Tag: 1980.

Dubravka Babić, Alone III, 1980

Dubravka Babić
Alone III, 1980
ink
72 x 58 cm
MG-4138

Three male bodies are depicted with thin, fine lines. The title of the drawing, in addition to anatomy, suggests that they are male bodies. Although the male bodies are nude, it is difficult to say that they convey erotic meaning. Two bodies are depicted lying face down. Several quadrilaterals are drawn where the floor should be, but they seem to depict a mirror rather than a floor surface. Has Dubravka Babić portrayed her own version of the myth of Narcissus? The drawing is open to various interpretations. Considering the overall theme of the artist’s work, which predominantly features vitalistic motifs of animals and people in motion, it would be interesting to interpret this drawing in the context of melancholy, or the (in)definite loss. Finally, but no less important, is the fact that a woman has depicted a naked male body, which is a rare occurrence even within the framework of domestic contemporary art.
Dubravka Babić obtained a degree in printmaking from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb in 1974, and in 1995, she became the first woman in history to hold the position of dean at the same institution. She has been awarded 16 domestic and international awards for her graphic and drawing work. She lives and works in Zagreb.

Text: Klaudio Štefančić, senior curator of the National Museum of Modern Art © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb
Translated by: Robertina Tomić
Photo: Goran Vranić © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb

Nina Ivančić, Sun 12, 1980

 

Nina Ivančić
Sun 12, 1980
oil on canvas
90 x 100 cm
MG-4085

With the painting Sun 12, divided into several uneven fields, Nina Ivančić foreshadows the geometrization that she will fully devote herself to after moving to New York in 1986. Dynamism is achieved by the contrast of warm colours on one side of the painting and cool colours on the other, as well as the thick and clear brushstrokes on the canvas. Sun 12, by the artist who has been formed within the traditional medium of painting in the mid-1970s, at the time of the emergence of new media and materials, is certainly an indicator of her position as one of the leading figures of the New Image painting.
Nina Ivančić was born in Zagreb in 1953. She studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb under the mentorship of Prof. Šime Perić. After having graduated in 1977, she continued her education in the Master Painting Workshop led by her father Prof. Ljubo Ivančić, and Prof. Nikola Reiser. Soon after, she received the Fulbright Scholarship for the MFA Program in Painting at Columbia University in New York, where she lived and worked from 1986 to 1993. Since 1999, she has been teaching painting at the Arts Academy in Split, and her artistic career has been marked by more than thirty solo exhibitions and numerous group exhibitions at home and abroad, including the Youth Biennale in Paris (1982) and the Venice Biennale (1986, 1995). Her works are part of numerous private and public collections. She has received a number of awards, including the Binney and Smith Inc. Fine Art Achievement Award (New York, 1987) and Vjesnik’s Josip Račić Fine Art Award (Zagreb, 2003). The artist’s work demonstrates a layered artistic execution that transcends the boundaries of time and space.

Text: Lorena Šimić, trainee curator of the National Museum of Modern Art © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb
Translated by: Robertina Tomić
Photo: Goran Vranić © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb

Zlatko Bourek, A Babe from Bizovac, 1980

Zlatko Bourek
(1929-2018)
A Babe from Bizovac, 1980
polyester, papier mâché
MG-6902

Sculptor, painter, set and costume designer, and animator Zlatko Bourek graduated in sculpture and metalwork from the Academy of Applied Arts in Zagreb (under Professor Kosta Angeli Radovani) in 1955. In 1954 he started producing animated films at Zagreb Film. He was one of the founding members of the world-famous Zagreb School of Animation and was the set designer of the cult Professor Balthazar animated series. Having created an original version of Fantastic Realism, he painted figurative compositions with elements of the grotesque, irony and humour.

Painted in blue, yellow and white, and a tricolour belting it, Zlatko Bourek’s sculpture A Babe from Bizovac is an oversized three-legged female figure with pronouncedly long legs and of a grotesque allure. It is modelled as a hybrid of popular and high art. The elegance of the figure’s posture collides with some rough-hewn segments, as is the case with the figure’s carefully modelled legs that are at odds with the sculpture’s massive chests that open like drawers.

Text: Tatijana Gareljić, museum consultant of the National Museum of Modern Art © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb
Translated by: Ana Janković
Photo: Goran Vranić©National Museum of Modern Art

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