21. Bulgarian peasant girl [late 1920s, beginning of the 1930s]

Ivan Mrkvička, the Czech born artist who studied painting in Prague and Munich, came into contact with Bulgaria when he was invited to be a painting teacher in Plovdiv in 1881. One of the greatest merits of the artist was his participation in the introduction of a founding bill to the first painting school in Bulgaria, which opened its doors in 1898, and Mrkvichka became its first director. The artist, together with Anton Mitov, Boris Shatz and Yaroslav Veshin, were among the founders of academic art education in Bulgaria, as well as a great influence on the formation of the style and ideology of the first Bulgarian secular artists. Throughout his stay in Bulgaria (1881 - 1921), and in the later years when he lived between Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia, Ivan Mrkvichka showed his respect and understanding for Bulgarian traditions and customs. Mrkvichka builds a secret connection with the Bulgarian and its imagery. The artist depicts life and culture, Bulgarian men, women and children: "(...) he mainly studies the Bulgarian folklore, enters into the soul of our peasant creates touching sketches, which subsequently serve as a solid foundation for him twhich inspire his deeply national everyday Bulgarian paintings". Ivan Mrkvichka traveled around Bulgaria and Macedonia to study and paint the characteristic ornamental features of the costume, the elements of everyday life and the distinctive imagery. One of the results of his travels and getting to know the traditions and the surrounding environment is the 1929 album "Bulgaria in Images" (Sofia, Bas publisher). It clearly shows the artist's interests in searching for and preserving characteristic typologies: "Mrkvichka was completely convinced that without studying the living material, without knowing our people, he could not create truthful and convincing pictures of the life of a Bulgarian". Even though he was of Czech origin, he devoted exclusively to Bulgaria, and had the desire to understand the inner world of people in order to skillfully recreate it in his portraits, domestic and festive scenes. In our work, the picturesque landscape, with the typical brushwork of Mrkvichka, carries an impressive vivid color, it is full of light and has the stylistic characteristics of impressionism. In the center of the composition is the Bulgarian woman, whose overall image is complete and captures the attention of the viewer. The girl is wearing a blue dress with a red belt - elements that are typical for the traditional costume. Thus, we can assume that the time of creation of the work is from the artist's period in Sofia (as defined by Andrei Protich), which covers the years 1889 - 1936, and more specifically the late 1920s and early 1930s of the 20th century, from the period of creation of the album "Bulgaria in images". At that time, Mrkvichka mainly lived in Prague, and therefore the wooden board on which the painting "Bulgarian Village Girl" was painted is more typical of Western Europe than of Bulgaria in the period. Mrkvichka wants to depict people in their everyday activities, which we notice in the presented work. Without unnecessary vanity, the artist is looking for the authentic, which is a typical concept in his work of that time. Depicting many different individual images that he discovered during his travels in the country, Ivan Mrkvichka created a rich collection, revealing the diversity and beauty of the Bulgarian people and culture, which can also be found in the painting "Bulgarian peasant girl". (A.M.) Protich, Andrei (1955), I. V. Mrkvichka, Life and creativity. Sofia, Bulgarian artist Publisher Mrkvichka, Ivan (1929). Bulgaria in Images. Sofia, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Publisher

Dimensiuni

width 40.5 cm, height 43 cm

Descriere

oil on wood panel, signed bottom right, in white, "И.В. Мърквичка"

Datare

late 1920s, beginning of the 1930s

Informații suplimentare

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