Ana Bešlić was a sculptor from Serbia

Serbia

Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...

, originating from Bunjevac

Bunjevci

Bunjevci are a South Slavic community and ethnic group living mostly in the Bačka region of Serbia and southern Hungary...

/Croat

Croats

Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...

 family from Bačka

Backa

Bačka is a geographical area within the Pannonian plain bordered by the river Danube to the west and south, and by the river Tisza to the east of which confluence is located near Titel...

 in autonomous province of Vojvodina

Vojvodina

Vojvodina, officially called Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is an autonomous province of Serbia. Its capital and largest city is Novi Sad...

.

She was born in a Sárapuszta (Serbian/Bunjevac: Šarapusta) near the Bačkan town of Bajmok

Bajmok

Bajmok is a village located in the Subotica municipality, in the North Bačka District of Serbia. It is situated in the autonomous province of Vojvodina...

, between Sombor

Sombor

Sombor is a city and municipality located in northwest part of Serbian autonomous province of Vojvodina. The city has a total population of 48,749 , while the Sombor municipality has 87,815 inhabitants...

 and Subotica

Subotica

Subotica is a city and municipality in northern Serbia, in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina...

, at that time in Bács-Bodrog County, Kingdom of Hungary

Kingdom of Hungary

The Kingdom of Hungary comprised present-day Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia , Transylvania , Carpatho Ruthenia , Vojvodina , Burgenland , and other smaller territories surrounding present-day Hungary's borders...

, Austria-Hungary

Austria-Hungary

Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...

.

Ana Bešlić was one of the most important representatives of modern sculpture in Yugoslavia and Serbia. By genre, she belonged to the group of artist that since the 1950s, became recognisable by their artistic curiosity and non-mainstream approach, being the pioneers of changing of sculptor's style in Yugoslavia. Still, her creations were mostly oriented towards the making of monuments.

She attended schools in Zagreb

Zagreb

Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...

, Graz

Graz

The more recent population figures do not give the whole picture as only people with principal residence status are counted and people with secondary residence status are not. Most of the people with secondary residence status in Graz are students...

 and Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

, but she developed her artistic education on Akademija likovnih umetnosti in Belgrade

Belgrade

Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...

 in 1949.

Part of her works were donated to the city of Subotica, including the monument of Blaško Rajić

Blaško Rajic

Blaško Stipan Rajić was a Bačka Croat Catholic priest, writer and politician. He wrote poetry and prose works....

.

The last years of her life were spent in Belgrade, where she died in 2008.

Works

Her best known sculptures are Plamen, Majka i dete, Talija, Slomljena krila (being one of the best known sights in Palić

Palic

Palić is a town in Serbia, from Subotica, and from the border between Serbia and Hungary. It is a part of the Subotica Municipality, North Bačka District, autonomous province of Vojvodina. The town has a Hungarian ethnic majority and its population numbering 7,745 people...

), Majka i sin, Podravka

Podravka

Podravka is a food company based in Koprivnica, Croatia. It produces the rather well-known product Vegeta, amongst thousands of other products in its diverse catalogue.Podravka brands:*Vegeta and Warzywko - original condiment...

's rooster, Tina Turner, and Blaško Rajić.

Awards

She won numerous awards for her work.

Rajko Ljubič

Rajko Ljubic

Rajko Ljubič is a Bačkan ethnic Croat film director from Subotica, Serbia.He mostly makes documentaries and short movies that deal with the life of the Bunjevci and Šokci Slavic groups from Bačka....

, a film director from Subotica, made a documentary

Documentary film

Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...

about her in 2005.

External links