Zhelyo Tachev Kavardzhikliev \u2013 born in Stara Zagora, began painting in his school years, in his own unique way, with which he lived his entire life, he went through the school of the Academy of Arts in Sofia, presented two exhibitions in the capital and in the summer of 1924. went to specialize in France. In Paris, he rented a studio next to the Eiffel Tower and almost immediately received his first orders for portraits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tempted by the opportunity to show his paintings in Parisian halls, “he exhibited at the Ren\u00e9 Zivy Gallery in 1925, then at the Grand Palais, then at the Salon. His participations were noticed immediately. In the 1920s, he worked mainly in the field of portraiture and figurative composition. He paid attention to landscape and still life, according to the orders he received. During the long period he spent in Paris, he created about 1,000 paintings. All of them remained in France or took their way to Europe. In 1935, he returned to Bulgaria. He immediately showed his exhibition of about a hundred canvases at the Trupkova Gallery. Portraits, nudes, landscapes were included. A central place was given to figurative compositions. Reviews of the exhibition were contradictory.”* Years of inner searches and torments about human nature, art and fate followed, also expressed through literary forms. Perhaps the contradictory criticism and audience of the exhibition opened in 1939 led to disappointment and refusal to join the artists’ associations and he left for Tutrakan – the land newly returned to Bulgaria. Here Zhelyo Tachev lived and taught for 17 years. He was appointed director of the high school. He continued to paint, but exhibited less and less. He painted portraits, still lifes, landscapes from the Danube bank. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 1962, in his Stara Zagora artist’s form, he wrote: “I am extremely bitter about life. I have suffered greatly from it and that is why I am a very big skeptic. I have lost faith in the kindness of people, even though I have worked and suffered all my life for them…” He wanted to show an anniversary retrospective exhibition with works from all periods, collecting over 850 paintings and asking the Union of Bulgarian Artists to exhibit them in the large salon on Gurko Street. He was refused and this was a big blow for the artist. Zhelyo Tachev died in 1964.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You can read more about his life and work at:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
* https:\/\/artgallerystz.com\/%D0%B6%D0%B5%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BE-%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%87%D0%B5%D0%B2-1892-1964-%D0%B3\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n And here you can see his works, including from Tutrakan<\/p>\n\n\n\n