Stefan Kirov Kanchev (1915 – 2001) was a Bulgarian graphic artist best known for his logo design work. Referred to as the "father of Bulgarian graphic design" and the "master of the trademark", Kanchev authored around 1,600 logos, including logos for the National Palace of Culture, National Art Gallery, National Opera and Ballet, Bulgarian National Television, Union of Bulgarian Artists, TZUM, International Fair Plovdiv, and Petrol AD.
Kanchev was born in the sub-Balkan valleys of south central Bulgaria (then the Kingdom of Bulgaria). The son of an icon painter, he enrolled at the National Academy of Arts in the capital Sofia when he was 25, where he studied mural painting in 1940–1945 under Dechko Uzunov.
After leaving the National Academy of Arts shortly before graduation, Kanchev took part in exhibitions and biennales in Bulgaria and abroad over the next 22 years, including Belgrade, Budapest, Berlin, Moscow, Warsaw, Brno, Ljubljana and New York City. During this time, individual exhibitions of his work were organized in Sofia, Moscow, Prague, Berlin, Warsaw and Budapest, among other cities.
In 1967 when he was 52, Kanchev participated in an AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts) international exhibition in which he presented 23 of his logos, including his Petrol AD trademark. Fifteen years later, in 1982, Japanese magazine Idea ran a 16-page feature on Kanchev and his work. At the age of 79 in 1994 he was named among the world's top ten trademark artists along with Paul Rand and Saul Bass. Kanchev died in 2001. In June 2009, the premier Sofia Design Week featured an exhibition dedicated to Kanchev's logos.
Kanchev's work spanned most varieties of applied art, though he was most productive in his trademark and logo work and as a designer of book covers, posters, greetings cards, print advertisements, stamps, product labels and packaging. As a designer, Kanchev was often inspired by traditional Bulgarian art and folklore.
According to the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Encyclopedia of Fine Arts in Bulgaria, Kanchev's work "was distinguished by rich imagination, even and clear composition, successful relation between type and image, clean shapes [and] original artistic ideas that entirely fulfill the content of the work". In the words of artist and critic Ivan Nenov, "[Kanchev's] trademarks are entirely new, modern without being merely fashionable... Each of these trademarks can be magnified to a monumental size or reduced to a miniature, and it will not lose neither its readability nor its graceful beauty."
© 2021. All content on this blog is protected by international copyright laws All images are copyrighted © by Stefan Kirov Kanchev or assignee. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, the use of any image from this site is prohibited unless prior written permission is obtained. All images used for illustrative purposes only
 |
| Stefan Kanchev |
 |
| Bulgarian Television 1959 |
 |
| Neue werbung Magazine Cover, 1961 |
 |
| Slavyanka Fishing industry 1963 |
 |
| Petrol Oil company 1964 |
 |
| August Popov Furniture factory 1965 |
 |
| Rodopa Meat production plant 1965 |
 |
| Balkancar Production of forklifts 1966 |
 |
| Factory for Construction Materials Bulgarperlit Kardzhali 1966 |
 |
| Union of Architects in Bulgaria 1968 |
 |
| Bucherguide Magazine Cover, 1970 |
 |
| Coopturist Sofia 1970 |
 |
| Neue werbung Magazine Cover, 1970 |
 |
| Spring stamp, 1971 |
 |
| Sadal Burgas Factory for underwater fishing equipment 1972 |
 |
| Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe — Helsinki 1975 |
 |
| 10th Anniversary of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe Helsinki, 1975 |
 |
| Hotel Astoria Golden Sands Resort 1976 |
 |
| New Year 1976 |
 |
| 3rd National Philatelic Exhibition 1978 |
 |
| New Year 1978 |
 |
| 450th Death Anniversary of Albrecht Durer 1979 |
 |
| Historic Ships 1980 |
 |
| New Year 1983 |
 |
| International Philatelic Exposition “Capex” Toronto 1987 |
 |
| Bulgarian State Archives n.d. |
 |
| Celebration of the working class and revolutionary poetry — Kostenets n.d. |
 |
| Cellulose and Paper Sofia n.d. |
 |
| Central Puppet Theater n.d. |
 |
| Electronics Factory Sofia, n.d. |
 |
| Fishery Burgas poster, n.d. |
 |
| Mir Textiles n.d. |
 |
| Olimpiada n.d. |
 |
| Operetta State Theater Sofia, n.d. |
 |
| Bulgarian Philosophical Society Poster, n.d. |
 |
| International Children's Meeting “Banner for Peace” Poster, n.d. |
 |
| Publishing House of the Bulgarian Agrarian People's Union n.d. |
No comments:
Post a Comment