Tag: Female Nude

Marta Ehrlich, Male Nude 1933., Female Nude, 1933.

Marta Ehrlich

Male Nude, 1933.
red chalk on paper
MG-4720

Female Nude, 1933.
red chalk on paper
MG-4721

Before photography became widely accessible, drawing was commonly employed by artists as an auxiliary tool for creating intricate paintings or sculptures. Drawing achieved its prominent status during the Renaissance and maintained this role until the rise of modern artistic movements. Every artistic discipline – be it painting, sculpture, or architecture – started with drawing. While it was often referred to colloquially as “training the hand,” its true function was to help artists master artistic principles. Besides “training the hand,” drawing was also linked to the notion that “drawing is seeing.” It was believed that a distinct connection existed between the hand and the eye, and that those who “cannot see” would also fail to draw effectively. Only what was known or prescribed by the rules was observed and depicted. Thus, prior to modernism, the process of drawing could be encapsulated as: “First I observe, then I draw.” Modernism, however, introduced a shift to: “First I think, then I draw.”

When Marta Ehrlich made her debut on the art scene between the two World Wars, both approaches to drawing were prevalent. The first approach was prominent in art schools, while the second was influential in developed artistic milieus. Her time spent in one such environment (Paris) did not alter her method of drawing the human nude; instead, it led to changes in her work in other genres, including still life, veduta, and self-portrait. These nudes, created during her studies in Zagreb in 1933, still adhere to the rules of depicting the body’s volume and mass, whether in motion or at rest. However, there may be a hint of the “female gaze” in these drawings, a particular experience, because if drawing is a form of seeing, then it is difficult to separate the artwork from the artist’s gender identity.

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

Marijan Matijevic, Female Nude

Marijan Matijević
(1907 – 1971)
Female Nude, 1938 – 1939
casting, bronze
32 x 7 x 9 cm
MG-1422

Matijević attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb from 1923 to 1927, followed by advanced studies under Ivan Meštrović and a two-year specialisation in Paris. Upon his return, he worked as a grammar school teacher. From 1943 until his death, he lived and worked in Austria, mostly in Vienna. He staged a well-regarded solo exhibition in 1931 and participated in a group exhibition in Zagreb in 1939. Among his more important works is the monument to the prominent Croatian politician Eugen Kvaternik in Rakovica. In addition to public monuments, he also created portraits and female figures in a manner of simple idealisation.
The female nude is posed in contrapposto, with the head turned towards the left shoulder. The right arm is held close to the body, bent at the elbow, and wraps around the waist. The left arm extends down the body, holding a piece of drapery. The breasts are subtly accentuated, and the legs appear full. The figure stands on a small square pedestal, integrated into the composition. The lower body is slightly inclined to the left, giving an impression of movement and soft compositional dynamism. The form is full, with a graceful closed stance, and the modelling is executed in a realistic manner.

Text: Tatijana Gareljić, museum consultant 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

Ivo Lozica, Female Nude, 1938

Ivo Lozica
(1910 – 1943)
Female Nude, 1938
bronze
51.3 x 31 x 62 cm
MG-1392

Ivo Lozica attended the Stonemasonry School in Korčula from 1923 to 1925, where sculptor Frano Kršinić took note of his talent and referred him to the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, where he studied sculpture from 1926 to 1930 (mentored by R. Valdec and R. Frangeš-Mihanović), and in 1933 he completed I. Meštrović’s advanced course in sculpture. As a French government scholarship holder, he attended the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris from 1933 to 1934. In 1935 he moved to Split and in 1938 he started teaching at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. He collaborated on Meštrović’s projects in Otavice (mausoleum) and Split (studio). He died prematurely in 1943, after having moved to his native Lumbarda on the Island of Korčula.
Ivo Lozica created numerous sculptures that feature prominently in Croatian sculpture of the 20th century. He produced a considerable number of works in stone, bronze, marble, plaster, wood and terracotta. He expressed himself realistically by observing the details and shapes of the human figure. Lozica portrayed the people of his native land, fishermen, sand carriers, women with wineskins, reapers and washerwomen.
Drawing on the Mediterranean sculptural tradition (F. Kršinić), particularly its understanding of light and form, and on his Parisian experiences (A. Maillol, A. Rodin and A. Bourdelle), Lozica created a unique series of intimist, lyrically shaped nudes featuring round volumes and flickering surfaces.
With its conspicuous buxomness and balanced relationship between torpor and dynamism, this reclining female nude in a seated position is a good example of the lyrical-meditative motif. The head is turned towards the left shoulder, while the left hand grasps the left leg that is bent at the knee and raised. The figure’s right hand rests on the edge of a rocky block, just as her right leg clings to the rock. The nude is fused with the pedestal as a dynamic unit of the composition. The balanced voluminous round form of the nude is observed as harmonious from all viewpoints.

Text: Tatijana Gareljić, Museum Counsellor at the National Museum of Modern Art © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb
Translated by: Robertina Tomić © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb