The project Dechko Uzunov. 125 Years Since the Artist’s Birth has been carried out in partnership between the Sofia City Art Gallery, the Art Gallery – Kazanlak, and the State Archives Agency. It includes a series of exhibitions dedicated to the anniversary of the artist’s birth. This exhibition is the second part of the documentary series Dechko Uzunov. Monumental Art. In the period from June to September 2024, visitors will have the opportunity to see archival photos, preparatory plans, and works that create a visual story about this not-so-well-known side of Dechko Uzunov’s oeuvre.
After the exposition dedicated to his secular monumental art, the focus is now on the religious. The frescoes in two churches, which Dechko Uzunov painted with a group of other artists, have been preserved to this day. In 1936, together with the artists Stefan Ivanov, Nikola Marinov, and Dimitar Kandimirov, he worked in the Cathedral of St. John the Forerunner in the town of Kazanlak. Chudomir and his wife, Mara Chorbadzhiyska, also join the team. In 1937, together with Nikola Marinov, Dechko Uzunov worked on painting the St. John of Rila church in the city of Pernik, assisted by Aleksandar Poplilov. Later, during the period 1981–1983, Uzunov participated in the restoration of some of the stained-glass windows in the Rectorate of Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski that had been destroyed during the Second World War (1939–1945). The public will become acquainted with the plans for and the realisation of these monumental works through documentary photos, archival materials, and reproductions.
The Dechko Uzunov branch of the Sofia City Art Gallery has a number of sketches and more detailed designs for religious murals in its collection. Some of them complement the exhibition as a testimony to the serious and purposeful research that the artist carried out over the years. Also included are two painted canvases, St. George (1930s) and Self-Portrait with Saints (1983), that provide evidence that the artist returned to the depiction of holy images in a later stage of his long creative journey in his easel works as well.
The project Dechko Uzunov. 125 Years Since the Artist’s Birth has been realized with the financial support of the Capital Culture Program and the media partnership of BTA, as well as with the help of art galleries around the country, the Union of Bulgarian Artists, the Bulgarian National Bank, the Sofia Opera and Ballet, the State Opera in Stara Zagora, the Ivan Vazov National Theatre – Sofia, the National History Museum, the Museum of Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski, the Vasil Levski Community Centre – Karlovo, the St. John the Forerunner Cathedral in Kazanlak, and the St. John of Rila church in Pernik.