June 7 – 28, 2013
6 Shipka Str. Gallery of the UBA

The UBA and the Support of Art in Bulgaria foundation marked Boris Denevʼs 130th anniversary by organizing three exhibitions in Sofia, in the Shipka 6 gallery, the Alma Mater gallery and the Debut gallery, displaying works from the collections of the UBA, the National Museum of Visual Arts, the Sofia City Gallery, and the art galleries of Pleven, Plovdiv and Sliven, the Bulgarian National Bank, and publishing a deluxe edition of a bi-lingual catalog. The event was curated by Vessela Christiva-Radoeva.

Exceptional artist, intellectual and citizen, Boris Denev created hundreds of landscape paintings, portraits and compositions on historical, Biblical and military subjects; he produced thousands of drawings; took part in the First Balkan War as a volunteering paramedic; for 10 years he was military artist at the Bulgarian Army Headquarters; as an art teacher he systematized his views on teaching and learning the art of painting; his childhood dream being to be able to fly, he did just that on a glider of his own making; he constructed a sundial to be hung on vertical walls; he played several musical instruments and himself crafted musical instruments; he was a bohemian and main figure in the Brambazatsite popular orchestra; he was an active member of the Native Art association; he was the commissar of the Bulgarian pavilion at the Venice Biennial in 1942; illustrated the Offspring of the Balkan poem by Cyril Christov and History of Music by Stoyan Brashovanov; he also contributed articles and illustrations to several newspapers; spent 10 months in prison and labor camp after the communist coup, in 1944; was expelled from the UBA and was forbidden to paint outdoors until his UBA membership was restored in 1956; he was listed in World Biography of 1949; wrote books on practical, free, constructivist and visual perspective; he was awarded the St. Cyril and St. Methodius prize of the Bulgarian Academy of Science in 1931, and the Honorable Artist designation, in 1967.

The project was implemented by the financial support of the Debuts program of the Culture of the Sofia Municipality and the Union of Bulgarian Artists in partnership with the National Art gallery, Sofia City Art Gallery, the galleries of Plovdiv, Pleven and Sliven, Bulgarian National Bank, The Archives government agency, and the National Museum of Literature.

A selection of the works were displayed in the art galleries in Sliven and Stara Zagora.