ПРОГРАМИ
en de ru fr es sr gr al tr ro
Podcast in English
Share
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2024 All Rights Reserved

From the Newspaper to the Museum - the caricatures of Socialism on show at the Museum of Socialist Art 

Photo: BTA

The exhibition "From the Newspaper to the Museum", which has been attracting visitors to the Socialist Art Museum in Sofia for the past five months, is an attempt to reconstruct the genre of caricature under the totalitarian system of government in Bulgaria between 1944 and 1989. 

It contains 150 cartoons from this period by legendary masters of caricature such as Iliya Beshkov, Alexander Zhendov, Boris Angelushev, Stoyan Venev, Boris Dimovski, Donyo Donev, Asen Grozev, Georgi Anastasov, Tsvetan Tsekov - Karandash, Georgi Chaushov, Stefan Despodov and others. 

The cartoons are mainly published in newspapers. Most of the cartoons in the exhibition appeared in the pages of the weekly Shturmovak (Storm Trooper) and Chasovoy (Sentry) - a publication for the Bulgarian army fighting the Nazis on the battle fronts in Yugoslavia, Hungary and Austria. The first issue of the humorous weekly Starshel (Hornet) appeared in 1946, and its title has since become synonymous with Bulgarian cartooning.



The comic, as an aesthetic and ethical category, has long since become a powerful tool for influence, propaganda, and the imposition of ideas and ideologies. Totalitarian societies used it skilfully, turning the unique human ability to laugh into a weapon, according to the curators of the exhibition, which is open to the public until 31 March. 



Under the conditions of the Cold War, the main subject of satire was the political and economic doctrine of the Western world. Making fun of the Communist Party was completely off limits. The authorities were criticised only at the lowest administrative level - the civil servants. Negative phenomena - bureaucracy, poor customer service, inefficiency and low quality of production, and the formal attitude to work - became the target of cartoonists.

Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.
Radio Bulgaria Culture    caricature cartoons exhibition socialist art museum

More from category

Art transforms favourite places in the centre of Plovdiv

In the first days of autumn, residents and visitors of Bulgaria's second-biggest city Plovdiv are invited to recall special, favourite and interesting spaces in the city centre. This kind of rediscovery and recognition of places tamed by personal emotion..

published on 9/30/24 1:59 PM

Exciting meetings with talented Bulgarians await Bulgarians in Berlin in October

The main function and role of the Bulgarian Cultural Institutes abroad is to present the achievements of Bulgarian culture in all its diversity to the audience of the host country. "Our programme should be varied and everyone should find something..

published on 9/29/24 9:05 AM

Bulgaria’s Academy Award nomination Triumph wins grand prix at Golden Rose film festival

Triumph , the film by the directorial tandem Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov, won the grand prix for feature film at the 42 nd Golden Rose Bulgarian Feature Film Festival in Varna. The film was also awarded the prize for screenplay,..

published on 9/27/24 9:48 AM

WEATHER
Pick city: Sofía
Clear
Min: 6 | Max: 20
Partly Cloudy
Min: 12 | Max: 20
Mostly Cloudy
Min: 11 | Max: 16
Clear
Min: 6 | Max: 21
Partly Cloudy
Min: 7 | Max: 18
Partly Cloudy
Min: 9 | Max: 18
Partly Cloudy
Min: 7 | Max: 16
Partly cloudy, chance of rain
Min: 9 | Max: 17
Clear
Min: 9 | Max: 19
Clear
Min: 3 | Max: 17
Partly Cloudy
Min: 9 | Max: 18
Clear
Min: 7 | Max: 20
Clear
Min: 9 | Max: 19
Clear
Min: 4 | Max: 15
Partly Cloudy
Min: 9 | Max: 19
Clear
Min: 9 | Max: 20
Mostly Cloudy
Min: 8 | Max: 14
Partly Cloudy
Min: 10 | Max: 18
Partly cloudy, chance of rain
Min: 11 | Max: 17
Partly Cloudy
Min: 10 | Max: 18
Clear
Min: 6 | Max: 15
Clear
Min: 5 | Max: 16
Clear
Min: 9 | Max: 20
Mostly Cloudy
Min: 9 | Max: 16
Clear
Min: 11 | Max: 20
Partly cloudy, chance of rain
Min: 9 | Max: 16
Partly Cloudy
Min: 11 | Max: 20
BULGARIA IN PICTURES
Which world-famous Bulgarian artist designed QSL cards for Radio Bulgaria?
Yasen Gyuzelev
Theodore Ushev
Christo Javacheff - Christo
Ilia Peikov
Lika Yanko

BULGARIANS ABROAD

Български English Русский Deutsch Српски Français Ελληνικά Español Shqip Türkçe Română
MOST VIEWED

Exciting meetings with talented Bulgarians await Bulgarians in Berlin in October

The main function and role of the Bulgarian Cultural Institutes abroad is to present the achievements of Bulgarian culture in all its diversity to the..

published on 9/29/24 9:05 AM

Art transforms favourite places in the centre of Plovdiv

In the first days of autumn, residents and visitors of Bulgaria's second-biggest city Plovdiv are invited to recall special, favourite and interesting..

published on 9/30/24 1:59 PM

english@bnr.bg

+359 2 9336 661

Общи условия за използване на сайта | Политика за поверителност | Политика за "бисквитки"