22.02.1899–26.04.1986
Dechko Uzunov
Dechko Uzunov (1899–1986) studied in Sofia and Munich, painted murals in a church in his native Kazanlak and in the foyer of a local hotel, designed productions for the National Theatre and illustrated books. He taught for many years at the art academy in Sofia, chaired the Union of Bulgarian Artists for four years, and in the 1980s was an honorary member of foreign academies.
Biography
His first teacher in Kazanlak was Chudomir, later a well-known Bulgarian artist and writer. This was before he left for the capital.
In 1919 Dechko Hristov Uzunov, born on 22 February 1899 in Kazanlak, on the southern slopes of the Balkan Mountains not far from the Shipka Pass, entered the State School of Art and Industry in Sofia (now the National Academy of Art), in the class of Petko Klisurov. When the general course ended in 1922, he and a fellow student, Ivan Penkov, went to Munich to specialise under Professor Karl von Marr. There the young painters studied Rembrandt, Velázquez, Titian, Rubens, Max Liebermann and Franz von Stuck. Other Bulgarian writers and performers were living and studying in Munich in the same years: Elisaveta Bagryana, Fani and Chavdar Mutafov, Nikolai Liliev, Svetoslav Minkov. They formed his circle of friends, and many later became the sitters for his portraits. He completed the course at the Sofia academy in 1924, in the class of Stefan Ivanov. From 1926 to 1932 he worked as a salaried artist at the Ministry of Education, and then began teaching painting at the academy. He became an extraordinary (non-tenured) professor in 1937 and a full professor from 1942 to 1963; by other accounts he held the title of professor from 1938. Among his students were Atanas Patsev, Georgi Baev, Kalina Taseva, Lika Yanko, Maria Stolarova, Svetlin Rusev and Georgi Bozhkov. Of his teaching he said: “I never impose my style.” For that reason, he said, those of his students who became known are so different from one another.
His range was wide: portraits, nudes, landscapes, still lifes, compositions on historical, biblical, mythological and contemporary themes, watercolours and easel graphics. He illustrated books by Angel Karaliychev, Chicho Stoyan, Yordan Stubel, Atanas Dushkov and Emilian Stanev. At the invitation of Nikolay Massalitinov and Krastyo Mirski he designed sets and costumes for the National Theatre: for “Crime and Punishment” after Dostoevsky, for Bernard Shaw’s “Mrs Warren’s Profession”, for Dimitar Dimov’s “Holiday in Arco Iris” and for Petko Staynov’s ballet “Thrace”.
Murals were a separate line of his work. He painted the church of St John the Baptist in Kazanlak, the foyer of the Kazanlak hotel (a gift to his fellow townspeople), the House of Culture in Karlovo, the opera house in Stara Zagora, and in Sofia the National Opera, the National Theatre, the National Palace of Culture and the Law Courts. For his frescoes of Saints Cyril and Methodius he received a silver diploma from the Vatican in 1937. His painting “The Idiot” (1929) is in the City Art Gallery in Plovdiv. His works were included in the painting event of the art competition at the 1936 Summer Olympics.
In 1925 he became a co-founder of the society “Rodno Izkustvo” (“Native Art”) and took part in nearly all its exhibitions in Bulgaria and abroad: in Belgrade, Plzeň, New York, Athens, Berlin, Budapest, Moscow, Yerevan, Hamburg and Vienna. Six solo exhibitions were held in Sofia and one each in Kazanlak and Sliven; abroad he was shown in Belgrade, Bucharest, Budapest, Moscow, Paris, Basel, Munich, Kuwait and Beijing. He was a member of the Rotary Club from 1935. In 1939–1940 he headed the Union of Societies of Bulgarian Artists, and in 1965–1969 the Union of Bulgarian Artists. In 1966 he was a deputy in the Fifth National Assembly of the People’s Republic of Bulgaria, and from 1973 a full member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. In 1973, 1976 and 1979 he became, in turn, vice-president, president and honorary president of the International Association of Art (IAA/AIAP) under UNESCO. In 1976 he was elected an honorary member of the Mexican Academy of Arts, and in 1983 an honorary member of the USSR Academy of Arts. His awards include the Cross for Art from King Michael of Romania (1946), the Order of the People’s Republic of Bulgaria, first class (1961), the Dimitrov Prize (1962), the title of Honoured Artist (1963), the title of Hero of Socialist Labour (1967) and the French Order of Arts and Letters (1979).
Uzunov died in Sofia on 26 April 1986. Museum houses devoted to him operate in Sofia and Kazanlak, and the art school in Kazanlak bears his name.
Profile notes