130. Portrait of Prof. Stoyan Kirkovich [1928]

The work of Tzeno Todorov (1877–1953) complements the understanding of academic portraiture in Bulgarian painting during the first decades of the 20th century. At the beginning of the century, complex and contradictory processes were unfolding. Young artists sought to modernize art by expanding the range of genres they practiced. They explored variations of landscape, interior, the nude, and mythological subjects. The group of young artists was diverse, yet united by a rejection of genre-based narrative painting, which they perceived as “academicism.” However, artistic practice shows that many of them consistently followed the principles of academic painting — classical composition, linear and aerial perspective, and local color. From their ranks emerged portrait painters such as Stefan Ivanov and Tzeno Todorov. Tzeno Todorov was born in Vratsa in 1877. He graduated in painting under Prof. Ivan Mrkvička in 1901, becoming one of the first graduates of the newly established State Drawing School. From 1901 to 1907, he studied painting at the Académie Julian in Paris under Prof. Léon Bonnat. In 1908, he traveled to Egypt and Palestine, and in the same year held his first solo exhibition in Bulgaria, featuring landscapes from his journey. During the First World War, as a military artist, he created landscapes from Prilep and Priština. He was a member of the “Society of Artists in Bulgaria,” the Union of South Slavic Artists “Lada,” and “Native Art,” of which he was a founding member. From 1910 he taught painting at the State Industrial Art School, and between 1930 and 1932 he served as director of the Academy of Arts. Tzeno Todorov’s most significant achievements are primarily in the genre of portraiture. Some of his most famous works include “Portrait of P. K. Yavorov” (1909), “Portrait of the Artist’s Mother” (1920), and “Portrait of Mademoiselle Paulette” (1928), from the collection of the National Gallery. (S.N.)

Dimensions

width 51 cm, height 65 cm, custom 65 × 51 cm

Description

oil on canvas, signed, dated and located bottom right, in black, "Цено Тодоров, София, (19)28"

Research information

The work is reproduced in Ivanov, Vicho, "Tseno Todorov", published by Bulgarian Artist, Sofia, 1957, no. 37 under the title "Prof. St. Kirkovich" dated 1928.

Dating

1928

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