Lika Yanko

{{Short description|Bulgarian artist}}

{{Infobox artist

| name = Lika Yanko

| image = Photo of Lika Yanko.jpg

| imagesize =

| caption =

| birth_name = Evangjelia Grabova

| birth_date = {{birth date|1928|3|19|mf=y}}

| birth_place = Sofia, Kingdom of Bulgaria

| death_date = {{death date and age|2001|6|22|1928|3|19|mf=y}}

| death_place = Sofia, Republic of Bulgaria

| nationality = Bulgarian

| education = National Academy of Arts

| field = Painting

| training =

| movement = National Academy of Arts

| works =

| patrons =

| awards = Sofia Award {{small|(1989)}}

| spouse =

}}

Lika Yanko ({{langx|bg|Лика Янко}}; March 19, 1928 – June 22, 2001, born with the name Evangjelia Grabova) was a Bulgarian artist born in Sofia. Her paintings are renowned for their abstract nature and their use of found materials.{{Cite web |last=Dimitrova |first=Svetlana |date=12 January 2020 |title=Lika Yanko's sacral world |url=https://www.bnr.bg/en/post/101212569/lika-yankos-sacral-world |access-date=7 March 2020 |website=Radio Bulgaria |language=en}}

==Biography==

Lika Yanko was born in Bulgaria's capital, Sofia, in 1928.{{cite web |last1=Tsankova |first1=Diana |date=27 September 2017 |title=Lika Yanko – God breathes behind the whiteness of her works |url=http://bnr.bg/en/post/100877603/god-shines-in-the-whiteness-of-lika-yankos-paintings |accessdate=3 November 2017 |website=Radio Bulgaria}} She was born to Albanian immigrant parents from the region of Grabova in Albania.{{multiref2|{{Cite web |title=Lika Yanko's sacral world |url=https://bnr.bg/en/post/101212569/lika-yankos-sacral-world |access-date=2024-07-02 |website=Radio Bulgaria | date= January 2020 | first=Svetlana | last= Dimitrova |language=en}}|{{Cite web |title=Building human bridges is not a simple mission, but we have succeeded in making Albania and Bulgaria more known for each other | type= interview with Donika Hoxha | date= 2021 | website= Albanian Embassy in Bulgaria |url=https://ambasadat.gov.al/bulgaria/en/building-human-bridges-not-simple-mission-we-have-succeeded-making-albania-and-bulgaria-more-known}}|{{Cite web |date=2017-09-01 |title= 50 since the first solo exhibition of Lika Yanko |url=https://nuancegallery.bg/en/lika_qnko/ |access-date=2024-07-02 |website=Nuance Art Gallery |language=en-US}}}} She was born with the name Evangjelia Grabova.{{Cite web |date= 24 February 2018|first=Kurt|last= Farka |title=Si e njoha artisten e madhe me origjinë shqiptare, Lika Janko |url=https://www.shqiperia.com/blog/si-e-njoha-artisten-e-madhe-origjine-shqiptare-lika-janko/ |access-date=2024-07-02 |website=Shqiperia.com |language=sq}} Her father was Llazër Grabova. Her family were Orthodox Christians. Her mother Efrosina was originally from the village of Llëngë, within the town of Trebinjë which is by Pogradec, Albania. Her family spoke the Albanian language in the Tosk dialect. Lika has a brother Petar and a sister Danka.{{Cite web |date=1928 |title=Lika Yanko |url=https://www.galleryloran.com/en/authors/view/lika-yanko-lika-yanko |access-date=2024-07-02 |website=www.galleryloran.com |language=en}} Her family migrated to Bulgaria from Albania due to a blood feud known as Gjakmarrje in Albanian.{{Cite web |first=Rossitsa |last=Gicheva-Meimari |date=2023-11-15 |title=Christmas Auction 2023 - Lika Yanko, Artist of the Invisible |url=https://enakor.com/christmas-auction-2023-lika-yanko-artist-of-the-invisible/ |access-date=2024-07-02 |website=ENAKOR |language=en-US}} Her father's cousin was murdered therefore her family retaliated towards the murderer and then fled to Bulgaria to avoid more bloodshed.

She studied at the French College in Sofia, where she was exposed to artists as Paul Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, who influenced her art.{{cite web |date=1 September 2017 |title=50 since the first solo exhibition of Lika Yanko |url=https://www.nuancegallery.bg/en/lika_qnko/ |accessdate=6 November 2017 |website=Nuance Art Gallery}} In 1946 she joined the National Academy of Arts studying painting in the classes of Prof. Dechko Uzunov and Prof. Iliya Petrov, but she did not graduate. At the time, her work was met with criticism and resistances both from state authorities and the aesthetic preferences of her professors and other contemporary painters.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nuancegallery.bg/en/artists/lika-ianko/|title=Lika Yanko (1928-2001)|website=Nuance Art Gallery|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-07}}

Her paintings are frequently colorful, although the white color is predominant or easily notable because, according to the Lika, this is the color of God. Her canvases often encapsulate beads, buttons, hemp ropes, nuts, glass, pebbles.

Her first solo exhibition was in Sofia in 1967 but paintings were branded as avant-garde and the show was banned several days after it opened. Yanko continued to paint but did not exhibited her canvases until 1981, when she was invited for an exhibition personally by Lyudmila Zhivkova. In the mid-1970s and later in the 80s her paintings began to be bought by foreign embassies and received the attention of European galleries. In 1989 she received the Sofia Award.{{cite web |title=Lika Yanko (1932–2001) |url=http://www.artprice.bg/autor_details.php?act=data&elem_id=58 |accessdate=6 November 2017 |website=Art Price Bulgaria |language=bg}}

Yanko had only 7 exhibitions during her lifetime.{{cite web |last1=Krumova |first1=Lucy |date=14 June 2001 |script-title=bg:Лика Янко не се разделя с любимите си картини |trans-title=Lika Yanko does not part with her favorite paintings |url=http://paper.standartnews.com/archive/2001/06/14/art/s3037_3.htm |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040828005238/https://www.standartnews.com/archive/2001/06/14/art/s3037_3.htm |archive-date=28 August 2004 |accessdate=6 November 2017 |website=Стандарт |language=bg}} She died on June 22, 2001, in Sofia from pneumonia, only a few days after the opening of her last exhibition, in the Cavallet Gallery in Varna.