Ilia Beshkov Dunov (; 24 July 1901 – 23 January 1958) was a

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

n painter, graphic artist, comics artist, caricaturist, cartoonist, illustrator, writer and pedagogue.

Life

Beshkov was born in 1901 in

Dolni Dabnik Dolni Dabnik ( ) is a town in Pleven Province in the Danubian Plain (Bulgaria), Danubian Plain of central northern Bulgaria. It is the administrative centre of Dolni Dabnik municipality and lies to the west of the city of Pleven. As of December 20 ...

, nowadays a small town near

Pleven Pleven ( ) is the seventh most populous city in Bulgaria. Located in the northern part of the country, it is the administrative centre of Pleven Province, as well as of the subordinate Pleven municipality. It is the biggest economic center in ...

Pleven Province Pleven Province ( or Плевенска Област) is a province located in central northern Bulgaria, bordering the Danube river, Romania and the Bulgarian provinces of Vratsa, Veliko Tarnovo and Lovech. It is divided into 11 subdivisions ...

, central northern Bulgaria. In 1918–1920, he studied at the Faculty of Law of

Sofia University Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" () is a public university, public research university in Sofia, Bulgaria. It is the oldest institution of higher education in Bulgaria. Founded on 1 October 1888, the edifice of the university was constr ...

and briefly returned to his native Dolni Dabnik as a teacher. In 1921, he enrolled in painting at the

National Academy of Arts The National Academy of Arts () is an institution of higher education in Sofia, Bulgaria. It is the oldest and most renowned school of arts in the country. History The National Academy of Arts was founded in 1896 by noted artists and public f ...

, in the class of prof. Nikola Marinov. He graduated in 1926. As a student, Beshkov published

caricature A caricature is a rendered image showing the features of its subject in a simplified or exaggerated way through sketching, pencil strokes, or other artistic drawings (compare to: cartoon). Caricatures can be either insulting or complimentary, ...

s in the ''Maskarad'', ''Div Dyado'', ''Balgaran'', ''Starshel'' and ''Vik'' magazines and illustrated the issues of the T. F. Chipev and Hemus printing houses. From 1925 on, he co-operated with the ''Pladne'' magazine among others. He was twice arrested due to his leftist political views: once after participating in the June Uprising following the

Bulgarian coup d'état of 1923 Bulgarian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria * Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group * Bulgarian language, a Slavic language * Bulgarian alphabet * A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria * Bul ...

and then during the 1925

April Events April is the fourth month of the year in the Gregorian and Julian calendars. Its length is 30 days. April is commonly associated with the season of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere, where it is the s ...

in the wake of the

St Nedelya Church assault The St Nedelya Church assault was a terrorist attack on St Nedelya Church in Sofia, Bulgaria. It was carried out on 16 April 1925, when a group of the Military Organisation of the Bulgarian Communist Party directed and supplied by the Soviet M ...

. In 1930, Beshkov became a member of the ''Narodno Izkustvo'' movement. He was from the founders of the famous newspaper Sturshel (Hornet) in 1940, and published in it without signature or pseudonym. One of his best known comic characters was 'Spekulanta Maks'. In 1945, he became a lecturer of drawing, illustration and print design at the National Academy of Fine Art; he was elected a tenured

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

in 1953 and led the Department of Graphics until his death in 1958 in

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

. Beshkov's political caricatures were noted for their

sarcasm Sarcasm is the caustic use of words, often in a humorous way, to mock someone or something. Sarcasm may employ ambivalence, although it is not necessarily ironic. Most noticeable in spoken word, sarcasm is mainly distinguished by the inflectio ...

and deep connotations. His works were humanist, democratic, revolutionary and national in nature. The

art gallery An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The long ...

in Pleven is named in his honour and most of his works are exhibited there.

References

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Beshkov, Ilia 1901 births 1958 deaths Bulgarian caricaturists 20th-century Bulgarian illustrators Bulgarian magazine illustrators Bulgarian cartoonists Bulgarian comics artists Bulgarian satirists People from Dolni Dabnik 20th-century Bulgarian painters 20th-century Bulgarian male artists Bulgarian male painters