Background
Ivan Milev Lalev was born on February 18, 1897, in the town of Kazanlak in the family of shepherd Milyu Lalev.
In 1920 he was admitted in the State Academy of Arts in Sofia.
In 1920 he was admitted in the State Academy of Arts in Sofia.
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Ivan Milev Lalev was born on February 18, 1897, in the town of Kazanlak in the family of shepherd Milyu Lalev.
Ivan graduated high school in his hometown in 1919. In 1920 he was admitted in the State Academy of Arts in Sofia. In 1920-1922 he followed the general course and from 1922-1925 moved to the Decorative Department in the studio of Prof. Stefan Badjov. During his studies he made three solo exhibitions. On June 29, 1925, he received a certificate of completion of a full course with full honors of the Academy, specializing in “Decoration”.
Ivan was a teacher in the village of Gorski Izvor, Haskovo in 1919-1920. In 1916 he was mobilized in the army in Sofia and was assigned to the Air Force headquarters as a military artist. In 1917 Ivan Milev was a soldier of the Northern Front during the First World War. On November 18th he opened a two-day solo exhibition in Kazanlak. His military service ended on October 19, 1918.
In 1922, Ivan painted the cover of Vladimir Polyanov’s Death Books, Svetoslav Minkov’s Blue Chrysanthemum, Edgar Allan Poe’s Fantasies, Hans Heinz Evers’s The Horror, and others published by Ed. Argus. In January 1924, together with Ivan Penkov, he made the stage design of “Toze, which struck the tits” by Leonid Andreev in the National Theater, for which he also made other plays. Ivan Milev worked as a freelance artist, illustrator and author of murals for private homes. Together with Vasil Vichev he participated in the contest for the monument at Shipka peak in 1925. Their project remained second. The artist died of influenza on January 25, 1927, under the age of 30.
Ivan Milev was a native and amazing talent, blown up, but tragically brief. In depth of insight into Bulgarian folk he was the brightest figure of the 20s of the 20th century.
Ivan was one of the great masters of tempera and watercolors in Bulgarian fine art. The social subject was not alien to him. His extraordinary decorative style was influenced by the modern secession at that time in Europe, but it was related to folk traditions and icon-painting.
Ivan's works were part of the collections of National Art Gallery (Sofia), the Sofia City Art Gallery, the Art Gallery in Kazanlak as well as in the galleries of Shumen and other cities. The image of Ivan Milev is depicted on the BGN 5 banknote since 1999.
In the spring of 1926 he was admitted to the “Native Art” Society.
Milev had a brief 18-month marriage to opera singer Katya Naumova. On May 18, 1926, their daughter Maria Mileva, who was an architect, was born.
