site.btaSculptures, Drawings Donated by Family of Nikolay Shmirgela to Be Shown in Exhibition at Vaska Emanouilova Gallery

The Vaska Emanouilova Gallery presents the exhibition "Nikolay Shmirgela. The Nude - Exploring the Form". The exposition will open on November 19 and will last until February 11, the organizers said.

"The exhibition traces the artist's plastic explorations in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Bathing, dressing, reflection and holiness - the naked sculptural bodies in various states immediately correspond to his drawings from this period," the team noted.

They said the exhibition also includes several earlier works that give a fuller picture of the work of the artist, who studied decorative arts and sculpture at the Academy of Art in the 1930s.

The exhibition consists of 32 works, 24 of which were donated by the heirs of Nikolay Vladov - Shmirgela.

"These works enrich the collection of the Sofia City Art Gallery and contribute to our understanding of the multifaceted personality of Nikolay Shmirgela - sculptor, art researcher, writer, public figure, advocate of many causes and collector," the gallery team said.

Nikolay Petkov Vladov - Shmirgela (1911-1999) was a Bulgarian sculptor, painter, illustrator, critic and theatre artist. One of the active artists of the 1930s in all fields of art. He was born on September 4, 1911 in Shumen. He studied law at Sofia University and at the same time at the Academy of Arts. He was a member of the Society of New Artists (1931) and its secretary for eight years. Cartoonist in several publications. He was the director of the National Art Gallery and created the permanent exhibition of icons in the crypt of the St. Alexander Nevsky cathedral.