Ante Kuduz
(1935-2011)
A Frame, 1965
ink on paper
MG-2627
At first glance, Ante Kuduz’s drawing may come across as an avant-garde comic panel or movie synopsis: it’s a series of square frames equal in size organised in a way which is suggestive of linear progression which can remind viewers of a visual story. Each frame is filled with different graphic shapes and no two frames are identical. Kuduz drew in black ink a specific scene in each of the frames. Although each scene is completely self-contained, it nevertheless does have some sort of a relationship with not only those which it directly borders with, but all the other frames too. The title itself of the drawing is yet another element which is reminiscent of the world of movies, but we have to take it metaphorically because, in cinematography, a frame is not only the rectangular outline of a scene, but also indicates the length of shooting, camera operating time between two editing cuts. Accordingly, Kuduz wanted to underscore the dynamic aspect of the drawing, to create the illusion of (the passage of) time in a medium that does not have three dimensions.
Ante Kuduz’s A Frame from 1965 that we are presenting here is part of a series of drawings and graphic sheets of the same name which he created in the period between 1965 and 1972. Over the course of seven years, Kuduz changed the formats of paper, the technology of execution (freehand or mechanical drawing), the shapes created by the interaction between the frames – besides rectangular, he introduced compositions of round shapes too – and even introduced colour into his drawings at some point. However, the one feature that remained essentially unchanged was the square or frame as the basic unit of his scenes.
Ante Kuduz was born in 1935. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb in 1961, where he later worked as a professor. Together with painters Miroslav Šutej, Ivan Picelj, Mladen Galić, Ljerka Šibenik and others, he was a member of the so-called Zagreb School of Serigraphy. He received many awards for his work in the field of graphic arts. He passed away in Zagreb in 2011.
Text: Klaudio Štefančić, senior curator 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