61. Portrait of the collector Grigor Vasilev [1929]

Konstantin Shtarkelov was born on March 25, 1889 in Sofia. He graduated from the Art Academy in 1915 under Prof. Ivan Mrkvichka. During his lifetime, even to this day, the artist is often associated with his watercolours, natural landscapes and still lifes. But even Starkelov himself admitted in a 1935 interview with the Literary Voice newspaper that: "The portrait has been the most important thing for me, and in it I look not only for character, but also for a strong expression, but it is the most ungrateful job. You're constantly harassed by the model and you're always thinking whether he's going to like it or not." From these words we understand not only that the painter was a more versatile artist than the landscape painter, as he is best known, but also that portraiture as a genre occupied a very large part of his artistic journey. The work by Konstantin Shtarkelov from 1929 presents Grigor Vassilev - a long-time editor of the party newspaper "Priaporets" as well as the Minister of Agriculture and State Property in 1930-1931 in the third cabinet of Andrey Lyapchev. Vasilev is also an active participant in Macedonian affairs in the state and edits the newspaper "Ilinden". The portrait of the Bulgarian lawyer and politician is one of the few oil works that present the artist in the light of a portraitist. In this work, similar to his watercolors, Shtarkelov expresses his attitude to the world around him, in this case to his friend Grigor Vasilev. Despite the strict and staring gaze of the model, the artist presents his loved one not as the lawyer or the minister Vassilev, but as a warm and intimate, but nevertheless representative image. There is another oil portrait of Grigor Vasilev from 1919 in the collection of the SGHH. In it, Vasilev is represented with a dark complexion and in a serious pose, compared to the soft tones of the later work. However, the humble gaze of the model, as well as the body facing us, invite the viewer to penetrate the canvas and get up close and personal with the portraits. In Shtarkelov's work we also find even earlier drawings of Vassilev in the National Assembly from 1915, which present him in his most professional appearance. All these portraits of the Bulgarian public figure show the different prisms through which Konstantin Shtarkelov sees and understands his friend and how much he was involved in portraying his changing image over the years. The portrait from 1929 represents a kind of conclusion of this miniature "cycle" Grigor Vassilev in Shtarkelov's work. In the presented work, Vassilev is depicted as the most mature of all his portraits. The person portrayed is an experienced, elegant and caring person, which is probably how the artist perceived his friend. All this proves the artist not only as a concerned portraitist who puts a lot of care and thought into the presentation of his models, but also as a much more versatile artist than just a "watercolor master". (M.Z.)

Dimensions

width 63.5 cm, height 72.5 cm, custom 72,5 × 63,5 cm

Description

oil on canvas, signed and dated upper left, in yellow, "Щъркел., 4.11.1929"

Research information

The artwork is reproduced in the catalog "Konstantin Shtarkelov, the lonely wanderer", Sofia City Art Gallery, 2020, p. 170, and participated in the exhibition with the same name.

Dating

1929

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