engleski

Medulić, the Association of Croatian Artists in the Context of Central European Artistic and Political Aspirations: The Myth and the Nation

Medulić, the Association of Croatian Artists (1908-1919) was founded in December 1908 at the First Dalmatian Art Exhibition in Split, as a regional association of artists from Dalmatia. The Association was established primarily in order to protect class interests of its members who, in relation to the artists in Banovina of Croatia, gathered in the Art Association in Zagreb, were in unfavourable position within the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. It was the first severe schism on the Croatian artistic scene hitherto united and centralised. Soon the emphasis was placed on the idea of cultural and political unity of the South Slavs and the formation of a distinct national identity in art for audiences at home and abroad. The Association acquired its name from the great Croatian and Dalmatian artist Andrija Medulić Schiavone, famous for his unique contribution to the Italian art of the 16th century. The seat of the Association was located in Split. Although painter Vlaho Bukovac was elected a president, the most prominent artist and ideologist of the Association was Ivan Meštrović, a renowned Croatian sculptor who at that time gained international fame. The paper presents the role of the Medulić Association in the Croatian art of the early 20th century. In comparison with similar art associations (Sztuka in Krakow, Mánes in Prague, the Association of Moravian artists) as well as political and cultural circumstances in Central European countries aspiring toward political independence, unity or both, it also defines its work in the context of modern art in Central Europe. With its extensive exhibition activity the Association established new artistic values, promoted national art in the country and abroad and contributed to the development of artistic life in Croatia through high standards of artistic work (sculpture, painting, architecture, caricature, applied arts). Consequently, Medulić artists made a significant contribution to the process started with the Croatian Salon of 1898, and anticipated the founding of the Spring Salon in 1916. Aspirations to form a national expression in art, with Meštrović as the leading figure, whose Vidovdan Cycle and the Cycle of Kraljević Marko based on myth and folk heroic poems, were recognized in the European context. Other activities and goals of the Association - affirmation of artistic individuality and freedom, modernism against academism, endeavours to establish the institutions of national art, build exhibition pavilions and museums etc., also prove that the Medulić Association had the same goals as contemporaneous Central European associations and equally participated and contributed to the progressive development of modern art in Central Europe.

Medulić; the Association of Croatian Artists; Ivan Meštrović; Central Europe; Manes; the Association of Czech Artists; Sztuka; the Society of Polish Artists; Joža Uprka; the Association of Moravian Artists; national identity in art; art and politics

nije evidentirano