engleski

From Magic Realism to Socially Engaged Art – Croatian Painting of the 1920s and 1930s

After numerous avant-garde incentives in the years following the end of the First World War, Croatian painting turned to diverse realistic tendencies. Although such a shift towards Realism can be considered an affirmation of traditional artistic values and the interruption of the established modernist continuity, it was precisely by accepting various neorealist impulses that Croatian painters joined contemporary European tendencies. The transfer of influences and the reception of various Realism movements in Croatia were induced by sojourn of Croatian artists in Paris and other European centres, as well as by international exhibitions and magazines. Croatian art scene of the 1920s and 1930s was directly or indirectly marked by various European tendencies – the return to figuration of Pablo Picasso, the neoclassical visual vocabulary of André Derain and Italian painters, the Cubist manner of André Lhote, American Precisionism or the two vital lines of German New Objectivity: magical and socially engaged. Croatian painters used realist manner to capture the spirit of the interwar period and all its dichotomies – from the fascination with the progress, modernity and all the optimistic aspects of les années folles to the revealing of various negative faces of the Great Depression era. This paper will provide a general analysis of Realism movements in Croatian painting with special reference to the European context, highlight the most important protagonists and give an overview of the social situation that strongly influenced artistic production in the 1920s and especially the 1930s. Special attention will be paid to the most important aspects of cultural nationalism, and the influence of the desire to create a national visual expression within the Realist movements.

Realism movements, Croatian painting, interwar period, Magic Realism, New Objectivity, Cubism

nije evidentirano