An Unknown Work by George Papazov from a Bulgarian Collection
За една неизвестна творба на Жорж Папазов от българска колекция

Summary/Abstract: The art heritage of George Papazov in Bulgaria is not large . Works of the artist are owned by the National Art Gallery, the National Gallery for Foreign Art, the gallery in his home town Yambol, the Galery Dimitar Dobrovitch in Sliven, Atelier-Collection Svetlin Rousev, some private collectors . The work in question has not been shown at any exhibitions in Bulgaria and has not been published. It is the property of Bulgarian collectors who have bought it some years ago abroad and own a certificate of authenticity . The work is entitled Blue Fog, dated around 1926 and is oil on canvas, dimensions 110x95 cm and is signed by the artist down on the right side . It presents a composition of three pairs of swans which as if though ‘float’ in a fog of abstract forms . The work was created approximately two years after George Papazov settled in Paris . One of the most important events for him in 1926 as well as in general for his career as a painter, was his participation in the group exhibition of in the Anonymous Society in Brooklyn, New York, a participation realized following a special invitation by Marcel Duchamp . On the sub-frame of the composition Blue Fog there is a label, documenting its participation in the exhibition . Blue Fog definitely is stylistically connected with the paintings created by the author during the period 1925-1927 . During the restoration of the painting in Bulgaria a surprising discovery was made - that it actually has two sides - on the back there is another composition, which is not signed and dated but the author is undoubtedly George Papazov . I have entitled it, just optionally, Two Figures . It is painted, as the Blue Fog with oil paints and has the same dimensions . Two Figures chronologically is the first painting in this two-sided work of art and one of the few preserved from the early, German period of the artist . The composition is similar to the early paintings of Papazov from the time of his stay in Germany – Sitting Nude, Petit Palais in Ge- neva, dated 1918 and Portrait of the Artist’s Mother from the collection of the National Art Gallery, dated around 1918-1923 .

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