Dušan Džamonja
Metal Sculpture 3, 1959
metal, wood
174.8 × 36 × 39 cm
MG-2445

Dušan Džamonja (1928–2009) graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb in 1951. While his early works were figurative, he soon began experimenting with abstract forms, unconventional materials and techniques, particularly welded metal constructions, and his signature combinations of a wooden core partially covered with a metal shield executed through hundreds of steel nails. By the late 1950s, he had established himself as one of the leading figures of abstract sculpture in Yugoslavia, exploring the relationship between interior, surface, void and monumentality.

By the end of the 1950s, Džamonja had fully embraced abstraction. Metal Sculpture 3 is an example of his trademark interplay of wood and metal, where a wooden pillar functions as a structural core activated by a dynamic surface composed of hundreds of nails. This radical departure from figurative monumentality corresponded with Yugoslavia’s post-1948 cultural reorientation, when abstraction came to signify artistic autonomy and international alignment. The work exemplifies the broader shift in sculpture from commemorative representation toward material experimentation and spatial exploration.

Text: Marta Radman, curator at the National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb
Translated by: Marta Radman
Photo: Goran Vranić © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb