Vladimir Becić
Encyclopedia
Vladimir Becić was a Croatian painter, best known for his early work in Munich
, which had a strong influence on the direction of modern art
in Croatia
Becić studied painting in Munich
at the prestigious Academy of Arts along with Oskar Herman
, Miroslav Kraljević
and Josip Račić
. This group of Croatian artists are known as the Munich Circle or Munich Four, and are very important figures in Croatian art of the 20th century. After Munich, Becić spent 2 years studying and working in Paris before returning to Zagreb
in 1910.
During the First World War, Vladimir Becić worked as a war artist on the Salonika Front producing a series of images of the soldiers and wounded. Following the end of the war, he spent time in a village near Sarajevo
, where he painted landscapes and rural subjects in a style that used colour and tonal variations to depict form and space.
Becić was a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb
(1924–1947), and a member of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts
from 1934.
1 June 1886.
He initially studied law in Zagreb
and attended private art school of Menci Clement Crnčić
and Bela Čikoš Sesija
. In 1905, he gave up his law studies for art, moving to Munich where he first studied with Heinrich Knirr, and then at the Academy of Arts. In 1909, he went to Paris where he enrolled in the Academy La Grande Chaumiére
and worked as a draftsman at the magazine "Le Rire". He returned to Zageb in 1910, where he staged his first solo exhibit.
Becić then worked in Osijek
, Belgrade
and Bitolj. During the First World War he was a war correspondent and artist for the magazine "L'Illustration" on the Salonika front, creating a series of images of the soldiers and the wounded. In 1919, he held his second solo exhibit, also in Zagreb.
From 1919 to 1923, Vladimir Becić lived and worked in the village of Blažuj
near Sarajevo
, producing a series of oils and watercolours of landscapes, peasants and shepherds that show an increasingly mature style of tonal painting using colour forms for rounded volume and space. He then moved back to Zagreb, where he taught in the Academy of Fine Arts
(Croatian: Akademija likovnih umjetnosti) (1924–1947).
In 1930, Vladimir Becić, together with Ljubo Babić
and Jerolim Miše
formed "Group Three" (Grupa trojice).
Becić became a member of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts
in 1934, at that time called the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Art.
Vladimir Becić died in Zagreb
24 May 1954.
Vladimir Becić's earliest works date from the time of the Munich school, and together with the works of Josip Račić
and Miroslav Kraljević
, they point to a new direction in Croatian modern painting. Moving away from traditional academic styles, they are strongly influenced by Leibl
's realism, and the works of Impressionist artists such as Manet
whose work they saw in an exhibit of 1907. Other influences at that time were Velázquez and Goya. Becić's later works show an approach that is closer to Cézanne, and emphasizing the structure and geometric shapes. His artistic expression was focused towards modeling and clarity. His sketches in oil, and especially watercolour, express the freshness of the immediate experience. He uses rich colour expression, and tone shaping for strong volume.
Some insights on Vladimir Becić can be derived from his self-portraits, which he painted from his youngest days until just before his death. They are especially remarkable as they cover his time in Munich, then Paris and finally Osijek
. Compared to the contemporary self-portraits of Joseph Racic and Miroslav Kraljevic, the Becic self-portraits are simpler, but show a full and complete expression. His early paintings, above all, show an accurate observation of form, subject and body and their spacial relationships rendered by a trained and skilful hand. The style of his later work owes something to the widespread tendency in Europe to return to nature in all things cultural and artistic after the First World War, and the influence of post-cubism - emphasizing the importance of construction. For Becić, nature was not a shelter, but an incentive, a great teacher of life, order, organization.
According to Miroslav Krleža
, Becić holds a deservedly high place in the history of Croatian modern art. Measured with Racic and Kravjevic, he is not simply one of three, but is completely different.
In 2006, the Croatian Post Office issued a set of stamps depicting Croatian art, one of which was Becić's Still Life of 1909
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, which had a strong influence on the direction of modern art
Modern art
Modern art includes artistic works produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the style and philosophy of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the traditions of the past have been thrown aside in a spirit of...
in Croatia
Art of Croatia
Croatian art describes the visual arts in Croatia from medieval times to the present. In Early Middle Ages, Croatia was an important centre for art and architecture in south eastern Europe. There were many Croatian artists during the Medieval period, and the arts flourished during the Renaissance...
Becić studied painting in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
at the prestigious Academy of Arts along with Oskar Herman
Oskar Herman
Oskar Herman was a Croatian Jewish painter. He was one of the group of Croatian artists known as the Munich Circle, who had a strong influence on modern art in Croatia.-Biography:...
, Miroslav Kraljević
Miroslav Kraljevic
Miroslav Kraljević was a Croatian painter, printmaker and sculptor, active in the early part of the 20th century. He is one of the founders of modern art in Croatia....
and Josip Račić
Josip Račić
Josip Račić was a Croatian painter in the early 20th century. Although he died very young , and his work was mostly created when a student, he is one of the best known of the modern Croatian painters...
. This group of Croatian artists are known as the Munich Circle or Munich Four, and are very important figures in Croatian art of the 20th century. After Munich, Becić spent 2 years studying and working in Paris before returning to 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...
in 1910.
During the First World War, Vladimir Becić worked as a war artist on the Salonika Front producing a series of images of the soldiers and wounded. Following the end of the war, he spent time in a village near Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
, where he painted landscapes and rural subjects in a style that used colour and tonal variations to depict form and space.
Becić was a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb
Academy of Fine Arts Zagreb
The Academy of Fine Arts Zagreb is a Croatian art school affiliated with the University of Zagreb.The Academy was established in June 1907 as the Royal College for Arts and Crafts and initially had three departments, for sculpting, painting and art education...
(1924–1947), and a member of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts
The Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts is the national academy of Croatia. It was founded in 1866 as the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts , and was known by that name for most of its existence.- History :...
from 1934.
Biography
Vladimir Becić was born in Slavonski BrodSlavonski Brod
Slavonski Brod is a city in Croatia, with a population of 59,507 in 2011. The city was known as Marsonia in the Roman Empire, and as Brod na Savi 1244–1934. It is the sixth largest city in Croatia, after Zagreb, Split, Rijeka, Osijek and Zadar. Located in the region of Slavonia, it is the...
1 June 1886.
He initially studied law 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...
and attended private art school of Menci Clement Crnčić
Menci Clement Crnčić
Menci Clement Crnčić was a Croatian painter, printmaker, teacher and museum director. He studied painting and drawing in Vienna and Munich, and trained in graphic arts in Vienna, studying etching and engraving...
and Bela Čikoš Sesija
Bela Cikoš Sesija
Bela Čikoš Sesija ; was a Croatian painter of historical and allegorical scenes at the turn of the 20th century...
. In 1905, he gave up his law studies for art, moving to Munich where he first studied with Heinrich Knirr, and then at the Academy of Arts. In 1909, he went to Paris where he enrolled in the Academy La Grande Chaumiére
Académie de la Grande Chaumière
The Académie de la Grande Chaumière is an art school in the VIe arrondissement of Paris, France. The school was founded in 1902 by the Swiss Martha Stettler , who refused to teach the strict academic rules of painting of the École des Beaux-Arts. It opened the way to the "Art Indépendant"...
and worked as a draftsman at the magazine "Le Rire". He returned to Zageb in 1910, where he staged his first solo exhibit.
Becić then worked in Osijek
Osijek
Osijek is the fourth largest city in Croatia with a population of 83,496 in 2011. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja county...
, 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...
and Bitolj. During the First World War he was a war correspondent and artist for the magazine "L'Illustration" on the Salonika front, creating a series of images of the soldiers and the wounded. In 1919, he held his second solo exhibit, also in Zagreb.
From 1919 to 1923, Vladimir Becić lived and worked in the village of Blažuj
Blažuj
Blažuj is a village in the municipality of Tomislavgrad, Bosnia and Herzegovina....
near Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
, producing a series of oils and watercolours of landscapes, peasants and shepherds that show an increasingly mature style of tonal painting using colour forms for rounded volume and space. He then moved back to Zagreb, where he taught in the Academy of Fine Arts
Academy of Fine Arts Zagreb
The Academy of Fine Arts Zagreb is a Croatian art school affiliated with the University of Zagreb.The Academy was established in June 1907 as the Royal College for Arts and Crafts and initially had three departments, for sculpting, painting and art education...
(Croatian: Akademija likovnih umjetnosti) (1924–1947).
In 1930, Vladimir Becić, together with Ljubo Babić
Ljubo Babić
Ljubo Babić , was a Croatian painter, graphic artist, theatrical set and costume designer, teacher, art historian, critic, and museum curator. As an artist, he worked in a variety of media including oils, tempera, watercolour, drawing, etching, and lithography...
and Jerolim Miše
Jerolim Miše
Jerolim Miše , was a Croatian painter, teacher, and art critic. He painted portraits, still lifes and landscapes of his native Dalmatia. A member of the Group of Three, Group of Four, and the Independent Group of Artists....
formed "Group Three" (Grupa trojice).
Becić became a member of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts
The Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts is the national academy of Croatia. It was founded in 1866 as the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts , and was known by that name for most of its existence.- History :...
in 1934, at that time called the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Art.
Vladimir Becić died 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...
24 May 1954.
Legacy
The beginnings of modernity in the Croatian art are primarily linked to the Munich Cycle of painters some of whose key works are housed in the Museum of Contemporary Art collection. These include oil paintings by Vladimir Becic dating back to the period 1910-1922, the most important phase in his artistic career, including works from the early 40s.Vladimir Becić's earliest works date from the time of the Munich school, and together with the works of Josip Račić
Josip Račić
Josip Račić was a Croatian painter in the early 20th century. Although he died very young , and his work was mostly created when a student, he is one of the best known of the modern Croatian painters...
and Miroslav Kraljević
Miroslav Kraljevic
Miroslav Kraljević was a Croatian painter, printmaker and sculptor, active in the early part of the 20th century. He is one of the founders of modern art in Croatia....
, they point to a new direction in Croatian modern painting. Moving away from traditional academic styles, they are strongly influenced by Leibl
Wilhelm Leibl
Wilhelm Maria Hubertus Leibl was a German realist painter of portraits and scenes of peasant life.Leibl was born in Cologne and in 1861 began his first training with Hermann Becker, a local painter. He entered the Munich Academy in 1864, subsequently studying with several artists including Carl...
's realism, and the works of Impressionist artists such as Manet
Manet
-MANET as an abbreviation:*MANET is a mobile ad hoc network, a self-configuring mobile wireless network.*MANET database or Molecular Ancestry Network, bioinformatics database-People with the surname Manet:*Édouard Manet, a 19th-century French painter....
whose work they saw in an exhibit of 1907. Other influences at that time were Velázquez and Goya. Becić's later works show an approach that is closer to Cézanne, and emphasizing the structure and geometric shapes. His artistic expression was focused towards modeling and clarity. His sketches in oil, and especially watercolour, express the freshness of the immediate experience. He uses rich colour expression, and tone shaping for strong volume.
Some insights on Vladimir Becić can be derived from his self-portraits, which he painted from his youngest days until just before his death. They are especially remarkable as they cover his time in Munich, then Paris and finally Osijek
Osijek
Osijek is the fourth largest city in Croatia with a population of 83,496 in 2011. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja county...
. Compared to the contemporary self-portraits of Joseph Racic and Miroslav Kraljevic, the Becic self-portraits are simpler, but show a full and complete expression. His early paintings, above all, show an accurate observation of form, subject and body and their spacial relationships rendered by a trained and skilful hand. The style of his later work owes something to the widespread tendency in Europe to return to nature in all things cultural and artistic after the First World War, and the influence of post-cubism - emphasizing the importance of construction. For Becić, nature was not a shelter, but an incentive, a great teacher of life, order, organization.
According to Miroslav Krleža
Miroslav Krleža
Miroslav Krleža was a leading Croatian and Yugoslav writer and the dominant figure in cultural life of both Yugoslav states, the Kingdom and the Republic . He has often been proclaimed the greatest Croatian writer of the 20th century.-Biography:Miroslav Krleža was born in Zagreb, modern-day...
, Becić holds a deservedly high place in the history of Croatian modern art. Measured with Racic and Kravjevic, he is not simply one of three, but is completely different.
In 2006, the Croatian Post Office issued a set of stamps depicting Croatian art, one of which was Becić's Still Life of 1909
Works
- Guslar (Guslac) 1906
- Nude Study (Studija Akta) 1906
- Woman Nude in Front of Mirror (Ženski Akt pred ogledalom) 1906
- Oak (Hrast) 1907
- Nude Girl at a Table (Akt djevojcica kod stola) 1907
- Nude with Newspaper (Ženski akt s novinama) 1907
- Nude in Front of Mirror (Akt pred ogledalom) 1908
- Girl with Doll (Djevojčica s lutkom) 1908
- Portrait of Miroslav Kraljević (Portret Miroslava Kraljevića) 1908
- Self-portrait with Hat (Autoportret sa polucilindrom) 1908
- Still Life (Mrtva Priroda) 1909
- Watermelons (Lubenice) 1911
- Hill Landscape with Stream (Planinski pejzaž s potokom) 1923
- Vera 1926
- Peasant Woman (Saljanka) 1926
- Fisherman (Ribar) 1932
- Girl with Flower (Djevojka s cvijecem) 1933
- Small Meadows (Male sjenokoše) 1934
- Boy with Corn (Dječak s kukuruzom) 1935
- Crabs (Rakovi) 1936
- Ragotin 1937
- Tovarenje ugljena, 1938
- Samoborski pejsaž, 1941.
Solo shows
- 1910 in Zagreb
- 1919 in Zagreb
- 1984 Vladimir Becic - Umjetnicki paviljon / Art Pavilion Zagreb, Zagreb
- 2005 Adris Gallery, Rovinj Vladimir Becić, Svjedok Istine Postojanja
Group shows
- 1973 Paintings of the Munich Circle - Umjetnicki paviljon / Art Pavilion Zagreb, Zagreb
- 2007 Iz fundusa galerije - Museum of Modern Art Dubrovnik, Dubrovnik
- 2008 From the holdings of the museum - Museum of Modern Art Dubrovnik, Dubrovnik
Public collections
- Museum of Modern Art Dubrovnik, Dubrovnik, Croatia
- Gallery of Fine Arts / Galerija likovnih umjetnosti, Osijek, Osijek, Croatia
- MMSU - Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia
- Galerija Umjetnina Split, Split, Croatia
- MSU Muzej Suvremene Umjetnosti / Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb, Croatia