Eight millennia of anonymous works
It wasn't until the 16th century that the first artists really signed their works in Albania. And yet, for eight millennia, engravers, potters, goldsmiths, sculptors and painters have worked here anonymously.
Maliq culture. Around 6500 BC, this Neolithic society in the Korça region was one of the first to master agriculture in the Balkans. Their craftsmen and artists left pottery that can be seen at the National History Museum in Tirana.
Illyrians. Little has survived of the Illyrians from the ancient period. A few objects (some Greek, but here attributed to the Illyrians) can be seen at the National Archaeological Museum in Tirana. Here too, note the astonishing sculpture of a fertility god (3rd century BC) from the Hellenized Amantes tribe, from the small archaeological site of Amantia. Albania's finest Illyrian artifacts, including superb bronze helmets, can be found in museums and with collectors abroad.
Greeks. The Greeks have had the greatest impact on ancient art in Albania. And with good reason: the Greeks founded Apollonia d'Illyria and Butrint (the country's two largest archaeological sites), as well as a host of cities such as Lezha, Durrës, Vlora and Saranda. Despite ongoing theft and looting, Greek sculptures, weapons and jewelry can be found in almost every museum in the country, whether they are the work of settlers from Syracuse, Corfu or Corinth, of Greek tribes from Epirus or of Hellenized Illyrian tribes. Special mention should be made of the large collection of votive figurines of Aphrodite at the Durrës Archaeological Museum.
Romans. They took over the Greek heritage. The museums of Tirana, Durrës, Butrint and Apollonie d'Illyrie all feature fine sculpted portraits of Greek divinities and wealthy Greco-Roman citizens.
Byzantine. Still Greek culture. Until the 14th century, the Byzantines covered the country with frescoes and mosaics. Among the latter are the one in Tirana, in the pretty village of Lin on Lake Ohrid, and the less well-preserved one in the Saranda Archaeological Museum. For the finest medieval frescoes, we recommend the churches of Mborja, near Korça, Labova, near Gjirokastra, and theisland of Maligrad, on Lake Prespa.
Onfuri, Albania's greatest painter
If Albania's great Byzantine painters are unknown to us, Onufri is their direct heir. He was one of the very first to sign his works, at the height of the Ottoman period in the 16th century: icons and church frescoes in sparkling reds. Influenced by Cretan painters of Venetian and Byzantine culture, this Orthodox archpriest from Neokastro (Elbasan) left some major works that can be seen, of course, at the Onufri Museum in Berat, but also at theChurch of Shelcan (near Elbasan), at the fabulous National Museum of Medieval Art in Korça, at the Icon Gallery of the National Museum of History in Tirana, or at the Byzantine Museum in Kastoria, Greece. Its legacy continued for two centuries with the Berat school of painting. A second pole took over in Korça with David Selenica (17th-18th centuries) and the brothers Konstantin and Athanas Zografi (18th century). They painted icons and superb frescoes in the churches of Moscopole, an Aromanian town in the Korça region that was once the richest in the country. But Onufri is still considered Albania's greatest painter. In fact, the annual prize for the country's best artists bears his name.
Islamic art in halftone
For five centuries, the Ottomans invested little in culture in Albania. Their legacy here pales in comparison with the superb Ottoman buildings of Istanbul. Moreover, the Islamic heritage suffered from the destructive madness of the atheist movement launched in 1967 by the communist regime. However, the communist regime preserved one of the very few frescoed mosques in the Balkans, painted by anonymous artists in the early 19th century: the Et'hem Bey mosque in Tirana. While the style here is "provincial Ottoman" (i.e. "second-rate"), it bears witness to the patronage of wealthy local Muslim families from the 18th century onwards. As for the traditions of Ottoman-period craftsmen (goldsmiths, bronzemakers, tinsmiths, weavers, etc.), only a few rare examples remain, often poorly displayed in small, dusty ethnological museums. From a pictorial point of view, the entire Ottoman period is poorly documented. However, at the turn of the 19th century, the redoubtable governor of Epirus, Ali Pasha, surrounded himself with a veritable court of foreign artists. Among his guests, the British Edward Lear, William Haygarth and Charles Robert Cockerell and the Frenchman Louis Dupré were the first to paint the landscapes, towns and inhabitants of southern Albania.
