site.btaSeminal 19th/20th Century Bulgarian Art to Be Auctioned in Sofia

An amazing selection of 104 works of modern and postwar Bulgarian art will be auctioned at Hyatt Regency Sofia on April 2. They are currently included in an exhibition by auction company Artmark at Sofia's Vatev House, the organizers said on Thursday.

The selection features two signature works by Bulgarian-based Czech painter Jaroslav Vesin, created in the late 19th century, and three female portraits by another Czech, Ivan (Jan) Mrkvicka, who was among the founders of modern Bulgarian fine art. Some of the most significant Bulgarian artists of the first half of the 20th century are presented, including Vladimir Dimitrov the Master, Boris Georgiev, Elisaveta Konsulova-Vazova and Vasil Stoilov. They are followed chronologically by the great modernists David Perez and Nikolay Diulgheroff, and contemporary artists Genko Genkov, Dimitar Kazakov, Svetlin Rusev and Dimitar Buyukliiski.

The main highlight of the auction will be The Sleigh Ride, which Jaroslav Vesin painted in the period when he lived in Munich and Slovakia. The painting is returning to the Bulgarian market for a public auction for the first time after spending more than a century in a German collection, Artmark said.

An interesting and important fact about Ivan Mrkvicka's three female portraits is that two of them, Woman from Bojentsi and Woman from Bojentsi (Rada Andreeva), used to be parts of a single painting but were separated by the artist at the end of the 19th century. The upcoming auction is the first public occasion when collectors can see the two portraits together.

Another rare and very important appearance on the Bulgarian market will be made by Vasil Stoilov, one of the nation's most respected painters of the first half of the 20th century. His Pink Rose (Girl from the Village of German), a large-format work of the 1940s, has never been offered for sale in a public auction before.