Tag: Maestral

Marta Ehrlich, Maestral, 1970

Marta Ehrlich
Maestral, 1970
oil on canvas
60.4 × 77.4 cm
MG-4785

Marta Ehrlich (Zagreb, 1910–1980) was one of the leading Croatian painters of the 20th century. She graduated in painting from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb in 1934 as a private student of Vladimir Becić, and spent the following year on a study visit to Paris. In the early phase of her career, her work reflected Becić's influence, while in later years she developed a more Surrealist approach. She most frequently painted cityscapes, landscapes, interiors, and still lifes, cultivating an intimate and imaginative artistic expression. During the 1960s, she increasingly devoted herself to ceramics, producing small-scale sculptures, painted tiles, and decorative plates, while in painting she embraced a more abstract language influenced by Art Informel.
Painted in 1970, “Maestral” belongs to the artist's late creative period, when she moved towards a simplified and almost abstract visual language. The composition is constructed from stylised forms that merely suggest a landscape, while sailboats, the open sea, and steep coastal cliffs remain recognisable through reduced shapes and strong colour relationships. Blue and green tones dominate the composition, contrasted by warm red and orange areas in the foreground. Through free brushstrokes and broad applications of paint, Ehrlich creates a dynamic yet harmonious composition in which colour becomes the primary means of expression. The title refers to the maestral, a characteristic Mediterranean wind whose freshness and movement are evoked through the rhythm of forms and the painting's airy atmosphere.

Text: Luciana Fuks, Museum Documentation Curator, National Museum of Modern Art © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb
Photo: Goran Vranić © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb

Menci Clement Crnčić, Maestral, 1905-1910

Menci Clement Crnčić
Maestral, 1905-1910
oil on canvas, 54 x 78.1 cm
MG-430

The painter and printmaker Menci Clement Crnčić (1865–1930) studied painting at the Academies in Vienna (1882–1884) and Munich (1889–1892). After a brief period teaching painting at the School of Crafts in Zagreb, he received a scholarship in 1894, on the recommendation of Izidor Kršnjavi, to study printmaking at the Vienna Academy under Professor William Unger. In 1900, he moved to Zagreb, where, in 1903, he co-founded a private painting school together with Bela Čikoš Sesija. This institution eventually evolved into the Advanced School of Arts and Crafts, later becoming the Academy of Fine Arts, where Crnčić taught from 1907 to 1930. In 1919, he became a member of the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts (JAZU), and from 1920 to 1928, he served as the director of the Strossmayer Gallery in Zagreb.
Crnčić’s painting, in a horizontal format, depicts a sunny day by the sea, bathed in bright sunlight. The bottom two-thirds of the composition show the sea surface, gently moved by the maestral wind in waves from right to left, towards a large rock depicted along its entire left edge. The upper third features a depiction of a clear azure sky with white clouds. In the middle of the sea’s upper edge, two small white sails are visible in the distance, and along its right edge, a distant stretch of rocky coastline appears, painted in shades of purple. Crnčić’s skilful realism in capturing the atmosphere and weather conditions of the sea is evident in this work. Maestral is one of Crnčić’s more prominent seascapes, widely reproduced in publications and showcased at numerous exhibitions.

Text: Ivana Rončević Elezović PhD, museum consultant of the National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb
Translated by: Robertina Tomić
Photo: Goran Vranić © National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb