Modern Visual Arts
There was somewhat of a resurgence in Serbian art in the 19th century as Serbia gradually regained its autonomy. Prince Aleksandar commissioned the building of a Monument to the Insurgents in Karađorđe Park in 1848 in Vračar. Serbian paintings showed the influence of Neoclassicism and Romanticism during the 19th century. Anastas Jovanović was a pioneering photographer in Serbia taking the photos of many leading citizens.
Kirilo Kutlik set up the first school of art in Serbia in 1895. Many of his students went to study in Western Europe, especially France and Germany and brought back avant-garde styles. Nadežda Petrović was influenced by Fauvism while Sava Šumanović worked in Cubism.
After World War I, the Belgrade School of Painting developed in the capital with some members such as Milan Konjović working in a Fauvist manner, while others such as Marko Čelebonović working in a style called Intimisme based on the use of colours.
Some artists chose to emigrate: thus Yovan Radenkovitch (1901–1979) left Belgrade for Paris in the 1930s, befriending Matisse and Vlaminck and adopting a style greatly inspired by Fauvism, before eventually leaving Europe to show his work in New York, in 1941; meeting with considerable acclaim, he decided, in the 1950s, to settle in the USA – near Waterbury, Connecticut, where several of his paintings are still kept today, in Mattatuck Museum.
Socrealism was the dominant school after World War II with the rise to power of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia under Josip Broz Tito. However, that period did not last long – during the 1960s, Serbian artists started to break free from the constraints of the Communists led by figures such as Petar Lubarda and Milo Milunović. The Mediala group featuring Vladimir Veličković was formed in the 1970s to promote Surrealist figurative painting. Serbian art was split between those basing their works on the traditions of Serbian work such as frescoes and iconography and those exploring international styles.
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