site.btaDechko Uzunov Art Gallery Marks 125th Anniversary of Bulgarian Artist Maria Stolarova

An exhibition entitled “Maria Stolarova. Defended Aesthetics” dedicated to Bulgarian artist Maria Stolarova's 125th anniversary will be organized by the Dechko Uzunov Art Gallery, a branch of the Sofia City Art Gallery (SCAG), SCAG said in a press release. The exhibition will be unveiled on November 28, 2024, and will be on display until February 2025.

The organizers of the event recalled that 2025 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Stolarova (1925 - 2016), who was one of Dechko Uzunov's pupils. Uzunov (1899-1986) is considered to be one of the best contemporary Bulgarian portrait artists.

Stolarova had over 30 solo exhibitions in Bulgarian and dozens of exhibitions abroad – in London, Berlin, Rome, Budapest, Prague, among others. She is the creator of Bulgarian industrial landscape painting. She also worked in the field of applied arts and was a jewellery designer.

Stolarova attracted the attention of the public with her first solo exhibition in 1962, which included works dedicated to the industrial landscape and new factory forms. She was a representative of the generation of artists who entered the art scene in the 1960s, which was a decade characterized by an upsurge in Bulgarian art. In Stolarova's paintings are similar to the art of the 1930s, in contrast to the so-called propaganda painting, specific to socialism, in which she had to create and defend her aesthetic views, the organizers said.

In their words, her industrial landscapes mark one of the most important stages in the development of Bulgarian painting. In the 1970s, Stolarova’s art evolved and spread across three genres - industrial landscape, still life and portrait.