Josip Klarica
Still Life with Red Onion, 1979
Contact Print, Camera Obscura
35.2 × 44.4 cm
MG-8597

Josip Klarica (Belgrade, 1946 – Zagreb, 2020) was one of the most important Croatian art photographers. He studied photography at the School of Applied Arts in Zagreb and film cinematography at the prestigious FAMU in Prague, where he became close to photographer Josef Sudek (Kolín, Czech Republic, 1896 – Prague, 1976). Klarica was renowned for his black-and-white images of still lifes, portraits, and landscapes, infused with a surreal and meditative atmosphere. In his work he employed antique cameras, including a camera obscura and a panoramic camera he reconstructed himself after an 1845 model by Friedrich von Martens (Venice, 1806 – Paris, 1885). He produced contact prints from his negatives, emphasizing the manual and authentic nature of the process. In addition to photography, he also engaged with film, propaganda, and the study of early photochemical techniques.
The Still Life cycle, created between 1976 and 1984, consists of sixteen meticulously conceived photographs in which classical still-life motifs intertwine with elements of landscape and metaphysical reflections on space. Among the most significant works is Still Life with Red Onion (1979). Everyday objects—a glass, bottles, walnuts, and garlic skins—are arranged on a table covered with a lace tablecloth, while a tilted mirror reflects fragments of the composition and the surrounding landscape, creating a multilayered play of perception, light, and space. The photograph conveys a quiet surrealism, subtle symbolism, and a contemplative atmosphere, underpinned by Klarica’s deliberate exploration of space, time, and materiality.

Text: Luciana Fuks, Trainee curator at the National Museum of Modern Art © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb
Reproduction copy: Goran Vranić © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb