User:Kleio11111/Мара Нонова

Mara Nonova - Chorbadzhiiska is a Bulgarian fine artist born on 22 February in 1895, Maritsa (Bulgaria).

Her father was a teacher in Stara Zagora, where she spent her childhood. In 1904 a group of artists returned to Stara Zagora - Vasil Marinov, Nikola Stoenchev, Dimitar Kutsarov and Dobri Hristov and organise the first painting classes. Under their influence Mara Nonova falls under the spell of painting.

In the National Academy of Art in Sofia, her teachers are prof. Ivan Mrkvička and the master of psychological portrait prof. Stefan Ivanov. In 1919 the young artists opens her first solo exhibition.

Up to this moment her main interest is women's portraits.

In 1921 she meets Dimitar Chorbadzhiiski, fine artist and poet mostly known under the name 'Chudomir'. She marries him and becomes a primary teacher in Kazanlak. During this time she develops interest in painting landscapes, naturmort and aquarelle.

A big influence on her is a trip she makes to Paris. She travels with her husband, sent by the Ministry in order to learn new methods on teaching fine art from the Parisian schools.

Her main inspiration comes from the Louvre and the numerous exhibitions she visited in Paris. She is fascinated by the impressionists, and they are the ones who defined her future artistic path. Her paintings are full of light and emotion.

In 1933 she opens her first solo exhibition in Kazanlak with landscapes, naturmorts, portraits. In 1939 she participated in a group project exhibition of women artists in Bulgaria. Svetolslav Kamburov describes her work „Laughing girls": ... expressions, movement, technique - known to this day in our country".

Prof. Marin Dobrev says about her: „In the 30's Mara Nonova is one of the big names in the Bulgarian art world..Her lanscapes are an opportunity to wake up the child in us. In them there isn't a concrete event, but a deep refletcion is eminent." She paints the interior of her house in Kazanlak where she lives with Chudomir. But "one thing is to draw an interior, another to paint its spirit", what Mara Chorbadzhiiska is doing. Between the 50s and 60s she paints mostly children and young people.

She used to be a quiet person, big gatherings were not to her liking. After the death of her husbnd, she keeps to herself, she has onle a few close to her people, all distinguished individuals. She devotes her time to painting flowers. According to prof. Dobrev: "Mara Chorbadzhiyska's attitude towards painting is like a sacrament. In fine art, she asserts herself.”

The artists has 10 self portraits. She opens 12 solo exhibitions, the last one being in 1966 in Sofia. She dies on the 8th of May, 1974.

Her paintings are owned by the National Art Gallery, Sofia City Art Gallery, the art galleries in Kazanlak and Stara Zagora and by private collectors.