Leo Junek
On Seine
1953
oil, canvas
61 x 80 cm (79 x 97 cm)
inv. br. MG-6735

Leo Junek (1899-1993) was a Croatian painter who after graduating from the Academy of Arts in Zagreb in 1925 left for Paris where he remained for the rest of his life. From 1950 he lived in Orsay and created works of lyrical abstraction. He was creating in France but his works and friendships influenced Croatian painting.

He was one of the founders of the Earth Group with Krsto Hegedušić which was focused more on the leftist and socialist causes but he left the group after their first exhibition in 1929. Majorly influenced by Cézanne and the notion of the pure painting, he did not share the political and revolutionary ideas of the Earth Group or their idea of collective action. By leaving the group he remained in his personal and more urban path towards Modernism.

Fauvist Raoul Dufy influenced the simplicity and flatness of Junek’s painting, the use of local colors and exploration of space, light and color as is visible on the painting “On Seine” from 1953. The painting depicts the shore of the river Seine which shows a bridge and buildings. Using broad strokes and splotches of pink and blue paint, Junek combines colorism building his own interpretation of Cézanne’s influences and exploration of color as a crucial painterly element. The painting has an airy and light atmosphere which produces a calming effect.

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