In Focus To See

2022

“Pencil me in” – Collection of Dance Cards at the Museum of Slavonia

Dance cards were objects containing all the information about a formal ball, such as the name of the event, the time and place of the event, the organizer, and the order of dances, including the music and composers. They first appeared at the Viennese court and were introduced to the rest of Europe during the Congress of Vienna of 1814 – 1815.

The German word Tanzordnung denotes a simple card or a booklet. There are also two other German words, Ballspende and Damenspende, denoting a combination of a booklet containing the order of dances and a corresponding original pendant making it a fashion accessory. In general, a dance card was a lady’s accessory, used not only for keeping track of dance partners but also as a souvenir.

The collection of dance cards on view at the Museum of Slavonia in Osijek gives an overview of the development of these small decorative objects, with the earliest examples from the first half of the 19th century to plain and flat dance cards from the 1920s and 1930s. There are also dance cards adorned with sophisticated Art Nouveau motifs as well as many historicist “jewels” from the period between 1880 and 1900 when the craftsmanship reached its peak.

 

 

Collection as a Verb: Sad Songs of War

The exhibition Sad Songs of War is created in response to the war events in Ukraine. The exhibition title refers to the work of Lithuanian artist Deimantas Narkevičius, an audio recording of his performance at the 10th edition of Manifesta in Saint Petersburg, 2014 (Cossack Songs of War).

The Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb holds one of the most important collections of contemporary art in this part of Europe. The subject of war can be traced through objects in the museum collection, from the First World War to today. Such as the most famous anti-war poem in Croatia, The Pit, illustrated by Edo Murtić and Zlatko Prica. Some exhibits make us confront our prejudices, intolerance, and hatred, which often escalates into violence. The work Bosnian Girl by Šejla Kamerić deals with racism and chauvinism experienced during the war in Bosnia. Igor Grubić’s East Side Story depicts violence and verbal abuse during a Gay Pride in Belgrade and in Zagreb.

Sad Songs of War is the first in the exhibition cycle entitled Collection as a Verb. With this presentation concept, the Museum wants to respond to the current moment, rediscovering the meaning of works from its holdings.

 

 

 

BETWEEN THE REAL AND THE SURREAL – artworks from the MOMAD collection

The preoccupation with the human form and the naked human body has been present in art since prehistoric times. From antiquity and the Middle Ages, through the Renaissance and Baroque to the present day, iconography often included a naked or half-naked body, a human figure in real or imaginary space.

The exhibition Between the real and the surreal presents paintings and sculptures that show human figure, exploring the notion of the human body, which is not just a mere manifestation of the flesh, but a reflection of spirituality that introduces us to the deepest spheres of our own rich, inner worlds.

Some of the works on display are by artists such as Milovan Stanić, Dušan Džamonja, Vasko Lipovac, Petar Jakelić, Agnez (Neža) Velikonja, Pero Šantić, Josip Škerlj, Lukša Peko, Josip Ivanović, Nives Kavurić Kurtović, and Zlatan Vrkljan.

 

 

“A Dragon Descends on Ukraine...” – A virtual memory of the exhibition of Maria Prymachenko

Croatian Museum of Naïve Art – As the Museums in Ukraine are closing and the cultural heritage is in danger, we wanted to show our support by exhibiting Ukrainian culture in virtual space. Thus, on Feb 25th, a day after the invasion of Ukraine, we virtually remembered the exhibition of Maria Priymachenko held at the Croatian Museum of Naive Art in 2007 under the auspices of the Ukrainian Embassy.

The museum exhibited 24 works from private and public collections. On that occasion, we chose 12 documentation photos of Prymachenko's artworks from our archives that best describe her rich imagination. Her drawings are not only individual expressions but also symbolical visions of the universal dynamic of Good and Evil and also visionary descriptions of the actual moments.

Unfortunately, only a day after, on Feb 26, the museum in the Ivankov Region, which held the works of Maria Prymachenko, was destroyed. In those horrible times, Prymachenko's drawings are rising as a symbol of resistance.

(Source: Museums support Ukraine, NEMO)

 

Slavko Kopač – one of the best-kept secrets of Croatian art

The exhibition Kopač, organized by the Croatian Society of Fine Artists (HDLU), Art Rencontre, and Cloverfield, provides an insight into the artistic work and life of Slavko Kopač (Vinkovci, 1913 – Paris, 1995) through a selection of the artist’s finest paintings, sculptures, and poetry that come from private collections and museum institutions.

Kopač, who lived in Paris since 1948, marked the French and European art scene of the second half of the 20th century with his extremely authentic approach, creating paintings and sculptures using new materials—sand, rubber, and metals, as well as stone, wood, glass, and charcoal.

Appointed by Jean Dubuffet, Kopač was the head of the art collection of the association Compagnie de l’art brut for 27 years, producing paradigmatic works of Informel and Art Brut. In 1952, Michel Tapié included him in his book Un Art Autre as one of the founders of Art Informel. André Breton organized a monographic exhibition on Kopač at the Galerie de l'Étoile Scellée in Paris in the spring of 1953.

The exhibition Kopač is on display at the Meštrović Pavilion in Zagreb, until March 27, 2022.