The Gaudenz B. Ruf Award was created in 2007 by a Swiss national who, living in Bulgaria from 1995 till 2000, got acquainted with its rich cultural life and who is convinced of the artistic potential of this country.

The Award is financed by a fund established in Switzerland.

The Award aims at promoting and propagating artistic expression in Bulgaria in the field of visual arts and focuses in particular on the younger generation.

The Award is granted every year both for young as well as for advanced artists in the framework of a competition.

In 2007, the members of the jury for the Gaudenz B. Ruf Award are: Kamen Balkanski, Sofia, Luchezar Boyadjiev, Sofia, Lucia Coray, Zurich, Elena Panayotova, Sofia, Hedwig Saxenhuber, Vienna, Gaudenz B. Ruf, Berne.

The secretariate received 184 applications. At their meeting end of May 2007, the jury selected the following candidates to be included in the shortlist 2007:

Young Artists: Svetozara Alexandrova, Stara Zagora, Georgi Georgiev - Jorras, Sofia, Nadezhda Karapencheva, Sofia, Ivan Moudov, Sofia, Bora Petkova, Sofia, Samuil Stoyanov, Dobrich, Violeta Tanova, Sofia, Stela Vasileva, Sofia, Borjana Ventsislavova, Sofia.

Advanced Artists: Alla Georgieva, Sofia, Pravdoliub Ivanov, Sofia, Nikolay Koliazov, Stara Zagora, Emil Mirazchiev, Plovdiv, Kiril Prashkov, Sofia, Kalin Serapionov, Sofia
Vasko Slavkov, Sofia, Simeon Stoilov, Sofia, Dan Tenev, Dimitrovgrad, Krassimir Terziev, Sofia, Alexander Valchev, Sofia.

The selected artists participate in an exhibition at the Sofia Art Gallery. At the opening the two winners of the Gaudenz B. Ruf Award were announced:
Svetozara Alexandrova – for young artist
Krassimir Terziev – for advanced artist

Exhibition opening: October 3, 2007, Wednesday, 7 p.m.

03 October 2007 - 04 November 2007

“In search of history” is an exhibition of portraits, photographs and documents of Ms. Vaska Emanouilova, which is the first event in the exhibition programme of the “Vaska Emanouilova” Gallery.

In the exhibition are presented portraits of the sculpress by Stoyan Venev, Nenko Balkanski, Karl Yordanov, Alexander Stamenov, Lyuba Palikareva, Svetlin Rousev, etc., as well as photographs from various periods of her life that have never been on exhibit before. The portrait itself is viewed as a special record of time providing information not only about the diversity of artistic styles, but also about the topics and issues that artists consider to be of importance in the time they live in.

The documentary material provides the connection between definite phases, interests and artistic means the sculptress went through highlighting the most prominent features of her art, namely her pronounced interest in portraits during the 1930’s, her social convictions demonstrated in her sculptures of the 1940’s and the 1950’s, her interest in the naked body demonstared in both her sculptures and paintings, the compositional closeness employed in sculpting social, mythological and erotic figures, etc.

The presentation of Vaska Emanouilova’s artistic biography with portraits, photographs, sculptures and paintings provides insight into various stages of the Bulgarian art tradition. The sculptress starts her career as a member of the Soiety of the New, then she becomes a member of the Society of Independent Artists, whose ideas were reformatory, she also participates in some of the first female artist exhibitions, in most of the Union of Bulgarian Artists exhibitions and also in exhibitions abroad. The exhibition is a chronological account of the said events telling the life story of the artist while focusing on details such as the artist’s working environment, her fellow artists, the atmosphere of conversations and meetings. All those details help reconstruct historical events and provide insight into the artist’s individual search for a specific aesthetic approach.

Finding history through details is provocative, as it aims to inspire various research approaches, as well as to trigger various initiatives related to the collection, systematising and archival processing of documentary material, which would expand and supplement the collection of the sculptress’s works left by her to the Sofia City Art Gallery in 1985. Thus the history of Vaska Emanouilova’s public collection, which starts in 1984 with the opening of the permanent exhibition on “Shesti Septemvri” Str., reaches a stage when it is necessary to find a new venue for the exhibition, and continues with the serach for new times, contexts and stories to describe the works of the sculptress. This would in turn help give an idea of the development of a whole period of the history of Bulgarian art, a period that has contributed to the formation of our tradition and heritage.

„In search of history” is an open-ended exhibition from the standpoint of researcher curiosity, as well as from the perspective of history itself, as the “Vaska Emanouilova” Gallery will keep contributing to history pursuing an exhibition policy that promotes the works of young artists under the “Meeting point” initiative.