An unusual exhibition in terms of subject matter can be seen at the The Museum of Socialist Art in Sofia. The exhibition "The Child in the Art of Socialism" The exhibition features 90 paintings, graphics and sculptures by Bulgarian artists from the collection of the National Gallery. The exhibition features 90 paintings, graphics and sculptures by Bulgarian artists from the stock of the National Gallery by artists such as Alexander Zhendov, Iliya Beshkov, Dechko Uzunov, Stoyan Venev, Iliya Petrov, Ioan Leviev, Marko Behar, Todor Panayotov, Lyuba Palikarova, and Yanko Pavlov.

The theme of the child in art did not fall outside the ideological instrumentarium and propaganda functions of totalitarian systems, whatever the sign mounted on their facades. The ideologeme was strong enough not to be used. Roles were assigned to the child, which it had to perform. The typology of the image was clearly revealed: ‘the child-hero’ and ‘the child-victim’ of wars and social injustice; the child both as an object and a subject of the new social reality.

It was Alexander Zhendov who developed this theme most consistently. He was the first artist in Bulgaria—as early as the 1920s—to turn the children of the big city into his main characters, including illustrations to works by poet Hristo Smirnenski.

"Strange as it may seem, the child can also be included in the ideological paradigms of the time. This topic is susceptible to ideological interference. In the exhibition we have tried to bring out an image that is rather universal, universally human. The child has been assigned roles, he or she is a continuator of the work of the fathers and grandfathers, a (future) builder of wealth," art historian Nikolai Ushtavaliiski, deputy director of the National Gallery, told BNR-Radio Sofia.

The exhibition can be visited until the end of March 2023.

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