Anton Mitov (1862-1930)

Anton Mitov was born in 1862 in Stara Zagora. In 1885, he graduated from the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze, where he studied under the direction of Giuseppe Ciaranfi. He later returned to Bulgaria and worked as a teacher in Stara Zagora, Plovdiv, and Varna. He participated in the First Exhibition of the Union for sustaining Bulgarian art in 1894, and from the following year until 1899, he was the founder and editor of the magazine “Izkuvstvo.” Together with Ivan Mrkvička, in 1896 he founded The State School of Drawing, now the National Academy of Arts, where he taught Art History and Perspective. He painted icons for churches in Sofia, Pleven, and Stara Zagora between 1900 and 1912 and during this time participated in important world exhibitions and forums through which he popularized Bulgarian artistic heritage. From 1903 to 1904, he completed the frescoes on the ceiling of the ceremonial hall of the Bulgarian Agricultural Bank in Sofia, created costumes for the play “Towards the Abyss” by Ivan Vazov, and worked on a project for the order “Saints Cyril and Methodius.” In 1910, he painted a large part of the altar icons in the church of St. Nicholas the Miracle-Worker in Stara Zagora and was involved in organizational matters related to the memorial St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. Mitov worked on the decoration of the St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia in 1912 and then until 1918 was the director of the School of Fine and Applied Arts. He was director of the Academy* from 1924 to 1927. Prof. Anton Mitov wrote over 300 publications and tirelessly gave numerous lectures and talks throughout the country, popularizing the history of art and documenting a series of events in Bulgarian art life. Anton Mitov died in Sofia in 1930.

* In 1909, The State School of Drawing was renamed Тhe School of Fine and Applied Arts. In 1921, it was renamed Тhe Academy of Arts, in 1951 it became High institute of Fine Arts “Nikolai Pavlovich” and finally in 1955 – National Academy of Arts.