“Nikolai Shmirgela. The Nude – Exploring the Form" is an exhibition that traces the plastic
searches of the author in the late 1960s and early 1970s of the XX century.
Bathing, dressing, reflection and timidity – the naked sculptural bodies in various states
directly correspond to his drawings from this period.
The exhibition also includes several earlier works that give a more complete picture of the
work of the artist, who studied decorative arts and sculpture at the Art Academy in the 1930s.
The author’s interest is focused on the movement of extensive objects in space and the
treatment of material. As the artist himself motivates his art, “nudity is never the goal of the
artist, nor is it a desire to show the most beautiful naked body, but a means of expressing a
moral, religious or aesthetic artistic idea within the framework of an ideology and morality
for a given era or environment”.
The basis of the exhibition is the donation of sculptures and drawings made by the heirs and
family of Nikolay Vladov – Shmirgela. Thirty-two works are included, twenty-four of which
were donated by the heirs of SGHG. These works enrich the collection of the Sofia City Art
Gallery and help our understanding of the multifaceted personality of Nikolay Shmirgela –
sculptor, art researcher, writer, public figure, defender of a number of causes and collector.