On 5 December 2024, on the eve of Donor Day, Bisera Yosifova, Executive Director of NEF ‘13 Centuries of Bulgaria’ presented the artist Ivan Kanev with the ‘13 Centuries of Bulgaria’ Honorary Crest. He is a donor to the Fund and, over the years, has displayed his works in many exhibitions organised by the Fund.
The distinction was awarded by decision of the Fund’s Management Council to mark the approaching 90th anniversary of the artist’s birth.
The graphic artist and painter Ivan Petkov Kanev paints landscapes, still lifes and portraits. Born in Nova Zagora, he graduated in Applied Graphics from the National Academy of Arts in Sofia in 1963, under Prof. Alexander Poplilov. Over the years, he worked as a museum specialist at the Sliven and National Art Galleries. Between 1973 and 1985, he served as an expert on art gallery issues in the Museums Directorate of the Committee of Culture. From 1985 to 1993, he was the Director of the Sofia City Art Gallery.
In 2019, through NEF ‘13 Centuries of Bulgaria’, Ivan Kanev donated thirteen of his paintings worth 10,750 BGN, six of which were given to the Association of the Liberal, Ambitious and Solidarity Group, the remaining seven to the Culture and Information Centre of the Bulgarian National Minority in Bosilegrad.
In 2024, the artist made another donation: this time contributing to the commitments of NEF ‘13 Centuries of Bulgaria’, by donating his ‘Street 2’, a painting that featured in his solo exhibition, opened in October, at the Fund’s Prof. Vasil Gerov Hall.