Keraca Visulčeva

Keraca Visulčeva Keratza Vissoulcheva Кераца Висулчева
(Margarita Hristova, 2009)
Born	April 7, 1910 Nestram, Manastir Vilayet, Ottoman Empire, today Nestorio, Greece
Died	January 13, 2004 Skopje, Republic of Macedonia
Nationality	Ottoman, Bulgarian and Macedonian
Education	Academy of Fine Arts, Sofia, Bulgaria, (1935)
Known for	Fine Art, oil paintings, then sculpture
Movement	Contemporary Art, Figurative art

Keraca Visulčeva (also transliterated as Keratza; in Cyrillic: Кераца Висулчева), (1911–2004) was a Macedonian and Bulgarian artist who was born in Nestram, in the Manastir Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire. Her family moved to Pomorie, Bulgaria, during the Balkan wars, as many Macedonian immigrants did during the same period.

After studying under Stefan Ivanov (drawing) and Nikola Ganushev and Boris Mitov (painting), she graduated at the Sofia Fine Arts Academy.

In 1935 during her first exhibit, and the great Bulgarian artist Ivan Mrkvicka noticed her talent, and she became a member of the Union of Bulgarian Artists.

Between 1941 and 1944, during the Bulgarian occupation of Macedonia, she taught at the Queen Giovanna Girls' High School in Skopje. After that she moved back to the old borders of Bulgaria, where she lived until 1996.

In 1955 she participated in th exhibition of Bulgarian contemporary art in the state art gallery in Plovdiv. However, after the political changes in 1958, she was expelled from the Union of Bulgarian Artists. From that point on she started signing her paintings with her name written with the Latin script: Keratza. In 1965 she traveled to France and participated in a few French exhibitions.

After the fall of Communism in 1989, she was readmitted to the Union of Bulgarian Artists, as a former member.

In 1996, she moved again to Skjope with the assistance of numerous intellectuals, academics, ambassadors, art historians in exchange for her donation of around 400 drawings, oil and sculptures to the Republic of Macedonia.

The first solo exhibition of Museum of Macedonia in 2002. Thirty-six works out of about 500 paintings were included in the collection. The exhibition was opened by Macedonian artist Gligor Cemerski.

Her favorite genres are landscapes and portraits, the most impressive segments of her work were dominated by realism or impressionist manner.