35. Summer Day in Sozopol [1947]

Eliezer Alshech was born in Vidin on November 12, 1908. Between 1928 and 1933, he was a student at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts. His teachers there include Prof. Karl Caspar and Prof. Adolf Schinnerer. It is during this period that the young artist develops and forms his own artistic style, heavily influenced by modern European tendencies of Impressionism and Expressionism. In 1933, as Alshech finishes his studies at the Munich Academy, the newly-elected totalitarian regime comes to power in Germany and the young artist is forced to leave the country before the end of the year. On his way back to Bulgaria, Alshech travels through a number of countries, including Belgium, France, Portugal, Algeria, Greece, and Turkey. The ports of these maritime nations have a significant influence on the art of the Bulgarian artist, since during this period he mainly paints landscapes depicting coasts and harbors, which he showcases at his first solo exhibition upon his return to Bulgaria at the end of 1934. The maritime theme becomes one of Alshech's favorites, which he continuously revisits throughout his creative journey, including his years in Argentina and all the way up to his death in 1983. Especially around 1947, one of Alshech's main muses is the Bulgarian Black Sea. It is exactly then when the artwork "Summer Day in Sozopol" is created. In it, we can observe not only the exceptional impressions of Impressionist and Expressionist influences, which so far the artist from Vidin has mastered, but also the deep attitude and connection he has towards the water. A man and a woman, deeply immersed in their daily chores, are depicted in the foreground. Their house can be seen to the right edge of the canvas, while the vast sea, surrounded by the coasts and fishing boats, stretches at the background. Through his distinctive color palette and expressive influences, Alshech manages to capture the atmosphere of these small coastal towns and to transport us to the seaside, where its inhabitants are, focusing exclusively on their domestic chores, instead of the impressive seascapes, which the artist skillfully recreates on the canvas. Precisely the skilled capture of these frozen moments on the shores and harbors, the city and provincial landscapes, as well as their inhabitants and dwellers, places Alshech among the great European expressionist artists, from whom he so proficiently learned during his stay in Munich. His seascapes like "Summer Day in Sozopol" demonstrate his strong bond with the water, which he probably developed when he was a child in his native Vidin, wandering the banks of the grand Danube. (M.Z.)

References

SGHG Collective, "Eliezer Alshekh and the Aesthetics of Ugliness", 2018, Sofia; pub. Sofia City Art Gallery Collective, "Eliezer Alshekh", 2008, Sofia

Dimensions

width 92 cm, height 73 cm, custom 73 × 92 cm

Description

oil paint on canvas, signed at the bottom right, in brown, "EAlcheh"

Research information

The work was part of an exhibition at the National Art Gallery, Sofia, commemorating 100 years since the artist's birth, during the period 27.11.2008 - 11.01.2009, and it is reproduced in the exhibition catalog, Collective, Sofia, 2008, p. 41, under the title "House on the Seashore", dated 1947.

Dating

1947

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