Колекция за всички
A Collection for Everyone

Summary/Abstract: The opening on May 22, 2005, of the Svetlin Rusev Studio-Collection on 18 Vrabcha St. in Sofia as a permanent museum exhibit presenting part of Svetlin Rusev’s collection of visual art works is a fact in the contemporary history of Bulgarian culture. Statistics reveal that the studio’s spaces contain more than 300 works by 100 Bulgarian artists, 30 icons created between the 17th and 19th centuries, marble sculptures from the ancient Roman era, wooden sculpture from Goa (a Portuguese maritime colony in southwestern India), African sculpture, Tibetan cloth, works by Auguste Rodin, Eugène Carrière, Aristide Maillol, Edgar Degas, and Corneliu Baba. But these statistics hide more important things: first and foremost is the motivation expressed in the desire for openness and for emotional and intellectual enrichment. S. Rusev’s collecting activities are the result of his personal understandings and discoveries of shared ideas with artists such as K. Petrov, V. Emanuilova or A. Spasov, and of his deep familiarity with Bulgarian visual art. The collection has peaks that provide a basis for well-justified pride – My Mother by Tz. Todorov, Zafirka by Z. Boyadzhiev, Refugee by I. Petrov, and Reaper by V. The Master Dimitrov, sculptures by А. Nikolov, I. Lazarov and M. Markov, compositions by G. Datsov, B. Georgiev and I. Milev. But its significance also lies in its leading works that trace the fundamental tendencies in the development of art in Bulgaria. The collection includes works by I. Nenov, B. Obreshkov, V. Nedkova, I. Beshkov, L. Dalchev, D. Uzunov, N. Raynov, N. Petkov, as well as artists from the second half of the 20th century such as A. Yaranov, G. Malakchiev, Y. Leviev, V. Starchev, G. Genkov, L. Dimanov, A. Stanev, E. Popov, S. Tsanev, and M. Bozhkov. Similar additions by artists who differ in their developmental trajectories, in their beliefs and approaches expands the informative value of the collection. Among the basic purposes of the Svetlin Rusev Studio-Collection is not only to preserve works of Bulgarian visual art, but also to make them accessible to all those who value the fine arts. For this reason, a series of steps have been taken to popularize Bulgarian art as a whole and the collection in part, beginning with exhibits from the cycle Passing through Time: Contemporary Bulgarian Painting, New Achievements, and The Teacher and the Students, as well as the participation of works from the collection in exhibits at the National Art Gallery (NAG), the National Archaeological Museum, the Shipka 6 National Exhibition Center for Contemporary Art, the Sofia City Art Gallery (SCAG), the National Palace of Culture, and the George Papazov Art Gallery in Yambol, among others. This is also the essence behind the desire to encourage cooperation between educational institutions in developing initiatives – the organization of lecturers and courses in the history of visual art for students at specialized art schools and the National Art Academy...

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