Peter Lazarov (born 1958) is a Bulgarian/Dutch artist printmaker.

Biography

Since 1990 Lazarov has been living in The Netherlands. Almost completely unknown in his home country, Peter Lazarov is one of the very few living artists within the official collection of the

Rijksmuseum The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the St ...

in Amsterdam, where, amongst others one finds the ''Night watch'' by

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally consid ...

. Other prestigious collections include Museum Meermanno-Westreenianum, The Hague, Netherlands; Museum of fine arts, Okinawa, Japan; National Library of Congress, Washington DC, USA;

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

, USA; and the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

, Vancouver Canada. Peter Lazarov, member of the British Society of Wood engravers, is a master of printing techniques, using wood engraving, woodcuts, and lithography, sometimes combined into one print. His expressive style bares the marks of the rich Bulgarian tradition and simultaneously the influences of Dürer,

, Escher, or

Willem de Kooning Willem de Kooning (; ; April 24, 1904 – March 19, 1997) was a Dutch-American abstract expressionist artist. He was born in Rotterdam and moved to the United States in 1926, becoming an American citizen in 1962. In 1943, he married painter El ...

. In 2003, he visited Japan to work with the master paper maker, Sensei Fujimori-san, considered a "National treasure" in Japan. Today Peter Lazarov makes his own papers, using the ancient Japanese techniques. One may consider Lazarov to be the only Bulgarian artist who possesses this knowledge. He has illustrated numerous fine-press books for such authors as

Louis Paul Boon Louis Paul Boon (15 March 1912, in Aalst, Belgium, Aalst – 10 May 1979, in Erembodegem) was a Belgian writer of novels, poetry, pornography, columns and art criticism. He was also a painter. He is best known for the novels ''My Little War'' (1947 ...

, Atanas Daltchev, Cor Jellema, Kavafis,

Emily Dickinson Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886) was an American poet. Little-known during her life, she has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry. Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massach ...

Charlotte Brontë Charlotte Brontë (, commonly ; 21 April 1816 – 31 March 1855) was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters who survived into adulthood and whose novels became classics of English literature. She enlisted i ...

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...

Archimedes Archimedes of Syracuse (;; ) was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, astronomer, and inventor from the ancient city of Syracuse in Sicily. Although few details of his life are known, he is regarded as one of the leading scientists ...

, or

Crispin Elsted Crispin Elsted is a Canadian poet and publisher."Poet Reads at the ACT". ''Maple Ridge Pitt Meadows Times'', May 16, 2006. He was born on May 31, 1947, to Dennis and Isabel Elsted. He is the co-founder, with his wife Jan Elsted, of the book-publish ...

amongst others. In 2002 he founded his own private press, PEPELpress, for limited-edition, hand-made books. In 2006 two of his books, notably “Shoji” and "Melancholi...", were chosen amongst the 50 best bibliographical editions in The Netherlands for 2004-2005, Mooi Marginaal. ''Shoji'' consists of three Dutch haiku by his son, Teodor, and three wood-engravings by himself. In 2007 a large exhibition of Peter Lazarov in

Shanghai, China Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

, showing 200 engravings was "sold out"—an unseen event for the author. In October 2008, Peter Lazarov was the centre of the world graphics exhibition in

Beijing, China } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, when he was elected by the Organizational committee of the World Congress of FISAE in Beijing, China, as among the 10 best artists printmakers in the world, working in the field of Ex Libris and small graphic art. It was the first time such an honour was bestowed upon a Bulgarian artist.

External links

Official Catalogue of Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lazarov, Peter 1958 births Living people Dutch printmakers Dutch people of Bulgarian descent

Biography

Further reading

External links