Ivo Friščić,  Through the Eyes of a Chameleon
Curated by Branko Franceschi & Željko Marciuš
September, 6 – October, 30, 2022.

A retrospective overview of the oeuvre of the academic painter Ivo Friščić at the National Museum of Modern Art together with a selection of works created at the turn of the fifties and sixties, and the eighties and nineties of the 20th century, presents paintings from his iconic cycles that cover a wide range of topics from urban figurative compositions and abstractions to ecological themes sublimated into symbolic compositions and hyper-realistic images of flowers. Friščić is known as one of the most outstanding painters of his generation, with an oeuvre characterized by an uncommon thematic, stylistic and performance range.

Ivo Friščić was born in Veliko Korenovo near Bjelovar on December 8, 1937. He finished elementary school in Bjelovar in 1951, and entered the Shipbuilding School in Rijeka, which he soon left. He continued his education in 1952 at the Teacher's School in Križevci. He started painting with oil paints, collaborates in the magazine Polet, published in Zagreb. His first solo exhibition was in 1954 at the House of the Yugoslav People’s Army in Bjelovar. He entered the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb in 1957, but due to financial reasons he left his studies and got a job as a drawing teacher in Križevci. In 1961, he continued his painting studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, where he graduated in 1965 at the painting department in the class of prof. Vjekoslav Parač, and enrolled in a special study of graphics with Marijan Detoni and Albert Kinert. In 1968, he was employed as a technical editor at the publishing company Naprijed in Zagreb. He was acting editor for graphic design for books. From 1968 to 1972, he was an associate of the Master Workshop of painter prof. Krsto Hegedusić. He was employed as an assistant at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb in 1973, and in 1978 he became an assistant professor. In the same year, he received the Award for graphics at the 10th Zagreb exhibition of Yugoslav graphics, and participated in the 39th Biennale in Venice. For his painting and prints he received numerous domestic and international rewards and recognition awards.
Ivo Friščić died on December 11, 1993 in Zagreb.

Images:
Ivo Friščić: Encounter, (Guys from Zapruđe), 1973 (Collection of the Museum of the City of Križevci)
Vision, 1957 (Collection of the Museum of the City of Križevci)
Eco, 1975 (National Museum of Modern Art's Collection)
Petrifikat IV, 1977 (National Museum of Modern Art's Collection)
Foto: From the National of Modern Art's Archive and archives of the Museum of the City of Križevci