Croatian Museum of Naïve Art
Encyclopedia
The Croatian Museum of Naïve Art is a fine art
museum in Zagreb
, Croatia
dedicated to the work of naïve art
ists of the 20th century. The museum holdings consist of over 1,850 works of art - painting
s, sculpture
s, drawing
s and prints
, mainly by Croatians but also by other well-known international artists in the genre.
From time to time, the museum organizes topics and retrospective exhibitions by naïve artists, expert meetings and educational workshops and playrooms.
The museum is located on the first floor of the 18th-century Raffay Palace in the Gornji Grad at Sv. Ćirila i Metoda 3.
). Since 1994, in line with a decision by the Croatian Parliament, its title has been the Croatian Museum of Naive Art. From the very beginning the establishment was organized and run according to strict museological
principles, and is deemed to be the world's first museum of naive art.
, or primitive art is a distinct segment of the art of the 20th century. In Croatia, naive art was at first connected with the works of peasants and working men, ordinary men and women, of whom the most successful, over the course of time, became professional artists. Naive art assumes the work of artists who are more or less self-taught, painters and sculptors with no formal art training, but who have achieved their own creative style and a high level of art. An identifiably individual style and poetic nature distinguishes the Naive from other "amateur" painters and sculptors, and from the general self-taught artist. The view of a Naive artist will usually display unusual proportions and perspective, and certain illogicalities of form and space. Such characteristics are the expression of a free creative imagination, in a similar way to other 20th century art movements such as Symbolism
, Expressionism
, Cubism
, and Surrealism
.
The collection features early masters of the Hlebine school, with works starting from the 1930s. The renowned Ivan Generalić
was among the first of the naive painters in Croatia to develop a distinctive creative style, and achieve a high professional standard in his art. Other artists from the first generation of the Hlebine school include Franjo Mraz
a contemporary of Generalić, and Mirko Virius
, who came a few years later. The stone sculptures of Lavoslav Torti
, and those in wood of Petar Smajić
are the first examples of Croatian naive sculpture.
During the 1930s, social issues dominated, and rural realism is reflected in the early subjects and gritty styles. Later work shows a more idealised landscape that owes more to the imagination than the outdoor scenery. The work of the second generation of Hlebine School artists, such as Ivan Večenaj
, and Mijo Kovačić
date from the 1950s and 60s, and include burlesque and grotesque figures, as well as works inspired by Biblical topics, with a strong use of colour. The painter Ivan Lacković Croata
, known for twilight scenes and distinctive, melancholic elongated landscapes, is considered one of the most brilliant and remarkable draughtsmen in naive art.
The collection also includes the work of independent artists such as Ivan Rabuzin
who by the end of the 1950s—1960s was creating works of lyricism with systematic abstraction and stylisation. Emerik Feješ
work is an example of urban Naive, with themes of exclusively city scenes and architecture characterized by geometrical composition and vivid, expressive use of colour. Matija Skurjeni
, another distinguished artist created fantasy works with lyrical landscapes with powerful distortions.
Artists represented in the permanent collection include:
Croatian artists
Artists from other countries
In addition to themed exhibits in the museum, touring exhibits are arranged to other places within Croatia, and abroad in order to to reach out to a wider audience. Artwork from the museum's holdings have recently been on exhibit in Japan (2006), Italy (2002), USA (2000), and Slovakia (2000). It is estimated that over 200,000 visitors saw these international shows.
Fine art
Fine art or the fine arts encompass art forms developed primarily for aesthetics and/or concept rather than practical application. Art is often a synonym for fine art, as employed in the term "art gallery"....
museum 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...
, Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
dedicated to the work of naïve art
Naïve art
Naïve art is a classification of art that is often characterized by a childlike simplicity in its subject matter and technique. While many naïve artists appear, from their works, to have little or no formal art training, this is often not true...
ists of the 20th century. The museum holdings consist of over 1,850 works of art - painting
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
s, sculpture
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
s, drawing
Drawing
Drawing is a form of visual art that makes use of any number of drawing instruments to mark a two-dimensional medium. Common instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax color pencils, crayons, charcoal, chalk, pastels, markers, styluses, and various metals .An artist who...
s and prints
Printmaking
Printmaking is the process of making artworks by printing, normally on paper. Printmaking normally covers only the process of creating prints with an element of originality, rather than just being a photographic reproduction of a painting. Except in the case of monotyping, the process is capable...
, mainly by Croatians but also by other well-known international artists in the genre.
From time to time, the museum organizes topics and retrospective exhibitions by naïve artists, expert meetings and educational workshops and playrooms.
The museum is located on the first floor of the 18th-century Raffay Palace in the Gornji Grad at Sv. Ćirila i Metoda 3.
History
In 1952, the Peasant Art Gallery was founded in Zagreb. By 1956 it was known as the Gallery of Primitive Art , and was then part of the Zagreb Municipal Galleries (today the Museum of Contemporary Art, ZagrebMuseum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb
The Museum of Contemporary Art is a contemporary art museum located on Dubrovnik Avenue in Zagreb, Croatia. It is the biggest and most modern museum in the country....
