The Kiril Petkov art gallery in Montana is hosting an exposition of 27 works by prominent graphic artist Prof. Galiley Simeonov to mark the late artist’s 95^th birth anniversary.
“The retrospective exhibition presents some of his emblematic works using the techniques drypoint, lithography and monotype,” says Nikola Minchev, curator of the museum. “One thing that is very typical of him is his admiration for Bulgaria’s national heroes, for the power of their spirit and their importance in the country’s history. A pivotal figure in his work is Vasil Levski, whom he painted over and over again, and the exhibition includes three portraits. We are also showing landscapes from Bulgaria, from the Northwestern part of the country, as well as works which interpret the country’s history.”

Nikola Minchev says that Galiley Simeonov’s interest in Hristo Botev, Vasil Levski, Ivan Vazov is due to his interest in the national memory something that is typical of his generation.

“Prof. Galiley Simeonov worked exclusively in graphic art - the nuanced black and white offer a contrast that is always charged with a special kind of emotion,” Nikola Minchev says. “In fact, the contrast between black and white demonstrates the drama of life, and maybe even of the epoch.”

Galiley Simeonov was born in 1929 in the village of Gavril Genovo near Montana. He went to secondary school in Berkovitsa, together with another famous name – writer Yordan Radichkov, and at the Arts Academy he studied under Prof. Ilia Beshkov. He kept in touch with both, and never lost his respect for them.

“He was himself a distinguished artist, yet he was very modest. Actually, modesty is something many artists possess – with a sense of respect for the achievements, the people who lived and worked before them.”
Though endowed with an enormous talent, Galiley Simeonov never tried to stand out, and the only thing that made life meaningful was his work.

“As soon as I graduated from the Academy I just ran. I was supposed to have gone to work in Vratsa as a teacher and though I had some temptations I came here,” he remembers, and as he talks he lifts up a large black and white portrait. “This is a drawing of my father. After a general art exhibition with three of my works which made a big impression I got a call that the academy was open to me and that they wanted me to go and teach there.”

In his “grandfather’s house”, as he calls it, the artist found a haven far from the vanity of the world of artists, close to nature.

“Everything I have done here I think comes as an assignment from the past and the attachment I have for my grandfather’s home,” the artist said while the geese cackle in the yard. “I have been to Berlin and Rome often but nowhere else did I start doing anything. What I have done is here, in the house of my grandfather. I always come back here.”

With a rare kind of dedication and no thought for worldly gains, Prof. Galiley Simeonov taught generations of graphic artists, works of his have been part of many national and international exhibitions. Living in a home ravaged by time, and by fire, he worked until his last breath in his own way, with eyes wide open to the world. He would say that surrounded by the “childlike love” of the geese in his yard, he felt truly happy.

Though he is dubbed Bulgaria’s top graphic artist, all his life Galiley Simeonov had doubts about the worth of his own work.

“I have never even hoped that what I have drawn will be preserved. Everything is around the place here – the things from my good creative years. And I can’t say whether what I have done is worthwhile. I can’t. I don’t know,” he says.

“Prof. Galiley Simeonov is often called “the last living classicist of national graphic art” and there is good reason for this,” adds Nikola Minchev. “And it is not just his technical mastery that make his works such brilliant examples of Bulgarian art, but also his attitude. With Galiley Simeonov professionalism is combined with a vibrant artistic spirit.”

Prof. Galiley Simeonov died on 1 November, 2021 in a world arranged to his own taste. But before he did he offered a simple piece of advice:

“We need to take a look at our own selves more, and trust in our selves so as to preserve what we possess deep in our nature.”

Galiley Simeonov’s words are from the film “A saint from the Northwest”
Translated and posted by Milena Daynova
Photos: BTA, Kiril Petkov art gallery in Montana