HRISTOFF, Dimiter, (Bulgarian, 1926-): Figures on the Beach, OIL/Canvas, 24'' x 20'', signed, framed, 33'' x 28 1/2''. Dimiter Hristoff was born in 1926 in Sofia, Bulgaria. His childhood was spent between the two cities of Sofia (where he was studying and living with his grandparents) and Istanbul (where his parents lived). The turbulent early 1940's in Bulgaria forced the young Dimiter to abandon his studies and to relocate full time to Istanbul, where he finished his last year of High School at the French Lycee. Upon his graduation, Hristoff applied to and was accepted at the Istanbul Academy of Fine Arts (now called Mimar Sinan University). There he studied in the ateliers of the early Turkish Modernists Zeki Faik Izer and Ibrahim Cali, as well as working privately with the great Turkish artists Ali Sami Boyar and Hayri Cizel, who were close friends of his father (also a painter). The young artist's circle included the literary, artistic and political figures that helped shape the identity of the (then)