Grigor Vasilev

Portrait of Grigor Vassilev, 1919, oil on canvas, 60×57 cm

Grigor Vassilev (1883-1942) fell in love with the art of Konstantin Shturkelov at his very first exhibition in 1910, held in the cloakroom of the Art Academy in Sofia. The two men went on to become friends for life. Grigor Vassilev was a prominent Sofia lawyer and MP from 1914 until the end of his life. He is known as one of the biggest collectors of art in Bulgaria. He owned more than three hundred works by Konstantin Shturkelov alone. According to the memories of his daughter Angelina Ognyanova, he dreamed of creating something like the Tretyakov Gallery with paintings by Bulgarian artists at his home in Rakovski Street.

This painting belongs to the genre of official portraits that became popular in Bulgarian art in the 1920s. They are characterized by the emphasis on the important visual features and attributes that reveal the individual and public face of the person portrayed and attest to his or her social status and personal qualities. The portrait of Grigor Vassilev has an important place in the chronology of the art of Konstantin Shturkelov as it is one of the few works he painted in this genre as well as one of his few oil paintings. Known as a master of watercolour, or as Alexander Bojinov called him, the “King of Watercolour”, Shturkelov displays in this portrait elements of a high individual style close to the academic style in the drawing but with a dynamic, as if swirling, brushwork.

Having always felt the support of Grigor Vassilev, Shturkelov portrayed him in the romantic-symbolic manner characteristic of the era. It is to be found in the enlightened gaze, in the regular facial features that emanate the noble power of the intellect but also a sense of tragedy so typical of those lofty in mind and spirit.

Plamena Dimitrova

“The Choice 43 art historians – 43 works”,curator Maria Vassileva, Sofia City Art Gallery, 28 May – 28 August 2011