French Impressionists – Graphics

After its success in Slovakia, Poland and Romania, for the first time in Bulgaria, the unique exhibition “French Impressionists – graphics” will be exhibited in the AG “P. Churchuliev”, Dimitrovgrad, and the opening on 25.08.2023 is part of the program of the municipality on the occasion of the 76th anniversary of the city.
The exhibition presents 37 original graphic works by some of the greatest masters of modern art – Paul Gauguin, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Edouard Manet, Armand Guillaume, Alfred Sisley and Paul Cézanne. These works are a very important part of the artistic heritage of these masters and are found in the collections of the greatest national museums and galleries throughout the world. Shown together in this exhibition, they show us how expression in graphic form was an important part of the Impressionists’ work and found expression in the masterpieces they created.
The exhibition will be available to visitors from 25.08.2023 to 13.01.2024.
The exposition is divided into four thematic sections:
First section – “Portrait of Baudelaire” by Edouard Manet.
Throughout his life, though opposed by art critics, Manet had as his associates Emile Zola, who supported him publicly in the press, Stéphane Mallarmé, and Charles Baudelaire, who challenged him to depict life as it was. Manet in turn drew each of them.
Second section – Three works of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
The second section introduces visitors to one of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s greatest artistic passions: graphics, or more precisely lithography. An exceptional series of works – lithographs featuring Toulouse-Lautrec’s favorite model and superstar of his time – Yvette Gilbert, as well as the double lithograph Don Quixote and Sancho Panza / Woman cleaning fish (1897) and the six-color lithograph engraved by Toulouse-Lautrec himself, signed in the plate with the artist’s monogram – Theater program for Fabre’s “L’argent” / “Money”.
Third section – monotypes and drawings from Paul Gauguin’s memoir “Before and After” -18 monotypes and 10 pages of drawings. Gauguin planned to publish them exactly in the form in which it was carried out by Eric Ernst Schwabach – in the form of heliogravures. Thus, it can be said that Gauguin’s artistic ideas in the prints presented at the exhibition are fully realized in this first unique edition of 1918.
Fourth section – Five works by Pierre Auguste Renoir, Paul Cézanne, Armand Guillaume and Alfred Sissle.
Although the graphic works of the Impressionists are not as famous as the paintings, they are an important part of their work, showing the different skills and ideas of their creators.
Curators: Vasiliy Kesauri and Alexander Kesauri, organized by AG “P.Churchuliev”, Dimitrovgrad (Bulgaria) in partnership with Art Expo SIA (Latvia) and Kesauri Collection (France).
A special partner of the exhibition is the “Dr. Kapashikov and Collective” Veterinary Clinic.