The sculpture The bear was created by the Bulgarian monumental sculptor Ivan Blazhev and installed in Tyulbeto Park in Kazanlak in the late 1970s. The work is made of granite and is characteristic of his output in the field of park and monumental sculpture.
Ivan Blazhev was a Bulgarian sculptor, born in 1926 in the village of Mechka, Pleven region. He graduated in Sculpture from the Academy of Fine Arts in Sofia in 1950, where he was formed as an artist within the tradition of Bulgarian monumental sculpture of the second half of the 20th century. From the early years of his career, he turned his attention to public sculpture and the creation of monumental works intended to become part of the urban environment and to carry the ideological and cultural messages of the time.
Ivan Blazhev’s work is chiefly concerned with monuments to prominent figures from Bulgarian history, literature and culture. He created sculptural compositions and portraits of numerous well-known figures, including Ivan Vazov (Sopot, Sofia, Pleven), Peyo Yavorov (Sofia, Chirpan) and Nikola Vaptsarov (Bansko), among others. His works are marked by a monumentality, clarity of form and a striving for a powerful presentation of the image, characteristic of the period in which he worked.
A particularly interesting episode in his career is linked to his work in Kazanlak in the late 1970s. On the initiative of the town’s then mayor, Stancho Koev, who took a strong interest in his work, Ivan Blazhev was invited to Kazanlak and later appointed to the municipality’s staff as ‘chief artist’ for two years. During this period, an arrangement was reached under which Blazhev received a monthly payment in return for artistic and consultative work for the municipality, as well as for the creation of specific works for the urban environment. This collaboration resulted in several works in Kazanlak, including the monument to Friedrich Engels at The Arsenal, the composition Woman with a loaf of bread, and the granite sculpture The bear in Tyulbeto Park.
Ivan Blazhev is one of the representative figures of Bulgarian monumental sculpture, whose work is recognisable in a number of towns across the country. His art reflects the spirit of an age in which art was closely bound up with social processes and urban development.
Kiril Georgiev
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Ivan Blazhev (1926–2006)
The bear, late 1970s
granite