Lazarov, Ivan

Born Oct. 2, 1890, in Karlovo; died Nov. 4, 1952, in Sofia. Bulgarian sculptor. Honored Artist (1952); member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (1941).

Lazarov studied at the Industrial Arts School in Sofia from 1907 to 1912 and at the Academy of Art in Munich from 1917 to 1919. He was a professor (1919–52) and director (1932–45, with interruption) of the Academy of Arts in Sofia. Lazarov’s works (stone, terra-cotta, wood) are devoted to the working people of Bulgaria and are distinguished by truthfulness and humaneness. They are noted for their integrity of form, keen understanding of the national character of the people, and generalized representation of volume (Off to War Again, terra-cotta, 1915; Peasant Women Conversing, artificial stone, 1920’s; The Worker, andesite, 1937; The Washerwoman, mdesite, 1946–47; all in the National Gallery of Art in Sofia).