Lika Yanko (; March 19, 1928 – June 22, 2001, born with the name Evangjelia Grabova) was a Bulgarian artist born 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 ...

. Her paintings are renowned for their abstract nature and their use of found materials.

Biography

Lika Yanko was born in Bulgaria's capital,

, in 1928. She was born to

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

immigrant parents from the region of Grabova in

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

. She was born with the name Evangjelia Grabova. Her father was Llazër Grabova. Her family were Orthodox Christians. Her mother Efrosina was originally from the village of Llëngë, within the town of Trebinjë which is by

Pogradec Pogradec (,) is the List of cities and towns in Albania, eleventh most populous city in Albania and the capital of the eponymous municipality. It is located on a List of settlements on the Lake Ohrid coastline, narrow plain between two mountain ch ...

, Albania. Her family spoke the

Albanian language Albanian (Endonym and exonym, endonym: , , or ) is an Indo-European languages, Indo-European language and the only surviving representative of the Albanoid, Albanoid branch, which belongs to the Paleo-Balkan languages, Paleo-Balkan group. It ...

in the

Tosk Tosk ( sq-definite, toskërishtja) is the southern group of dialects of the Albanian language, spoken by the ethnographic group known as Tosks. The line of demarcation between Tosk and Gheg (the northern variety) is the Shkumbin River. Tosk is ...

dialect. Lika has a brother Petar and a sister Danka. Her family migrated to Bulgaria from Albania due to a blood feud known as Gjakmarrje in Albanian. Her father's cousin was murdered therefore her family retaliated towards the murderer and then fled to Bulgaria to avoid more bloodshed. She studied at the French College in Sofia, where she was exposed to artists as

Paul Cézanne Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter whose work introduced new modes of representation, influenced avant-garde artistic movements of the early 20th century a ...

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2,100 artworks ...

Paul Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramist, and writer, whose work has been primarily associated with the Post-Impressionist and Symbolist movements. He was also an influ ...

, who influenced her art. In 1946 she joined 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 ...

studying painting in the classes of Prof. Dechko Uzunov and Prof. Iliya Petrov, but she did not graduate. At the time, her work was met with criticism and resistances both from state authorities and the aesthetic preferences of her professors and other contemporary painters. Her paintings are frequently colorful, although the white color is predominant or easily notable because, according to the Lika, this is the color of God. Her canvases often encapsulate beads, buttons, hemp ropes, nuts, glass, pebbles. Her first solo exhibition was in Sofia in 1967 but paintings were branded as avant-garde and the show was banned several days after it opened. Yanko continued to paint but did not exhibited her canvases until 1981, when she was invited for an exhibition personally by

Lyudmila Zhivkova Lyudmila Todorova Zhivkova (; 26 July 1942 – 21 July 1981) was a senior Bulgarian Communist Party functionary and Politburo member. She was the daughter of Bulgarian Communist leader Todor Zhivkov, and primarily known for her interest in pre ...

. In the mid-1970s and later in the 80s her paintings began to be bought by foreign embassies and received the attention of European galleries. In 1989 she received the Sofia Award. Yanko had only 7 exhibitions during her lifetime. She died on June 22, 2001, in Sofia from pneumonia, only a few days after the opening of her last exhibition, in the Cavallet Gallery in

Varna Varna may refer to: Places Europe *Varna, Bulgaria, a city ** Varna Province ** Varna Municipality ** Gulf of Varna ** Lake Varna **Varna Necropolis * Vahrn, or Varna, a municipality in Italy * Varna (Šabac), a village in Serbia Asia * Var ...

References

Stamp of Albania - 2009 - Colnect 182616 - Lika Janko 1928-2001 Bulgarian painter

*Content in this edit is translated from the existing Bulgarian Wikipedia article at :bg:Лика Янко; see its history for attribution.

External links

Lika Yanko image on AskArt
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yanko, Lika 1928 births 2001 deaths 20th-century Bulgarian painters 20th-century women artists Bulgarian people of Albanian descent People from Sofia