Vladimir "the Master/Maystora" Dimitrov Poppetrov () (1 February 1882 – 29 September 1960), was a Bulgarian

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

, draughtsman and teacher. He is considered one of the most talented 20th century Bulgarian painters and probably the most remarkable stylist in Bulgarian painting in the post-

Russo-Turkish War The Russo-Turkish wars ( ), or the Russo-Ottoman wars (), began in 1568 and continued intermittently until 1918. They consisted of twelve conflicts in total, making them one of the longest series of wars in the history of Europe. All but four of ...

era.

Life and work

Vladimir Dimitrov was born in Frolosh, near

Kyustendil Kyustendil ( ) is a town in the far west of Bulgaria, the capital of the Kyustendil Province, a former bishopric and present Latin Catholic titular see. The town is situated in the southern part of the Kyustendil Valley, near the borders of ...

and started his career as a clerk. In 1903 he enrolled in the School of Drawing in Sofia where he had been called the Master (''Maystora'') for the first time. In 1922 he met the American John Crane in Rome and sold him much of his work for the next few years. In the period before and after the First World War he travelled extensively, visited Russia, Italy, France, Germany and the USA. After that he spent almost all of his life in the village of Shishkovtzi. Dimitrov is famous not solely because of his paintings but also because of his lifestyle. His family was poor but even after he became famous, he was trying to give away all of his possessions and money, living in poverty and

asceticism Asceticism is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from worldly pleasures through self-discipline, self-imposed poverty, and simple living, often for the purpose of pursuing Spirituality, spiritual goals. Ascetics may withdraw from the world ...

, wearing old clothes, never shaving and eating only

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...

food. This is the reason why even while alive, many people believed that he was a saint and showed great affection for him. Dimitrov was an outstanding artist who included bright colors within his art and today his artwork may be considered a

fauvist Fauvism ( ) is a style of painting and an art movement that emerged in France at the beginning of the 20th century. It was the style of (, ''the wild beasts''), a group of modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong col ...

type rather than

expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

. He uses a wide range of

Post-Impressionist Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction a ...

techniques, but his works always keep a strong bound with reality and try to simplify many of the figures and compositions to make them accessible for a wider public. The main expressive strength does not come from the clarity of the images but from the colors. More than 700 of his oil paintings are exhibited in the "Vladimir Dimitrov Art Gallery" in

. Maystora Peak on

Greenwich Island Greenwich Island (variant historical names ''Sartorius Island'', ''Berezina Island'') is an island long and from (average ) wide, lying between Robert Island and Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. The island's surface ...

in the

South Shetland Islands The South Shetland Islands are a group of List of Antarctic and subantarctic islands, Antarctic islands located in the Drake Passage with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the n ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

is named for the painter. To commemorate his 100th birthday, in 1982 a set of 6 souvenir postage stamps featuring 6 of his paintings was issued.

Social engagement

* 1910-1920: paints in the traditional realistic styleVladimir Dimitrov — The Master section. prevalent in Europe at the time. During this period (1912–1917), he participated as "war painter" in both the Balkan Wars and First World War. It is probably due to this war experience that he becomes imbued with the spirit of Tolstoyanism. * 1920-1930: creates the painting now called "The Bulgarian Madonna".Assenova asserts that the original title of the painting was "The Young Woman from Shishkovzi". Assenova 2006, p.15. The name of the village of Шишковци is usually transliterated as "Shishkovtsi". * 1946: joins the Communist Party."After I paid my dues for believing in “idealism,” although late in life, I accepted the only true viewpoint – Marxism-Leninism, and as regards my art – socialist realism." Assenova 2006, p.28

Notes

References

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External links

Vladimir Dimitrov's ArtDomino: Art Galleries
- Images of Dimitrovs paintings. {{DEFAULTSORT:Dimitrov, Vladimir - Maystora 1882 births 1960 deaths People from Kyustendil Province 20th-century Bulgarian painters 20th-century Bulgarian male artists Bulgarian male painters