Zvonimir Lončarić
(1927-2004)
Philip Junior, 1970
polyester, paint
MG-2984
Sculptor, graphic artist, stage and set designer Zvonimir Lončarić graduated from the Academy of Applied Arts in Zagreb in 1956 under Prof. Kosta Angeli Radovani and Prof. Ernest Tomašević. In 1958 he started working for Zagreb Film production studio as a cartoonist and set designer, and authored four animated films. He created a respectable graphic art oeuvre, also did ceramics and stage design, and produced series of imaginative children’s toys. He modelled figurative sculptures, most often in wood and polyester painted in vivid colours. By having synthesised his sculptural experiences of tradition and the language of contemporary art, he created an oeuvre of original works of art, in which elements of the fantastic and the surreal are imbued with a specific sense of humour. This is also reflected in his witty mobile statues set in public spaces.
Lončarić’s production of animated films is also reflected in his sculptural expression, which features unconventional, simple and elementary forms of accentuated volumes and colours. The inflated and suspended figure of Philip Junior from 1970 belongs to the series of his colourful simplified and oversized puppet sculptures.
Text:Tatijana Gareljić, Museum consultant of the National Museum of Modern Art © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb
Translated by: Ana Janković
Photo: Goran Vranić © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb