IMMORTALITY IN ETERNITY
Georgi Gerasimov
(1905 – 1977)
Paintings, graphic works and drawings

The City Art Gallery of Plovdiv has invited Stanislav Dospevski Art Gallery of Pazardzhik to present at Kapana Gallery the exhibition Immortality in Eternity - Georgi Gerasimov (1905 – 1977) - Paintings, graphic works and drawings. The name of the exhibition is inspired by Georgi Gerasimov’s speech at the official opening of the Art Gallery of Pazardzhik in 1963. In this speech he said:
“A gallery that does not preserve, arrange and take good care of the artworks of the past is not a Gallery. A Gallery must become a living organism, with fresh blood constantly flowing out of the modern world into its heart; then, we could enjoy artworks as vibrant as the colours of the rainbow, works that could be the crown of creation and eternally immortal ...”

Eternally mortal… Isn’t that every artist’s dream!? To have his name remembered by future generations, to have the work of his hands seen - the thing that tortured his soul day and night until it found expression on the white sheet, the canvas or the clay.

Georgi Gerasimov was no exception.

Born on 5 February 1905 in Pazardzhik, he completed his secondary education in his hometown. Later on, he graduated from the State Academy of Art in Sofia, majoring in Painting in the class of Prof. Nikola Marinov and Graphic Art in the class of Prof. Vassil Zakhariev. In 1938, it took him just 10 months to complete with honors the 4-year course in Graphic Art at the Academy of Applied Arts in Prague with the world-famous professors Šimon and Švabinský.

Back in Bulgaria, he worked as a teacher at different schools in Sofia, as a graphic artist at the State Printing House and as an army artist. Here’s what Gerasimov wrote in one of his diaries: “I wouldn’t like to make a living from art. I’d rather earn my living as a butcher’s servant or grind flour in a mill, but feel the thirst for art constantly vibrating in my heart…” He avoided working on commission and having other people interfere with his artwork. As a result, almost all of his works are concentrated in one place - his hometown, Pazardzhik.  

From 1930 on, Georgi Gerasimov participated in all group art exhibitions in Bulgaria and all representative exhibitions of Bulgarian art abroad (Prague, Budapest, Moscow, Berlin, Halle, Chemnitz, Erfurt, Dresden, Warsaw, Vienna, Sofia, Plovdiv, Burgas, Varna, Pazardzhik, etc.).

In 1936, he joined the Union of Bulgarian Artists and was repeatedly elected as a member of the management board. In 1959, he was awarded the Order of St Cyril and St Methodius - 3rd degree for his years-long teaching work, and in 1966, he received the Order of St Cyril and St Methodius - 1st degree. That same year he had his first and only solo exhibition in his hometown. A few months later, he was proclaimed the first honorary citizen of Pazardzhik for his contribution to the cultural development of the town.

He died on 15 April 1977.

Nationwide, his name ranks among the classics of Bulgarian graphic art: Vassil Zakhariev, Boris Angeloushev and Vesselin Staykov. Some of his most famous works are: Slovenian woman (1938), Cattle drinking water (1944), Noon (1944), Thirst (1949), Portrait of Nikolay Khrelkov (1971).   

But what will remain in the memory of generations is that two months before his death in 1977 Georgi Gerasimov bequeathed everything he owned to his hometown, Pazardzhik: his house in the town with the studio and the shop in it, his apartment in Sofia, a lot of objects of ethnographic and numismatic value, thousands of books and magazines, documents and over 6,000 artworks (paintings, graphic works, drawings and experiments).

The 165 works (paintings, graphic works and drawings) displayed at Kapana Gallery cover the period 1923-1971 and present some of Georgi Gerasimov’s impressive legacy. Among them, of special interest are: the masterpiece of Bulgarian graphic art, Pietà (the engraving reflects the echoes of the September Uprising of 1923), and the oil portrait Lily (1935), painted with a knife and a brush. Both works were awarded by the Ministry of Education in 1936. 

According to the explicit will of the donor, today his home is transformed into Georgi Gerasimov historic house museum. The museum exposition traces the life and oeuvre of the artist, showcasing artworks, documents as well as his restored studio with the presses, tools and materials he used.

The current exhibition presents 4 panels with photographs from the artist’s house museum and 8 boards with thoughts on art and life in general, taken from his personal diaries (stored today in the Archives State Agency in Pazardzhik).

The whole exhibition presents only a small part of the invaluable spiritual legacy this far-sighted artist has left for future generations.

Ekaterina Ivanova
Curator at Stanislav Dospevski Art Gallery of Pazardzhik