Internationalism and the Arts

Anglo-European Cultural Exchange at the Fin de Siècle

Conference, 3rd - 5th July 2006, Magdalene College, Cambridge United Kingdom

This conference addresses two interrelated issues which are central to our understanding of European cultural and national identities, past and present: the nature and extent of artistic and intellectual exchange between Britain and Europe at the turn of the nineteenth century; and the rise of a (Eurocentric) internationalist cultural identity in an era of competing nationalisms. Flanked by the Franco-Prussian war (1870-71) and the Great War, the fin de siècle stands out as an epoch of rising European militarism.

Themes of national consolidation, isolation and aggression have become key to any analysis of the period. What this conference seeks to explore is the concomitant drive toward an international political and cultural identity. Interdisciplinary panels will examine how artistic and intellectual exchange contributed to a sense of a common European, even world culture, and to a counter-current of political, internationalist optimism. Discussion will focus on the following topics: The visual arts and their international infrastructures; cosmopolitan architecture and interior design; the international Arts and Crafts movement; international exchange in the performing arts; Anglo-German cultural relations; Anglo-Belgian cultural relations; international journals; cosmopolitan individuals.

 

Non-archived: Balkan Modernisms

Modernist Studies Association, Tulsa USA

8th annual conference call for papers

It is with scant archival or documentation support that researchers in Balkan modernisms approach their topic. The area has reclaimed its modernist heritage only recently and the long neglect has taken its toll.
Already hampered by the linguistic, cultural, and political division of this vibrant geo-cultural space, the scholarly work on Balkan modernisms has been additionally hindered by the disappearance of literary magazines, leaflets, books, collages, programs, and other documents that may testify to the modernist activities in the Balkans. Conditioned by foreign and domestic cultural politics, the vanishing of the traces of Balkan modernisms often went hand in hand with the disappearance and change of political systems.
The diverse manifestations of modernism in the Balkans and the marked lack of record there of demand scholarly attention. This panel examines the silenced modernist spaces of Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Turkey, and the former Yugoslavia. We are interested in documented and undocumented traces of Balkan modernisms — personal archives, legacies, journals, bans and declarations, as well as alternative artistic activities (café-culture, performances, and so forth). It is our aim to reflect on the history of cultural omissions as we bring to light the modernist space of the Balkans.
Please send one page abstracts and brief vitas to Sanja Bahun-Radunovic (bahunic@rci.rutgers.edu) by April 25, 2006.

 

Illustrator Lyuben Zidarov's The Complete and Incomplete Andersen

City Art Gallery Sofia

11 March 2006 - 1 April 2006

“I have illustrated Andersen’s fairy tales four times at different points of my career as an illustrator, which is a strong proof of how long I have carried this author inside.
For me, however, he also proved to be the most difficult one since the fairy tales read by an adult were no longer stories about people and animals but a whole world carrying the philosophy and wisdom of the eternal in the moral code of mankind.
In the course of many years I collected documental material about the time of Andersen and my trip to Denmark gave me the unique chance to immerse in the atmosphere of his world.
It gave me the opportunity to make a new attempt at the last, fourth and unfortunately not completed edition, to turn my back on precise information and to plunge into the psychological substance of fairy tales.
The distance of time will undoubtedly decide whether the new illustrations are the best ones and if, despite my professional experience, they are not much the worse for the lack of the romanticism and imperfection of a young beginner …”
Lyuben Zidarov

 

 

 

Geo Milev and Bulgarian Modernism

in the Art Gallery Stara Zagora from
September untill October 2005

 

The exhibition "Geo Milev and Bulgarian Modernism", which was hosted at the beginning of the year in the Sofia Art Gallery for the celebration of the 110th anniversary of Geo Milev (1895 - 1925) is to be seen during September and October 2005 in the Art Gallery Stara Zagora.

Please note that the catalogue to the exhibition (English and Bulgarian version) is also available.

 

 

 

Masterpieces of Bulgarian art in the

National Art Gallery Sofia

The permanent exhibition of the National Art Gallery Sofia will be open to the public untill August 27th 2005, after having been closed for over five years due to restauration works undertaken in the Royal Castle, which houses the National Art Gallery. Over 200 are the masterpieces of Bulgarian painting and sculpture presented in chronological order covering the period from the beginning of the 19th century untill the 1950s. The works of Zahari Zografski, Markvicka, Vesin, Anton Mitov, Elena Karamichailova, Nicola Marinov, Vladimir Dimitrov - Maistora, Zlaty Bojadzhiev, Ivan Milev, Ivan Taneff, Decko Uzunov and George Papazoff are only some of the masterpieces displayed that touch the souls and fill the hearts of foreign and native visitors.

