Boiadzhiev, Zlatiu

Born Oct. 22, 1903, in the village of Brezovo, Plovdiv Province. Bulgarian painter.

Boiadzhiev graduated from the Academy of Arts in Sofia in 1932. From the 1930’s to the early 1950’s he was influenced by the artistic traditions of the early Italian Renaissance and P. Brueghel. His works of this period—pictures devoted to subjects of daily village life, landscapes, portraits, and still lifes—are marked by a striving toward generalized and epic imagery; they are distinguished by monumentality of composition, precision in draftsmanship, and purity of color. Since the mid-1950’s, Boiadzhiev has undergone a transition to a more direct recreation of reality. Characteristic of the works painted during these years are expressive draftsmanship and a vibrant intensity of color. His works include Sheep Farmers of Brezovo (1941), housed in the National Art Gallery in Sofia; Zafirka (1940), and Flower (1957), both in private collections; and Winter in Plovdiv (1968), hanging in Sofia-Press. Boiadzhiev became a People’s Artist in 1962 and was awarded the Dimitrov Prize (1962).