). Since 1994, in line with a decision by the Croatian Parliament, its title has been the Croatian Museum of Naive Art. From the very beginning the establishment was organized and run according to strict museological
Museology
Museology is the diachronic study of museums and how they have established and developed in their role as an educational mechanism under social and political pressures.-Overview:...
principles, and is deemed to be the world's first museum of naive art.
Naïve Art in Croatia
NaïveNaïve art
Naïve art is a classification of art that is often characterized by a childlike simplicity in its subject matter and technique. While many naïve artists appear, from their works, to have little or no formal art training, this is often not true...
, or primitive art is a distinct segment of the art of the 20th century. In Croatia, naive art was at first connected with the works of peasants and working men, ordinary men and women, of whom the most successful, over the course of time, became professional artists. Naive art assumes the work of artists who are more or less self-taught, painters and sculptors with no formal art training, but who have achieved their own creative style and a high level of art. An identifiably individual style and poetic nature distinguishes the Naive from other "amateur" painters and sculptors, and from the general self-taught artist. The view of a Naive artist will usually display unusual proportions and perspective, and certain illogicalities of form and space. Such characteristics are the expression of a free creative imagination, in a similar way to other 20th century art movements such as Symbolism
Symbolism (arts)
Symbolism was a late nineteenth-century art movement of French, Russian and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts. In literature, the style had its beginnings with the publication Les Fleurs du mal by Charles Baudelaire...
, Expressionism
Expressionism
Expressionism was a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas...
, Cubism
Cubism
Cubism was a 20th century avant-garde art movement, pioneered by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture...
, and Surrealism
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
.
Collections
The Croatian Museum of Naive Art holds more than 1,850 works of art – paintings, sculptures, drawings and prints. Of those, around 80 pieces are on display, ranging from the early 1930s to the 1980s. The focus is on Croatian artists – of the celebrated Hlebine School, and a few of the more highly valued independent artists. In addition, artworks of significant artists of other nations are also on show.The collection features early masters of the Hlebine school, with works starting from the 1930s. The renowned Ivan Generalić
Ivan Generalic
Ivan Generalić was a Croatian naïve art painter.Generalić was born in Hlebine near Koprivnica. In elementary school, painting lessons were his greatest joy and as a child he used to earn money...
was among the first of the naive painters in Croatia to develop a distinctive creative style, and achieve a high professional standard in his art. Other artists from the first generation of the Hlebine school include Franjo Mraz
Franjo Mraz
Franjo Mraz was a notable Croatian artist. Together with Ivan Generalić and Mirko Virius, he is considered a founder of Croatian naive art. His most famous paintings are "Oranje" and "Zima" ....
a contemporary of Generalić, and Mirko Virius
Mirko Virius
Mirko Virius was a Croatian naive painter. He was one of the three most prominent members of the first generation of the Hlebine School....
, who came a few years later. The stone sculptures of Lavoslav Torti
Lavoslav Torti
Lavoslav Torti was a Croatian painter. His works can be found at the Croatian Museum of Naïve Art in Zagreb.-References:...
, and those in wood of Petar Smajić
Petar Smajić
Petar Smajić was a Croatian painter. His works can be found at the Croatian Museum of Naïve Art in Zagreb.-References:...
are the first examples of Croatian naive sculpture.
During the 1930s, social issues dominated, and rural realism is reflected in the early subjects and gritty styles. Later work shows a more idealised landscape that owes more to the imagination than the outdoor scenery. The work of the second generation of Hlebine School artists, such as Ivan Večenaj
Ivan Večenaj
Ivan Večenaj is a Croatian painter. His works can be found at the Croatian Museum of Naïve Art in Zagreb.-References:...
, and Mijo Kovačić
Mijo Kovačić
Mijo Kovačić is a Croatian painter. His works can be found at the Croatian Museum of Naïve Art in Zagreb.-References:...
date from the 1950s and 60s, and include burlesque and grotesque figures, as well as works inspired by Biblical topics, with a strong use of colour. The painter Ivan Lacković Croata
Ivan Lackovic Croata
Ivan Lacković Croata was a Croatian naive painter.Lacković was born to a peasant family in the village of Batinske near Kalinovac. After completing his primary education, he worked as a laborer in fields and forests. This self-taught painter made his first watercolors, depicting village life, in...
, known for twilight scenes and distinctive, melancholic elongated landscapes, is considered one of the most brilliant and remarkable draughtsmen in naive art.
The collection also includes the work of independent artists such as Ivan Rabuzin
Ivan Rabuzin
Ivan Rabuzin was a Croatian naïve artist.Rabuzin's father was a miner, and Ivan was the sixth of his eleven children. Ivan worked as a carpenter for many years, and did not begin painting until 1956, when he was thirty-five years old...
who by the end of the 1950s—1960s was creating works of lyricism with systematic abstraction and stylisation. Emerik Feješ
Emerik Feješ
Emerik Feješ was a famous Serbian-Hungarian naive art painter. He was born in Osijek , in 1904 in the Croatia-Slavonia to a poor family of mixed Hungarian-Serbian heritage. Fejes suffered from asthma and sciatica throughout his life, keeping him bed-ridden...
work is an example of urban Naive, with themes of exclusively city scenes and architecture characterized by geometrical composition and vivid, expressive use of colour. Matija Skurjeni
Matija Skurjeni
Matija Skurjeni was a Croatian painter. His works can be found at the Croatian Museum of Naïve Art in Zagreb.-References:...
