60. Lunch preparations [1973]

The work Preparation of Lunch is emblematic of the творчество (oeuvre) of Anastas Staykov—one of the first artists from the Rhodope region to graduate from the Academy of Fine Arts and to enter the country’s artistic life as early as the 1930s. The most characteristic compositional scheme he employs is the placement of a figure in traditional folk costume within a Rhodope interior. These are often compositions featuring the artist’s mother, engaged in everyday activities—cooking porridge or stirring cornmeal (kachamak) over the hearth. The canvas depicts a Rhodope man wearing a fez and black mustache, set in a typical interior, seated cross-legged on a cushioned bench (minder) in front of a low wooden table (sofra), on which are placed a dish of kachamak and a small bowl of milk. In the 1930s, Anastas Staykov entered the artistic scene with his own distinctive method of constructing form, breaking it down into small spatial planes. This stylization of volume is further enhanced by the decorative use of color in tempera or oil paint, where each area has independent value. This original style did not go unnoticed, and Staykov became one of the recognizable Bulgarian artists, gaining particular fame with the large-scale painting A Maiden Bids Farewell to Her Kin. In the following decades, the artist continually returned to this method of stylization. The painting “Preparation of Lunch” is a characteristic example of its application in the artist’s later work. (S.N.)

Dimensions

width 58.5 cm, height 59 cm, custom 59 × 58,5 cm

Description

oil on canvas, signed and dated bottom right, in grey, "Анастас Стайков, (1)973"

Dating

1973

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