Supplementary exhibition text (on the walls and labels)
Wall I
DIMITAR DONCHEV VELEV (1896–1978)
Dimitar Velev was a Bulgarian industrialist, scholar and artist. He was born in Kazanlak on 17 June 1896 and died on 25 November 1978 in Sofia. He was the son of Doncho Velev, a merchant and veteran of the Wars of Liberation whose family hailed from Dolno Sahrane, Kazanlak region. Dimitar also served in the First World War. After its end, in 1921, he successfully graduated from the Faculty of Law at Sofia University. During this period, his passion for art, and particularly carpet-making, deepened and found professional expression in the title “master carpet-maker” [kilimar] which he acquired in 1927.
Alongside his law carpet-making activities, Velev developed his trading and legal practices in Sofia. There he established the Bagra carpet house, and in Kazanlak, opened a carpet workshop under the same name in 1928. During that same year, Dimitar Velev presented to the public his first exhibition of Kotlen, Persian, Kazanlak and other carpets, created to his designs and those of other famous decorative artists, rendered in the “Bulgarian style, with folk motifs”.
In 1929, the Bagra carpet house participated in the prestigious Leipzig Fair, and Dimitar Velev was appointed as an inspector at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Sofia.
Over the period 1930–1935, Velev gave courses in Chiprovtsi carpet-making in the village of Kopilovtsi, in Kotlenski carpet-making in Botevgrad, and in Persian carpet-making in Zlatitsa.
In a testament to Velev’s high level of achievement in his craft, he was awarded the Grand Prix at the 1937 International Exhibition in Paris (Exposition Internationale des Arts et des Techniques), as well as a medal from the International Craft Exhibition in Berlin in 1938.
(Portrait photograph of Dimitar Velev from 1943, part of the donation).
Wall II
Documentary archive of the collection’s founder, Dimitar Velev
The archive donated by Mrs Polina Karadimova contains valuable documentary evidence relating to the personal and creative life of Dimitar Velev.
By Diploma No. 172 of 3 October 1940, His Majesty Tsar Boris III appointed Dimitar Velev, owner of the Bagra carpet house in Sofia, as court carpet-weaver. This act conferred upon him the right to place the royal coat of arms on his products.
The original copy of the dynastic coat of arms presented here, bearing the motto “Loyalty and Constancy“, is the work of the distinguished Bulgarian decorative artist Professor Stefan Badzhov (1883–1953) who taught Ivan Milev in the Decorative Arts Department at the Academy of Art in Sofia between 1922 and 1925.
Among the documents is also the original marriage certificate recording his wedding to 27-year-old Milka Stamatova Stamatova of Sofia, which took place on 9 November 1941 at the Church of Sts Constantine and Elena in the village of Banya, Karlovo region. The best man at the wedding was Zahari G. Staynov of Kazanlak, who had been married since 1930 to Dimitar Velev’s sister, Tsvetana. Like her brother, Tsvetana was also involved in the arts, specifically in applied ceramics.
Wall III – left section
Documentary archive of individuals connected with Dimitar Velev
The donated documents also bring to light interesting information about third parties connected with Dimitar Velev’s life. These include baptismal certificates from the Bulgarian Exarchate for his wife, his daughter and his father-in-law, in which we encounter names of individuals who left their mark not only on the history of Kazanlak, but on our national history in Bulgaria.
Dimitar Velev’s wife Milka was born on 5 May 1914 in Berkovitsa into the family of Slavka Stamatova and Stamat Shteryo Stamatov. She was baptised by the Berkovitsa priest Aleksi Lilov at the Church of the Holy Mother of God, with Katerina Ikonomova as her godmother.
Her father Stamat was born on 10 September 1871 in the village of Drenok, in the Debar district, into the family of Shteryo Stamatov and Velika Shteryova. He was baptised by the priest Philip Ivanov at the Church of the Holy Mother of God in Drenok, with Trendafil Tarpenov as his godfather. The village’s territory today falls within the municipality of Struga, in the Republic of North Macedonia.
Stamat Stamatov was a Bulgarian military officer and a prominent figure in the Macedonian émigré community in Bulgaria. He was a classmate and close friend of Gotse Delchev, with whom he enrolled together at the Military Academy in Sofia. He is the author of Memoirs of Gotse Delchev and Boris Drangov. Between 1935 and 1943 he published the journal Debarski Glas [Voice of Debar]. From the personal identity card of the retired reserve Lieutenant Colonel Stamat Sh. Stamatov, certified in 1939, we also learn the address at which the family lived in Sofia – 4 Hadzhi Dimitar Street.
