Zvonimir Lončarić
(1927 – 2004)
Woman in Blue Stockings, 1986
polyester, paint
195 x 70 x 140 cm
MG-4471
Sculptor, graphic artist, stage and set designer Zvonimir Lončarić graduated from the Academy of Applied Arts in Zagreb in 1956 (K. Angeli Radovani, E. Tomašević). In 1958 he started working for Zagreb Film production studio as a cartoonist and set designer, and he authored four animated films. He created a respectable graphic art oeuvre, also did ceramics and stage design, and produced series of imaginative children’s toys. He modelled figurative sculptures, most often in wood and polyester painted in vivid colours. By having synthesised the sculptural experiences of tradition and the language of contemporary art, he created a distinct oeuvre, in which elements of the fantastic and the surreal are imbued with a specific sense of humour. This is also reflected in his witty mobile statues set in public spaces.
Lončarić’s production of animated films is also reflected in his sculptural expression, which features unconventional, simple and elementary forms of accentuated volumes and colours. The inflated oversized erect figure of the semi-nude woman with outstretched arms, accentuated eroticism, long wavy black hair, in blue stocking and red shoes, belongs to the series of his colourful simplified and oversized puppet sculptures.
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