 

 

Latest Publication on Ivan Milev

 

Ivan Milev and the journal Vezni

Modern art in Bulgaria during the 1920s and contemporary art criticism

by Rada Bieberstein

The academic study of art historian Rada Bieberstein on Ivan Milev and the art-journal "Vezni" (1919 - 1922) reflects on the developments of modern painting in Bulgaria from the beginning of the 20th century and the influence European Modernism had on Bulgarian art. The cultural context of Bulgaria during the 1920s, the art theory and art criticism of the avant-garde journal "Vezni" and the work of Ivan Milev are discussed.

The publication is enriched with an extensive bibliography covering Eastern and Western European research, a number of reproductions of Ivan Milev's works, the complete work-catalogue of the paniter's oeuvre and an appendix making available detailed historical data, biographical details, summaries in English and German from late Bulgarian research on the topic and translations in German of art historical writtings from critics of the time.

The elaborated debate on Modernism questions the artistic relationships and channels of exchange between Bulgaria and the Western states at the time. A close look is taken at the European art movements and styles to which Bulgarian artists responded. The critically-comparative approach of the investigation considers historical, political, social and psychological factors in order to further a comprehensive discussion on Bulgarian modern art, taking in account a new understanding of European Modernism, its influences and developments.

Rada Bieberstein
Ivan Milev und die Zeitschrift Vezni: Moderne Kunst in Bulgarien whrend der 1920er Jahre und die zeitgenssische Kunstkritik
Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, Bern, Bruxelles, New York, Oxford, Wien, 2005.
159 S., zahlr. Abb.
Europische Hochschulschriften: Reihe 28, Kunstgeschichte. Bd. 410, ISBN 3-631-53610-0

Peter Lang - Europischer Verlag der Wissenschaften
www.peterlang.de

International Conference

"National Identities - International Avant-gardes"

The international expert-conference of the research group "Munich as European centre of art education" takes place from 7th to 10th April 2005 in Munich and Wildbad Kreuth. The conference examines the process of artistic exchange and education during the 19th and 20th century in Europe. The focus lies on questions of attraction and influence, on topics like radiance, transfer and transformation, on the relationship between individual life and national identity, on the interaction between Centre and Periphery. The central element of the project is the research of the history of the Munich Art Academy. For a long time this institution was a trans-national attraction point of European dimention for numerous students from all of Central- and Easterneurope. Relationships, inter-dependencies and interactions will be investigated: on the one hand, the influence foreign students had on the artistic life of Munich, on the other hand the impact the educational contents had in their respective countries of origin will be scrutinized. The last applies particularly to the aesthetic ideas and artistic concepts. With regards to this, Historienmalerei, which dominated the Munich art scene of the second half of the 19th century, played an important role in the expression of the different national identities.

National Identities - International Avant-gardes

Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte, Munich, Germany
7th April - 10th April 2005

 

The City Art Gallery Sofia

GEO MILEV AND BULGARIAN MODERNISM

28 January - 27 March 2005

 

Organizers: Geo Milev International Foundation, Sofia Art Gallery, Art gallery of Stara Zagora, Geo Milev Museum House of Stara Zagora

With the support of: The Municipality of Stara Zagora, The SS Cyril and Methodius International Foundation, The Democratic Network Association, AKB FORES (The Financial & Industrial Concern) PLc, BULGARGAS PLc

Curator: Ass. Prof. Rouzha Marinska

In 2005, 110 years from the birth of Geo Milev (1895-1925) will be celebrated. His name and activity as a poet, critic, editor, theatre figure and painter are connected in Bulgarian history with the peak of the development of modernism at the beginning of the 1920’s. The “Vezni” (“Balance”) - 1919-1922 and “Plamak” (“Flame”) - 1924 magazines edited by him became the uniting centre for the Bulgarian intellectuals, poets and artistst with radical views in the area of literature and art.

The exhibition features approximately 100 large-scale reproductions of Geo Milev’s works and the works of artists form his circle such as: Ivan Milev, Ivan Boyadjiev, Petar Dachev, Sirak Skitnik and others.

The art works are divided in five main themes:
The Ego; Gods and Rites; The Woman; The City; Music.

Lecture program (On Thursdays, 4 pm):

3 February - LEDA MILEVA: My father

10 February – Ass. Prof. ROUZHA MARINSKA, New Bulgarian University: The Artists from Geo Milev’s circle

17 February – Prof. SVETLOZAR IGOV, PhD, Institute of Literature, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences: Geo Milev – The leader of Bulgarian Avant-garde.

24 February – Ass. Prof. LACHEZAR KARANLUKOV, the ‘Pancho Vladigerov’ National Academy of Music: Bulgarian Music Art and European Modernism

10 March - Prof. MIROSLAV DACHEV, New Bulgarian University:
Geo Milev and Modern Poetry

17 March - VIOLETA DECHEVA, Senior research Associate IІ degree, Institute of Art Criticism, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences:
Geo Milev and the Theatre as a Figure and Practice of Modernism

24 March – CATHERINA GADJEVA, PhD student at New Bulgarian University: Bulgarian Modernists and the photographer

 

 

 

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