An exhibition of totalitarian art creates sensation in Bulgaria
Totalitarian art commonly associated with the Communists and Nazi Germany, has its roots in early modernist avant-garde (around 1920-40). The National Gallery of Fine Arts in Sofia presents a very interesting exhibition that displays 45 paintings and 21 sculptures created by Bulgarian artists before the collapse of the communist regime in the country in 1989. Al artworks depict or praise Bulgarian and Soviet communist leaders. You can visit the show until September 6, 2009.
The exhibition comes as a surprise, twenty years after the dramatic political events that followed the Fall of the Wall in Berlin. Finally, the socialist art appeared from the underground, where it was diligently forgotten. Pathetic realism, noble faces of party leaders, pioneers, red carnation and lots of nation-wide joy –these are some of its recognizable signs- became once again the word of the day. Thankfully, not in real life but in the spaces of a musum for a period of two months.
Through the works on display, curator of the exhibition, art expert Bisera Iosifova, gives us facts from the social life of that time, without memories of eyewitnesses and subjective moods.
The works of art cover two historical periods:
The first starts right after September 9, 1944, the day of the Red Army-backed coup d'état, which installed a new government led by the Communist Fatherland Front (FF). As a consequence of that event, Bulgaria broke its alliance and declared war on Nazi Germany. After the war, Georgi Dimitrov, a close friend of Josef Stalin, became prime minister, monarchy was abolished and Bulgaria was declared a people's republic.
The second period is that of the late socialism with all its stylistic and ideological peculiarities...
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The exhibition comes as a surprise, twenty years after the dramatic political events that followed the Fall of the Wall in Berlin. Finally, the socialist art appeared from the underground, where it was diligently forgotten. Pathetic realism, noble faces of party leaders, pioneers, red carnation and lots of nation-wide joy –these are some of its recognizable signs- became once again the word of the day. Thankfully, not in real life but in the spaces of a musum for a period of two months.
Through the works on display, curator of the exhibition, art expert Bisera Iosifova, gives us facts from the social life of that time, without memories of eyewitnesses and subjective moods.
The works of art cover two historical periods:
The first starts right after September 9, 1944, the day of the Red Army-backed coup d'état, which installed a new government led by the Communist Fatherland Front (FF). As a consequence of that event, Bulgaria broke its alliance and declared war on Nazi Germany. After the war, Georgi Dimitrov, a close friend of Josef Stalin, became prime minister, monarchy was abolished and Bulgaria was declared a people's republic.
The second period is that of the late socialism with all its stylistic and ideological peculiarities...