Iliya Petrov (July 6, 1903 – May 18 1975)

Iliya Petrov was born on July 6 1903 in Razgrad and died on May 18 1975 in Sofia. He graduated the National Art Academy in 1926 in the class of Prof. Nikola Marinov. Having won a scholarship, he specialized in Munich between 1926 and 1928 in the private school of Heinrich Mann. From 1928 to 1940, he was a teacher in painting in Sofia’s 13th junior high school. In 1940 he started teaching in the National Art Academy. Later on, he became professor in Painting. From 1966 to 1968 was rector of the Academy. His work cut across the spectrum of media: portrait, figure composition, nude, landscape and still-life. Attaining prominence back in the 1930s, he was instrumental in the assertion of the realistic tendency in modern Bulgarian art. Petrov developed an aesthetic and modeling concept of his own and employed rich and varied colours in his figures. Two of his historical oils on canvas represent – Khan Asparuh (1941) and Ivailo’s Uprising, represent his art in the Administration of the President of the Republic of Bulgaria. Our national school of fine arts carries his name.