National Renaissance
From the mid-19th century onwards, Albanians began to assert their own identity within the Ottoman Empire. This was the movement of the Rilindja kombetare, the "National Renaissance". It coincided with 2 major innovations in the field of art: the pictorial movement of realism and the birth of photography. Albanian secular painting thus appeared in Shkodra with Kolë Idromeno (1860-1939). His work includes Motra Tone (Our Sister, 1883), the "Albanian Mona Lisa", restored in Paris in 2005 and exhibited at the National Art Gallery in Tirana. But Idromeno was a jack-of-all-trades who sculpted, was inspired by photography, corresponded with the Lumière brothers and organized one of the first cinema screenings in Albania, in 1908. Shkodra was also home to the other great artist of the Rilindja kombetare, Pietro Marubi (1834-1905). In 1858, this Italian painter founded the country's first photography studio. He captured portraits of an Albania that has now disappeared: clan chiefs, mountain warriors, Ottoman notables... The "Marubi dynasty" lasted until 1940. The National Museum of Marubi Photography in Shkodra houses a rich collection of over 100,000 photographs.
Serving dictators
Zogu dictatorship (1925-1940). After independence in 1912, Albania sank into chaos. But from 1925 onwards, Ahmet Zogu reunified the country with an iron fist, seizing power until he was crowned king in 1928, under the name of Zog I. Under the strong influence of Mussolini's Fascist regime, Zogu brought the country into the modern age, with Italian architects remodeling the major cities. His adviser and friend was the Shkodra painter and diplomat Çatin Saraçi (1903-1974), whose still lifes can be seen in the Vlora Historical Museum. Two of his six sisters, Ruhije and Myzejen Zogu, in charge of education and culture, subsidized artists. Odhise Paskali (1903-1985), the greatest Albanian sculptor of the 20th century, began his studies in Turin in 1925, thanks to this patronage. On his return to Albania, he created the Monument to the National Fighter (1932) in Korça, and in 1933, together with the realist painter Abdurrahim Buza (1905-1986), founded the country's first art school in Tirana. But it was above all the Communist dictatorship that reaped the rewards of this artistic development.
Communist dictatorship (1944-1991). While places of worship were gradually closed or even destroyed, secular artists were requisitioned: it was up to them to set an example by representing the "new man" and the new symbols of the country. Already highlighted by Zogu, the tutelary figure of Skanderbeg became omnipresent. In 1959, Janaq Paço (1914-1991) sculpted the first monumental statue of the hero, in Kruja. But it was Odhise Paskali who was commissioned to create the famous statue of Skanderbeg (1968), in Tirana. Paskali was a prolific artist, creating portraits of partisans, dictator Enver Hoxha and painter Onufri, as well as the great Independence Monument (1972) in Vlora. Several secondary artists collaborated with him, including Kristaq Rama (1932-1998). Father of Prime Minister Edi Rama, he was well liked by the authorities and designed the statue of Mother Albania (1971) at the Martyrs of the Nation cemetery in Tirana. Some of the Rama father and son's paintings can also be found in Tirana's National Art Gallery. It's a captivating place. It traces more than a century of creativity in Albania. Above all, it illustrates the constant changes imposed on artists by the Communist regime, as ideologies broke down with Yugoslavia, the USSR and then China. A few singular works stand out. The large canvas Vojo Kushi (1969), showing a partisan attacking a tank with a grenade, is astonishing for its almost surrealist bias. It is signed by Sali Shijaku (1933-2022). He was one of the few artists to keep his distance from the regime, and today is one of the few Albanian painters from the communist period who is still respected.
Today: the exodus of artists
Albania's contemporary art scene is a mixed bag. While it enjoys a good reputation on the art market, this is not to be found in Albania. While the country is led by former artist Edi Rama, the arts sector suffers from a lack of investment, exhibition structures and creative venues. As a result, all of today's leading artists live and work abroad. The renowned plastic and video artist Anri Sala (born 1980 in Tirana) has taken French nationality (frequent exhibitions in Paris) and lives in Berlin. The German capital is also home to French-speaking novelist and visual artist Ornela Vorpsi (b. 1968, Tirana) and painter and visual artist Majla Zeneli (b. 1980, Tirana). Some have chosen to exile themselves to North America, such as painters Mikel Temo Greko (born in Korça in 1964), based in Vancouver; Lui Shtini (born in Kavaja in 1978), based in New York; and painter and visual artist Anila Rubiku (born in 1970 in Durrës), who lives between Canada, Italy and Albania. But Milan and Italy are home to the largest colony of Albanian artists: the painter Iva Lulashi (b. 1988, Tirana), the sculptor, photographer and video artist Adrian Paci (b. 1969, Shkodra), the painter and visual artist Artan Shalsi (b. 1970, Berat), who lives in Parma, and the sculptor and designer Helidon Xhixha (b. 1970, Durrës), who divides his time between Milan and Dubai. The latter is one of the few current artists whose work can be seen in Tirana: the sparkling stainless steel sculpture Big Bang (2021), which stands in front of the national stadium. A number of temporary exhibitions are also held in Tirana, at the National Art Gallery and 4 small private galleries: FAB(facebook.com/100063511122522), Kalo(facebook.com/galeriakalo), E. Rira(galeriarira.com) and Zeta(qendrazeta.com).
