The exhibition Latica Ivanišević – A Token of Beauty in the Octagon NMMU (located in the former First Croatian Savings Bank Palace), contextualizes the artistic work of Latica Ivanišević through the fascinating story of her family.
Across generations of the Ivanišević, Šilović, and Gavella families, some of the most prominent figures of Croatian culture and art gathered under their roof. This is reflected in a series of portraits by renowned artists such as Jerolim Miše, Vanja Radauš, Zlatko Prica, Marta Ehrlich, Fedor Vaić, and Edo Murtić, as well as in numerous intriguing photographs, documents, and keepsakes from the family archive.
While her father, Drago Ivanišević—poet and erudite—is represented as a painter through a selection of his surrealist drawings, the artistic output of Latica Ivanišević is presented through a series of large-scale, vividly colored tapestries, textile collages, theatre costumes, and collections of her works in enamel, ceramics, and clay.
The exhibition A Gift of Beauty announces Latica Ivanišević’s donation to the National Museum of Modern Art and the Museum of Arts and Crafts. This exhibition—centered on the gifted beauty that becomes a source of inspiration in the curatorial concept by Lada Bošnjak Velagić—features fifteen artists and fifty works in total, and will remain open until Sunday, 7 December 2025.

The exhibition was realized with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia.

List of artists
Latica Ivanišević, Grga Antunac, Kruno Bošnjak, Marija Braut, Milan Butozan, Marta Ehrlich, Drago Ivanišević, Jerolim Miše, Edo Murtić, Miranda Morić, Ratko Petrić, Zlatko Prica, Vanja Radauš, Stipe Sikirica, Fedor Vaić

About Latica Ivanišević
Latica Ivanišević (Zagreb, 1942) graduated from the Faculty of Law in 1965, and by 1970 she had already held her first solo exhibition at the Museum of Arts and Crafts and designed memorable costumes for a dance ensemble performing at the opening of the Théâtre Espace Cardin in Paris. While she initially established herself as a skilled enamel artist, in her later set and costume designs she often used everyday, non-artistic materials such as plastic, wire, and recycled elements, resulting in evocative stage compositions made from woven fabrics, tapestries, and textile collages.
Alongside numerous theatre engagements (with the Croatian National Theatres in Zagreb, Split and Osijek; the Zagreb Youth Theatre, Gavella, and Teatar u gostima in Zagreb; the Dubrovnik Summer Festival; and the Slovenian National Theatres in Ljubljana and Maribor, among others), Latica Ivanišević has, since 1975, worked continuously on a variety of entertainment, documentary, drama and film productions for Zagreb Television (today Croatian Radiotelevision – HRT). Her inventive approach to stage and costume design was first recognised in her scenography for Macbeth, directed by V. Habunek (Dubrovnik Summer Festival, 1970), which incorporated innovative enamel elements. This imaginative quality has remained a hallmark of her work across numerous theatre, television and film productions, including: Miss Melania’s Three Gentlemen (Croatian National Theatre Zagreb, 1974), Chinese Vases (RTZ, 1978), Romeo and Juliet (Slovenian National Theatre Maribor, 1981), Love at First Sight (Teatar u gostima, 1982), Without the Third (RTZ, 1989), and The Metamorphosis (HRT, 1999).
In addition to her stage and costume designs, she also produces enamel jewellery, tapestries and ceramic-plastic works. She has held solo exhibitions in Zagreb (1970, 1988, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1997, 2000–01, 2015), as well as in Dubrovnik (1972) and Karlovac (1988), and has taken part in numerous group exhibitions. She has also written books Slušaj i gledaj, Latice (Naklada Ljevak, 2010) and Žena tužnih očiju (Naklada Ljevak, 2012), along with a number of essays and articles published in various periodicals.

Foto: Goran Vranić © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb