Jagoda Buić
From the Sun, 1963
horizontal weaving, wool
285 x 104 cm
MG-2614

With its geometric forms positioned one under the other, the tapestry titled From the Sun (1963), harmoniously follows the vertically arranged composition predetermined by its very dimensions. With various shades of warm red, the artist conveys a sense of tranquillity, while the rich textures reveal the dexterity of her hand.
Jagoda Buić (1930 – 2022) was born in Split. She is a prominent Croatian artist best known for her monumental tapestries. The facts that she was educated at the Academy of Applied Arts and Design in Zagreb, the Department of Art History at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, that she studied costume and set design in Venice and film set design in Rome, are certainly telling of her ambition. After having returned from her studies, she worked as a costume and set designer in the theatres in Zagreb, Split and Osijek, as well as on film, the most famous of which are The Year Long Road from 1958 and The Emperor’s New Clothes from 1961. But as of 1962, tapestry became her primary medium of artistic expression. She has shown her works at numerous exhibitions of tapestries in Amsterdam, Madrid and New York, and her works are part of prestigious collections such as the MoMA in New York. In 2010, a retrospective exhibition of her work was organized in the Museum of Arts and Crafts, and in 2019 an exhibition at the “Josip Račić” Gallery – NMMU.

Text: Lorena Šimić, trainee curator of the National Museum of Modern Art © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb
Translated by: Robertina Tomić
Photo: Goran Vranić © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb