On March 5th, the Modern Gallery presented its publishing project – the first art monograph whose objective is, through innovative methodology, to answer the needs for education and acquisition of knowledge in the history of art of the blind and visually impaired persons. Nataša Jovičić, a professor of art history and the author of this monograph which represents the product of her ten years of work in this area in Zagreb (she presented the Tactile Gallery at the Modern Gallery in June 2009), but also with the support of professionals, foreign art historians, educators and neuroscientists, particularly from Finland from the universities Aalto and Ateneum in Helsinki, she prepared a textual segment consisting of artwork analysis and expert elaboration for ten paintings from national and international cultural heritage in Croatian and English.

Analytical diagrams in relief print – five of them for each work – which make up an integral part of the book which also enables blind and visually impaired persons, through tactile sense, „recognise“ the reproduced and contextualized material, illustrated in graphics by Zrinka Ostović. Along with the diagrams, the book also contains a fully prepared audio segment through ten audio recordings on CDs in Croatian and ten in English. From the modern national art heritage, the book includes paintings of the Croatian authors from the collection of the Modern Gallery (Josip Račić, Mother and Child; Miroslav Kraljević, A Self-Portrait with a Dog; Milan Steiner, Rain; Leo Junek, A Drawer and Edo Murtić, Highway) and a selection of works from the European art heritage of the old masters Andrea Mantegna, The Dead Christ (Brera, Milano); Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Supper at Emmaus (National Gallery, London); Vincent Van Gogh, A Bedroom in Arles (Musee d Orsay, Pariz); Edvard Munch, The Scream (National Gallery, Oslo); Hugo Simberg, The Wounded Angel (Ateneum – National Museum, Helsinki).

For the selection of masterpieces of these greats of painting, it should be noted that their inclusion was preceded by exhibition presentations of audio-tactile methodology with the original paintings in the museums and galleries whose art collections they belong to. The works of Croatian authors were equipped with special „touch and sound“ aids, in the period between 2014 and 208 were exhibited mainly in the Modern Gallery in Zagreb, but also abroad (Kraljević in Venice, Murtić in Ljubljana and Geneva).

Nataša Jovičić, who has already presented her methodology at the National Galleries in London and Helsinki, was presented in 2016 by the President of the Republic of Croatia Kolinda Grabar – Kitarović, with the Order of Danica with a face of the international innovator Nikola Tesla – for exceptional innovative achievements in the field of culture.

The guests at the presentation were addressed by: Biserka Rauter Plančić, Director of Modern Gallery Nataša Jovičić, the author of the first art monograph intended for acquiring knowledge in art history for the blind and visually impaired people Milan Bandić, the Mayor of the City of Zagreb and Nina Obuljen Koržinek, PhD, Minister of Culture of the Republic of Croatia.

Photo: Goran Vranić©Moderna galerija, Zagreb

       
Foto: Goran Vranić © Moderna galerija, Zagreb