Vlado Jakelić
Shoe Shiners, 1977
oil on canvas
100 x 130 cm
MG-3932

Vlado Jakelić (Prugovo, near Split, 1943) began his artistic education at the School of Applied Arts in Split and earned a degree in painting from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb in 1962, studying under Antun Mezdjić. He was an associate in Krsto Hegedušić’s Master Workshop from 1967 to 1972 and a member of the Biafra Group from 1972 to 1974. From 1975, he worked as a production painter for Zagreb Television, and since 1978 he has worked as a freelance artist.

After a brief surrealist phase between 1966 and 1967, Jakelić explores abstraction, turning to gestural techniques, Informel, and Expressionism. From 1971, he introduced a recurring motif and elements of hyperrealist poetics, developing a distinctive realistic figuration that blends photographic objectivity with a personal approach to create an intimate atmosphere. His work focuses on Zagreb and the human figure in the urban landscape, depicted in an expressive-realistic style that emphasises detail, structure, materiality, diffuse light, and the greyness of metal on rainy days. By the late 1970s, his palette had lightened, capturing both the atmosphere and the lived reality of the city’s public spaces.

Jakelić’s Shoe Shiners (1977) marks a shift towards a brighter palette and spatial openness in the urban environment. This effect is achieved with the light shades of red, blue, and yellow. The scene depicts a shoe shiner at work and the gentleman whose shoes he is shining, with the cleaner partially obscured by a young onlooker. Through this detail, Jakelić conveys the spontaneity of city life, while the luminous colours evoke the ease and lightness of everyday experience.

Text: Lovre Mrduljaš © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb
Photo: Goran Vranić © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb