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Aleksa elebonovi, slikar, likovni kritiar, istoriar umjetnosti | painter, art critic, art historian
(Lozana, 1917 Beograd, 1987.)
Enterijer | Interior, 1951.
ulje na platnu | oil on canvas
60 x 89 cm
As part of the project of presenting art treasure from the Art Museum holdings to the
public, the DADO Atelier is hosting an exhibition of works of Yugoslav artists entitled The
Image of Woman. The exhibition is devoted to the theme which has inspired various kinds of
artists for millennia: female muse as the protectress of art, who, as a symbol of fertility, beauty, love and motherhood, has been adored, celebrated and respected through all the epochs
of human civilization. Each period and artistic epoch have defined the place of the woman
and her uniqueness in the context of social anthropology, and her artistic interpretation was
primarily driven by the ruling principles of artistic expression. However, artists who relied
on their own imagination and creative freedom in the aesthetic, philosophical, plastic and
structural sense had their individual choice in depicting the woman, her being and body
alike.
The exhibition encompasses paintings and sculptures created in former Yugoslav territories from the end of the 19th to the second half of the 20th century a period shaped by the
stylistic features of: romanticism, impressionism/plain-airism, modern classicism, expressionism,
constructivism and social realism.
Even though the artists used diverse means of expression in their art, they all reveal an
intimate atmosphere which gives them a warm note of intimacy and immediacy, a humanistic
view of the world. The portraits created by Jovan Bijeli, Cvetko Lainovi, Luka Berberovi
and Igor Vasiljev show respect for classical rules: static quality, expression of inner state,
character features, where the female image emerges as a work of modern provenance, or
poetic experience found in the paintings of Vlaho Bukovac, Boko Risimovi Risim, Lazar
Vozarevi, Zulfikar Dumhur.
However, apart from her individual definition, it is important to note the positioning of the
woman in the environment interior or exterior/plain air where she is depicted as performing
her daily tasks, like in the paintings of ore Pravilovi, Vojo Stani, Aleksa elebonovi,
Ivan Radovi, Dimitrije Vujovi and Igor Vasiljev.
While the image of woman as a motif in paintings appears in portraits and genre-scenes,
in sculpture emphasis is placed on the female nude. According to the frequently quoted
words of French poet Paul Valry, the female nude was to a fine artist what the theme of love
was to a poet.
The female nude has been the most sensual and most intriguing theme in fine art since
prehistoric times and the archetypal figure of Great Mother. Artists have demonstrated their
creative skills on the principles of harmonization of matter and spirit, external and internal
content, eroticism and vitalism, beauty and harmony.
In the sculptures created by Risto Stijovi, Frano Krini, Sreten Stojanovi, Milica Ribnikar and Nikola Milunovi, the female body is represented in a variety of different postures and
positions.
They show distant reminiscences of Renaissance idealization, Sumerian exoticness and
Etruscan reduction of form (Giacometti), which speaks of the phenomenon of woman, who
has always been the eternal inspiration of fine artists outside temporal and spatial constraints.
Ljiljana Zekovi
art historian