"Ladies' Salon" is our summer exhibition, which includes paintings by female artists. They have their reserved place in the history of Bulgarian art. Often our exhibitions are dominated by men's names, but now we are correcting the inequality. In the exposition among the recognizable names, a large part are female authors known to few. For one reason or another - personal, social, ideological - they remain unknown to the general public. In the struggle for equality, each of them is interesting in its own way, with their individuality, style and life destiny.

"Ladies' Salon" pays respect to the specifics of women's perception of the world, regardless of the plastic statement, theme or mood.

We see works by: Zhivka Peycheva, Nadezhda Deleva, Margarita Milidzhiyska, Olga Bogdanova, Olga Shekhanova - Shishkova, Tsana Ivanova - Boyadzhieva, Tsvetana Sthilyanova, Nevena Trunkova, Elena Paneva, Vanya Decheva, Anna Petrova, Zheni Mekhandzhiyska, Lika Yanko and others. Most began their life journey in the first half of the 20th century, others were born at the end of the 19th century.

The selected works are portraits, still lifes and landscapes. In the hall there are several still lifes with flowers, unofficially perceived as a purely female genre. The way of working in landscapes in general is mainly expressive and schematic, reaching abstraction.

Without looking for a comparison, we see a closeness in the color and manner of work in the landscapes of Lika Janko and Zheni Mekhandzhiyska from the 60s. Others, such as those by Vanya Decheva, stand out as naïve with mountain views from the Rhodopes, as well as the landscape from the Shetland Islands in Scotland.

For the first time, we present works by the artists Tsana Ivanova - Boyadjieva and Nevena Trunkova, which are a real temptation for collectors.

Among the works is an early spiritual self-portrait of Margarita Milidzhiyska from the 1930s. A complex and multi-layered image is created in the seemingly realistic view with a strong painterly overlay. The woman glances over her shoulder and her gaze is fixed on the viewer. The light emphasizes the chosen perspective and complements the effects of white, thus completing the image of a young, frank, but absorbed woman. The author's other work is a complexly composed still life. It is filled with objects shaped with highly layered painterly matter.

A strong but strict "Portrait of a Young Man" in the collection was painted by Lika Yanko. There are several tricks that play a role in this: the combination of an expressive drawing in dark blue color, complemented by scratching and elongating the shape of the face. The instilled severity is in a completely modern version.

The lady's portrait with a blue beret by Zhivka Peycheva from 1949 is interesting, skilfully constructed with the hard-to-combine additional colors of blue and yellow. They are balanced using the pastel brown range and build a welcoming lady with an optimistic expression.

We invite you to see the exhibition "Ladies' Salon" at 16 "Oborishte" Street, which will last only twenty days. This is our last exhibition at Oborishte 16, our gallery will leave this address. After July 25, the exhibition program of the Gallery Loran will move to "Tsar Samuil" street 49 in the exhibition hall of Gallery Contrast. We remain available online at www.galleryloran.com