The National Museum of Modern Art launched its autumn exhibition season on 10 September with the opening of Nina Atević Murtić’s exhibition “A Dance of the Hand” at the Josip Račić Gallery. On this occasion, Branko Franceschi, Director of the National Museum of Modern Art and curator of the exhibition, introduced the artist’s recent painting series to a packed gallery. He also penned the foreword to the exhibition’s accompanying catalogue.
Among the first to view the striking abstract compositions by Nina Atević Murtić, along with members of the Murtić family — painter Goranka Vrus Murtić, gallerist and director of the Murtić Foundation Ranko Murtić, architect Marko Murtić, and musician Mak Murtić — were Zdravko Zima, Special Advisor for Culture to the President of the Republic of Croatia, painters Zoltan Novak, Marijana Pende, and Matko Vekić, jewellery designer Maja Sorić, sculptor Peruško Bogdanić, visual artist Dawor Preis, interdisciplinary artist MOON Martina Zelenika, graphic designers Ana Zubić and Sanja Bachrach Krištofić, art historians Leila Topić and Iva Körbler, former Director of the former Modern Gallery (NMMU) Biserka Rauter Plančić, art and literary critic Milan Bešlić, gallerist Mirna Hromadko Reiser, HRT editor and journalist Ivana Antunović Jović, co-founder of the iconic Zagreb exhibition space for high-end designer furniture Nataša Trbović, owner of an exclusive product design shop Nina Fiolić, accompanied by her son, architect Filip Fiolić, fashion designer and cultural producer Irena Šekez Sestri, as well as actor, screenwriter, and director Goran Matović, founder and artistic director of the Miroslav Krleža Festival.
(…) Is painting a dance of the hand? I would argue that when a keen sense of colour aligns with disciplined motor skills, there is no more fitting description. And sometimes, it is as patently obvious as in Nina Atević Murtić’s recent paintings. – Branko Franceschi concludes in the accompanying catalogue text. Zagreb’s cultural audience has the opportunity to view the exhibition at the Josip Račić Gallery until 6 October.

Photo: Goran Vranić © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb and archives NMMA (in front of the Josip Račić Gallery)