08/%D1%80%D1%83%D0%B6%D0%B0-%D0%BC%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%BD%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B0-%D0%B7%D0%B0-%D0%BD%D0%B5%D0%B7%D0%B0%D0%B1%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%B5-%D0%B8-%D0%BD%D0%B5/ Посетена на 24.12. 2024 г.