Branko Ružić
Bridge I, 1989
color, papier mâché cardboard
79 x 15 x 26 cm
MG-5890

Branko Ružić (1919-1997) was a famous Croatian sculptor, getting a degree for sculpture in 1944 under professor Frane Kršinić and a degree for painting in 1948 under professor Marino Tartaglia at the Academy of Arts in Zagreb. He was teaching sculpture from 1961 until 1985 after which he continued with his pedagogical work and writing about art.
With Stojan Ćelić and Riko Debenjak he represented Yugoslavia at the 32nd Biennale at Venice in 1964 where he received the David E. Bright award, an accomplishment for Yugoslavian sculpture that never happened again. His sculpture “River Boat” was exhibited in front of the Yugoslavia’s pavilion at the Montreal's 1967 World EXPO.
“Bridge I” is a sculpture created in 1989 from colored papier mâché cardboard which he started to use after a car accident in 1988 which left him bedridden for six months and unable to work with wood, his primary material, because it was too heavy. At this time he also started using clay and his wife even suggested embroidering his drawings (a series of works now called ‘With Needle on Canvas’). He compared this period of creating to prisoners using bread instead of real, sturdy materials to create.
Made from organic shapes with a simplified, hand shaped texture that resembles tree bark. The rudimentary, unfinished look can be traced to his inspirations - prehistoric and traditional art, children’s paintings and travelling but most importantly, the current state of the artist’s body at the time of making the work.

Text: Stella Baki, curator / museum educator at the National Museum of Modern Art Zagreb
Photo: Goran Vranić © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb