49. Selfportrait. Souvenir de Derain [cca. 1950-1955]

Born in Bulgaria, the artist Georges Papazoff is considered the precursor of surrealism. Depicting his own image, Papazoff remains true to his idea of "a pictorial fusion of the human microcosm with the natural macrocosm, where the genres of portrait and landscape are combined in one compositional image, and strange human-landscapes are obtained." In the 50s, the Yambol born artist painted a series of self-portraits dedicated to one of his closest friends, Andre Derain (1880, Chatou, France - 1954, Garsh, France) - the co-founder of Fauvism, together with Henri Matisse. The closeness between Papazoff and Derain is also proven by the two books written by Georges: "My Friend Derain" (1960) and "Letters to Derain" (1966). The present artwork is part of Papazoff's series of self-portraits, and more specific "Heads-landscapes", works from the period 1950 - 1955. This series represents Papazoff's experiment with cubism, "(...) as architectural monuments..., crowned with wavy ribbons ("hair"), with a large eye - bottomless black or filled with a miniature landscape". The mystical, cosmic landscape in which our eyes are immersed also reveals Papazoff's interest in space, in the unknown and the infinite. With the delicate brushwork, the bright and contrasting colors of the painting, the mastery of the artist is proven, as well as the bold and distinctive strokes of one of the masters of Bulgarian art. Krastev, Kiril (1987), George Papazov, Sofia,. Bulgarian artist Publisher

Dimensions

width 22 cm, height 27 cm

Description

oil on canvas, signed bottom right, in orange, "Papazoff"

Dating

cca. 1950-1955

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