Exhibition open: February 17th – May 22nd 2022
ROOTS AND WINGS. VLAHO BUKOVAC IN ZAGREB, CAVTAT AND VIENNA, 1893 – 1903 is a long-awaited second exhibition in the Vlaho Bukovac in Europe exhibition series in the Klovićevi dvori Gallery. It will be open from February 17th to May 22nd, 2022, in a year in which we commemorate the 100th anniversary of Bukovac’s death.
The first exhibition, Vlaho Bukovac in Paris, 1878 – 1892, held in 2018, dealt with his amateur work in North America, his schooling and professional maturation in Paris, short work stays in England, as well as fruitful breaks in Croatia, until his final return home.
The theme of this long-anticipated second exhibition is Bukovac’s life and the development of his Zagreb oeuvre, when he became the central figure of public cultural life, a great mentor to a young generation of artists, and when his seductive colorism influenced a whole generation of Zagreb painters, named hence the Zagreb Colorful School.
Thanks to Bukovac, Zagreb became a center for artistic events; the contributions of the founder gave Zagreb an edge over other cities in the region. Bukovac’s Zagreb phase is also his most fruitful – it is in the fulfilling circumstances of creative enthusiasm in Zagreb that he created some of his major works.
After taking part in the social life of Zagreb and socializing with the intellectual elite, Bukovac portrayed the protagonists of Zagreb’s most established families such as Vranyczany, Pongrač, Nossan, Miletić, Farkaš, Crnadak, and Berger.
Bukovac’s Cavtat oeuvre is part of this exhibition too. Bukovac went back to his birthplace from Zagreb in 1898, and stayed there for four years, until 1902. There too, as in Zagreb, he reinvigorated the social and artistic circles. Exactly in Cavtat, Bukovac reached the height of his artistic and stylistic endeavors, creating some of the most beautiful plein air paintings. After four years in Cavtat, in 1902, Bukovac and his family moved to Vienna. His stay and the success of his exhibition there were critical for his later departure to Prague.
This exhibition will, in chronological order, introduce the life and work of Bukovac, it will deeply analyze numerous episodes from his life and their influence on his work. Like a novel, the drama of Bukovac’s arrival, survival, and departure, substantiated with many documentary and archival material, hitherto unexposed works, and entirely new discoveries, will unfold before the eyes of our visitor. The works in the exhibition were collected from various museums and gallery institutions from all over Croatia and its neighboring countries. Many private owners and collectors opened their doors to this exhibition – revealing a great number of yet unknown works to the public.
On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Bukovac’s death, in April of 2022, as a part of the program accompanying the exhibition, an international scientific conference will be held in Klovićevi dvori Gallery, titled ‘Vlaho Bukovac and his work’, co-organized with the Institute of Art History in Zagreb.
Author: gkd.hr