, another distinguished artist created fantasy works with lyrical landscapes with powerful distortions.
Artists represented in the permanent collection include:
Croatian artists
- Eugen BuktenicaEugen BuktenicaEugen Buktenica was a Croatian painter. His works can be found at the Croatian Museum of Naïve Art in Zagreb.-References:...
(1914–1997) - Emerik FeješEmerik FeješEmerik Feješ was a famous Serbian-Hungarian naive art painter. He was born in Osijek , in 1904 in the Croatia-Slavonia to a poor family of mixed Hungarian-Serbian heritage. Fejes suffered from asthma and sciatica throughout his life, keeping him bed-ridden...
(1904–1969) - Dragan GažiDragan GažiDragan Gaži was a Croatian painter. His works can be found at the Croatian Museum of Naïve Art in Zagreb.-References:...
(1930–1983) - Ivan GeneralićIvan GeneralicIvan Generalić was a Croatian naïve art painter.Generalić was born in Hlebine near Koprivnica. In elementary school, painting lessons were his greatest joy and as a child he used to earn money...
(1914–1992) - Josip GeneralićJosip GeneralićJosip Generalić was a Croatian painter. His works can be found at the Croatian Museum of Naïve Art in Zagreb.-References:...
(born 1936) - Drago JurakDrago JurakDrago Jurak was a Croatian painter. His works can be found at the Croatian Museum of Naïve Art in Zagreb.-References:...
(1911–1994) - Mijo KovačićMijo KovačićMijo Kovačić is a Croatian painter. His works can be found at the Croatian Museum of Naïve Art in Zagreb.-References:...
(born 1935) - Ivan Lacković CroataIvan Lackovic CroataIvan Lacković Croata was a Croatian naive painter.Lacković was born to a peasant family in the village of Batinske near Kalinovac. After completing his primary education, he worked as a laborer in fields and forests. This self-taught painter made his first watercolors, depicting village life, in...
(1931–2004) - Martin MehkekMartin MehkekMartin Mehkek is a Croatian painter. His works can be found at the Croatian Museum of Naïve Art in Zagreb.-References:...
(born 1936) - Franjo MrazFranjo MrazFranjo Mraz was a notable Croatian artist. Together with Ivan Generalić and Mirko Virius, he is considered a founder of Croatian naive art. His most famous paintings are "Oranje" and "Zima" ....
(1910–1981) - Ivan RabuzinIvan RabuzinIvan Rabuzin was a Croatian naïve artist.Rabuzin's father was a miner, and Ivan was the sixth of his eleven children. Ivan worked as a carpenter for many years, and did not begin painting until 1956, when he was thirty-five years old...
(born 1921) - Matija SkurjeniMatija SkurjeniMatija Skurjeni was a Croatian painter. His works can be found at the Croatian Museum of Naïve Art in Zagreb.-References:...
(1898–1990) - Petar SmajićPetar SmajićPetar Smajić was a Croatian painter. His works can be found at the Croatian Museum of Naïve Art in Zagreb.-References:...
(1910–1985) - Slavko StolnikSlavko StolnikSlavko Stolnik was a Croatian painter.-Life:Interested in painting since childhood, but born in poor peasant family, he did not have funds for education...
(1929–1991) - Lavoslav TortiLavoslav TortiLavoslav Torti was a Croatian painter. His works can be found at the Croatian Museum of Naïve Art in Zagreb.-References:...
(1875–1942) - Ivan VečenajIvan VečenajIvan Večenaj is a Croatian painter. His works can be found at the Croatian Museum of Naïve Art in Zagreb.-References:...
(born 1920) - Mirko ViriusMirko ViriusMirko Virius was a Croatian naive painter. He was one of the three most prominent members of the first generation of the Hlebine School....
(1889–1943)
Artists from other countries
- Enrico Benassi (1902–1978)
- Willem Van Genk (born 1927)
- Pietro Ghizzardi (1906–1986)
- Sofija Naletilić Penavuša (1913–1994)
- Nikifor (around 1895 – 1968)
- Germain van der Steen (1897–1985)
- Simon Schwartzenberg (1895–1990)
Special Exhibitions
The Museum organises special themed exhibits focusing on individual artists, or to highlight specific aspects of naive art. Recent such exhibits have included "Foreign Masters in the Collection", "Unknown Skurjeni", and "Ivan Lacković / Artistic Eksperiments".In addition to themed exhibits in the museum, touring exhibits are arranged to other places within Croatia, and abroad in order to to reach out to a wider audience. Artwork from the museum's holdings have recently been on exhibit in Japan (2006), Italy (2002), USA (2000), and Slovakia (2000). It is estimated that over 200,000 visitors saw these international shows.