Hysen Bengu (Devolli), painter, graphic artist, and scenographer, “Merited Painter,” passed away. He was born in Tirana in 1924. Devolli founded Albanian scenography and the first scenographer of the Albanian Opera and Ballet Theatre. He completed his higher studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bucharest, Romania (1948–1952), in the scenography department. During his thirty years as a scenic painter at the Opera and Ballet Theater in Tirana, Devolli was the author of more than 300 scenographies and costume designs for foreign and Albanian operatic parts and ballets. The painter Hysen Devolli is drawn to historical themes in his work, but he also creates various portraits, including those of prominent figures in our dramatic art. In all the works he realized, the artist Devolli is a realist painter, a realism that aims towards aestheticism and coloristic balances within the method of socialist realism. The painter Hysen Devolli has created Albanian philately stamps. (In the photo: Devolli’s work “Vojsava,” 1982, oil on canvas.)
Text: Ylli Drishti, 100 years of Tirana in painting; 1920-2020, “Mediaprint”, Tirana, 2020, page 98.
Photo: © National Art Gallery, Tirana.
Graphic processing: AHCF