From the marriage of Dimitar and Milka Velev, their daughter Maria was born on 28 August 1944 in Sofia. Her godfather was Doncho Zahariev Staynov of Kazanlak. Maria Veleva later dedicated herself to the arts as well, becoming a painter.
Wall III – central section
Original artistic designs
A large part of the donation consists of original designs by Dimitar Velev, produced at various stages of his creative career. Among them are examples featuring the traditional ornamentation characteristic of Chiprovtsi, Kotel and Persian carpets and runners. His designs reveal a clear striving for artistic perfection and stylistic precision.
In the delicate, painstakingly and patiently rendered draughtsmanship, you can discern his deep affinity for the refined ornamentation of the Persian carpet. This type of work came to occupy a particularly prominent place in his aesthetic sensibility – as early as the 1930s, the pieces he produced were a worthy rival to imported examples.
Wall III – right section
Original wall tapestries
From 1948 until the end of his life, Dimitar Velev devoted himself to scholarly research as an associate of the Institute of Fine Arts (IFA) at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.
During the period in which D. Velev collaborated with the institute, its director was his close friend – the Kazanlak-born Professor Ivan Penkov. On the basis of photographs of completed projects and subsequent research, it is reasonable to suppose that the carpet shown here was made to a design by Ivan Penkov and executed in D. Velev’s workshop.
The secret of transforming the word into colour*, without diminishing the purity and artistry of the image, was perhaps the most precious quality in Milev. – Chudomir, 1927
*’Bagra’ is the word meaning colour used here.
Wall IV
Wall tapestries and photographic archive
In 1949, together with Professor Georgi Bogdanov (1910–1974), Velev established the first tapestry studio in Bulgaria. In addition to artistic designs by Professor Bogdanov and Dimitar Velev, it also produced works to designs by the pioneer of Bulgarian design, Vasil Stoyanov (1926–1980), who was likewise born in Kazanlak.
Likely forming part of his scholarly research work are these photographs of one of the earliest carpet factories (taken in Panagyurishte between 1900 and 1903), as well as the images of the loom used to demonstrate vertical weaving at the World’s Fair in Liège in the early twentieth century.
The Bagra house was amongst the largest producers and exporters of Bulgarian carpets, rendering motifs from the folk heritage alongside subjects topical to the era. One such example is the original design for the wall tapestry Georgi Dimitrov bequeathed to us, created in 1950 in honour of the Communist leader. The tapestry itself was displayed in the building of the Council of Ministers.
In 1964, wall tapestries with figurative compositions were exhibited for the first time.
The wall tapestry presented here was made by the Bagra carpet house to a design by Professor Georgi Bogdanov.
On the table: two original copies of books & one copy of The Palette of the Gods, available for visitors to browse.
Dimitar Velev is the author of numerous scholarly studies and articles, including Old Bulgarian Carpets, The Dye Workshop and others, as well as one of the most valuable works in the field – Bulgarian Carpets up to the End of the 19th Century (1950)
He is also the author of A Carpet-Weaving Textbook for Girls’ Vocational Schools (for Years IV, V and VI) (1950), which remains to this day a foundational scholarly work on the subject for colleagues at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. For his monograph devoted to Bulgarian carpet art, he tirelessly gathered and studied authentic materials and information on woven textiles, colouring, motifs, technique, ornamentation and craftsmen, including from the Rila Monastery. In his preface, Dimitar Velev expresses his gratitude for the support and assistance of Dr Nikola Mihov, Professor Ivan Duychev and Professor Ivan Penkov, as well as to Hristo Vakarelski for editing the work.In 2008, Maria Veleva and Ilya Karadimov published The Palette of the Gods – a reference work on natural dyes and methods of dyeing with them, compiled from materials left by the late D. Velev. The greater part of the illustrations were produced by Velev himself.
Objects:
Carpet-Weaving: A Textbook for Years IV, V and VI of Girls’ Vocational Schools, Dimitar D. Velev, Narodna Prosveta State Publishing House, Sofia, 1950, First edition
Bulgarian Carpets up to the End of the 19th Century, Dimitar D. Velev, Publishing House of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, 1950, First edition
The Palette of the Gods: Natural Dyes and Methods of Dyeing with Them, Maria Veleva, Ilya Karadimov, Magic Line Enterprises, Sofia, 2008, First edition
Tapestry I Wool, cotton 42 × 41 cm
Tapestry II Wool, cotton 42 × 41 cm