Description
Petar Dobrović (Pécs, 1890 – Belgrade, 1942) was one of the most important painters belonging to the 20th century civic modernism movement. He took active participation in the avant-garde movement and social and political engagement both before and after the First World War, which is in his art reflected by artworks on social themes. Style-wise, his art departs from Cézannesque and cubist to constructivist to most important works in the spirit of the colourist expressionism. Mediterranean landscapes, olive groves, fruits, sea, nudes, were the themes where he demonstrated his virtuosic expression by colour, by which, in a manner of a true master, he materialised the light and atmosphere of the Mediterranean. On the other hand, he is also known for a large number of portraits through which, in addition to artistic quality, he showed a masterly representation of character of the portraited person.
Motif on stamp: Old Bepo, oil/canvas, 1940. Motif on vignette: Villas on Hvar, oil/canvas, 1933. Motif on envelope: Vegetables (Still Life II, with Peppers), oil/cardboard, 1928.
Vera Božičković Popović (Brčko, 1920 – Belgrade, 2002) graduated from the Visual Art Academy in Belgrade in the class of Professor Ivan Tabaković. During the studies, together with her class peers, she was a member of the “Zadar Group” (1947) whose activity directly pointed to the deficiencies of the academic way of education and to the issues of artistic freedom. She was one of the distinguished members of the Belgrade Informalism. Within the Informalism movement, she experimented with a variety of materials of a non-painting origin, which enabled her to create a basic imagery, based on elementary scenes such as canyons, gullies, grooves, ruts and other natural forms. Through her research in Informalism, she as an artist grew into full artistic maturity by constructing a specific expressive phrase where she realised the top of her artistic achievements.
Motif on stamp: The Pit, mixed technique/canvas, 1968. Motif on vignette and envelope: Dispersal, mixed technique/canvas, 1961.
Kosta Bogdanović (Ilidža, 1930 – Belgrade, 2012) was a sculptor, art historian, custodian, theoretician and pedagogue. He worked in the Museum of Modern Art as a custodian from 1967 to 1994 and was its acting director from 1985 to 1987. He was a fellow of the Academies of Art in Novi Sad and Sarajevo. On the basis of his research, he founded the courses of Visual Culture which he taught in Sarajevo and Visual Culture Theory in Novi Sad. All these engagements and interests were united and served one goal: to understand the artistic creativity process. The theory of form developed by Bogdanović, about which he wrote and taught extensively, found its personification in his works. Combination of natural forms, various materials and ancient cultures was characterised in his works by a specific and authentic expression with high artistic achievement.
Motif on stamp: Home organ, painted wood (maple), 2008. Motif on vignette: View from above, painted cast iron, 1990. Motif on envelope: Forma-japanika III, painted wood (maple), 2007
Leonid Šejka (Belgrade, 1932 – Belgrade, 1970) was an artist and art theoretician. He was one of the founders and theoreticians of the Mediala group. Šejka made a specific and unique occurrence at the artistic stage of the fifties and the sixties. He was the first in his community to understand that the artistic act is also possible outside the aesthetic object (the first hint to mental art and behavioural art), and the first to invoke the great museal art of the past, quoting the signs and forms of other artists from various periods (which became, much later, a characteristic of “learned painting” and postmodern age).
Motif on stamp: Museum exhibition, oil/canvas, 1956. Motif on vignette and envelope: Multiplication, oil/canvas, 1956.
Expert collaboration: Aleksandra Mirčić, Head of the Department of Art Documentation, Museum of Contemporary Art
Graphic realisation of the issue: MA Jakša Vlahović, Academic Graphic Artist.
