Mihail Simeonov

{{short description|Bulgarian artist (1929–2021)}}

File:Mihail Simeonov (1983) by Erling Mandelmann.jpg

Mihail Asen Simeonov (Bulgarian: Михаил Симеонов) (May 31 1929 – December 29 2021) was a Bulgarian-born artist who moved to Tunis, then New York City, and finally Pawtucket, Rhode Island.{{cite web|last=Simeonov|first=Mihail|title=Biography|url=http://www.mihail-art.com/bio.html|accessdate=24 September 2010|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714091735/http://www.mihail-art.com/bio.html|archivedate=14 July 2011}}{{cite news |url=https://rinewstoday.com/the-passing-of-international-artist-mihail-simeonov-exhibited-in-rhode-island/ |title=The passing of international artist, Mihail Simeonov, exhibited in Rhode Island |work=RI News Today |date=31 December 2021 |access-date=11 February 2022}}

He is best known for his Cast the Sleeping Elephant Project, a life-size bronze statue of an African elephant.{{Cite web|url=http://www.rirelevant.com/articles/pawtucket-city-hall-to-host-major-exhibit-of-renown-90-year-old-sculptor/|title=Pawtucket City Hall to Host Major Exhibit of Renown 90-Year-Old Sculptor|work=RI Relevant|date=10 September 2019}} It was produced by making an alginate cast in 1980 of a live, wild Kenyan elephant bull, which survived the 72-minute process unharmed. The bronze statue made from the cast was inaugurated in 1998 by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and is installed outside UN Headquarters in New York.{{cite web|title=Mihail Simeonov|url=http://www.stonehill.edu/x19685.xml|publisher=Stonehill College|accessdate=24 September 2010}}{{dead link|date=March 2018|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}{{cite news|title=World Vignettes|url=http://www.indianexpress.com/res/web/pIe/ie/daily/19981120/32450494.html|accessdate=24 September 2010|newspaper=Indian Express|date=20 November 1998}}

Simeonov v. Tiegs, a lawsuit that Simeonov brought in 1993 against model Cheryl Tiegs,[https://scholar.google.ch/scholar_case?case=17990026880228773825 Simeonov v. Tiegs], 159 Misc.2d 54 (1993), 602 N.Y.S.2d 1014, New York City Civil Court is a leading case in the field of artists' rights under U.S. law. The court held that Simeonov's First Amendment right to free speech in making casts of Tiegs's body outweighed her right to privacy.{{cite book|last=Kaufman|first=Roy S.|title=Art law handbook, Volume 1|year=2000|publisher=Aspen Publishers Online|isbn=978-0-7355-1641-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EkdDnFdoDMkC&pg=PA234|page=234}}

Since 2005, Simeonov resided in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. In September 2019, to celebrate his 75th anniversary as a practicing sculptor, he was honored with an exhibit in Pawtucket City Hall as well a Key to the City presented by Mayor Donald Grebian.{{Cite news |url=https://www.pawtuckettimes.com/opinion/pawtucket-city-hall-sets-to-host-major-exhibit-of-renown/article_26ac925a-d2a5-11e9-b6ba-d300dd3ed6dd.html |title=Pawtucket City Hall sets to host major exhibit of renown 90-year-old sculptor |last=Weiss |first=Herb |newspaper=Pawtucket Times |access-date=2019-10-03}}