The Unknown Boyan Rainov (1921-2005)
Непознатият Боян Райнов (1921-2005)

Summary/Abstract: Boyan Rainov was born in Sofia, Bulgaria in 1921 to the family of Nikolay and Diana Rainovi . In 1946, he graduates from the Art Academy in Sofia and later that year he goes to Paris to specialize sculpture in Académie des Beaux-Arts where he remains until the end of his life in 2005 . His statute of “non-returner” thwarts any relations with his moth-erland and family, thus being the main reason for the ambient mystery of his life and work . It is not surpris- ing that until a few years ago, Boyan Rainov was almost unknown in Bulgaria and still not enough is known about him . France, the country in which titans in art have lived and worked, and which by no accident is considered one of the world’s art capitals, had become a “second home” to the Bulgarian-born sculptor Boyan Rainov . It had given him the perfect conditions and the freedom he needed to work, create and develop professionally, while unfortunately, for one reason or another, that would have been impossible at that time in socialist’s Bulgaria . In 1982, the French country pays special attention to Boyan Rainov and to commemorate his sixtieth birthday publishes a stamp with one of the author’s most prominent and outstanding compositions – “Fam- ily” . Thus Boyan becomes the only “French” artist to whom a stamp had been issued during his lifetime . He is also an honorable citizen of two French cities. Boyan’s monumental sculptures are regarded as part of France’s cultural heritage: his pieces are placed on three Parisian squares, there is his sculpture in the national exchange building in Paris, and one square is even named after him . Boyan Rainov is an extraordinary person, full of charisma and love for the human kind, which is perceivable in everything he touches and above all in his art . His works bring together the opulence of human emotions and forms; they reveal the author’s inner sense of the world as it is - with its beauty, delight and sometimes suffering . He tries to get below the person’s surface, to reach his essence, to expose the human gist, without idealizing or exaggerating virtues . In his works, Boyan successfully avoids the platitudinous, tedious themes, but exploits and interprets eternal ones . He does not confine himself to the elementary-visual realism, evades the naturalistic representations, and imposed clichés . With his art, Boyan Rainov utterly deserves to be amongst not only France’s favourite artists but also the distinguished contemporary world artists as well .

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