Emergence of painting
The painting of religious icons is one of the oldest arts in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Painted on wooden panels, they are intended for the Orthodox churches, numerous in these regions.
The creation of sacred images appears in the Greek-Byzantine culture. The stylistic canons of the icon endure for many centuries in the Christian world. The icon is widely spread in the Balkans. Heir to the art of the mosaic, these paintings take up the characteristics: the figures of face, represented by flat, the stiff draperies, naturalism and rich palette.
A place of worship since the sixth century, theChurch of the Archangels Michael and Gabriel in Sarajevo houses an iconostasis (a vast wall of icons) in an excellent state of preservation.
Modern times
Bosnia, though landlocked, received all the European currents. To follow the emergence of the national cultural identity, the National Gallery of Bosnia-Herzegovina in Sarajevo presents, in permanent exhibition, three centuries of painting in Bosnia. The Museum of Contemporary Art of the Serbian Republic in Banja Luka focuses on early contemporary masters.
Gabriel Jurkić (1886-1974) is the most important representative of the Modern Art movement. Born in Livno, Gabriel Jurkić studied painting in Zagreb and then in Vienna. He painted very early in a pointillist process, inspired by the doctrine of Georges Seurat. In the course of his career, he tried his hand at all genres, from portraiture to monumental landscapes, and tended more and more towards impressionism, particularly German impressionism. His paintings from the 1920s are worth seeing: Under a Parasol (1919), The Return of the Herd (1920), and a series of motifs on the Neretva and the Adriatic coastline (some of which can be seen in Sarajevo). His work can be seen in the Franciscan Museum and Gallery Gorica located in the monastery of Gorica where the artist lived the last eighteen years of his life. Various facets of his work are presented there, including his winter landscapes.
The monks have assembled a formidable collection of contemporary art here, much more interesting than the gallery of 19th century paintings.
The influence of Cézanne
Precursor of cubism and post-impressionist art, the Frenchman Paul Cézanne exerts a strong influence on the Bosnian avant-garde.
Petar Tiješić (1888-1978), contemporary of Gabriel Jurkić, is one of the founders of contemporary Bosnian painting, influenced by Cézanne. The work on color is an important mark of this otherwise prolific impressionist artist. An insatiable researcher, he then turned to cubism according to the motifs and we find in most of his paintings various influences but often French and Parisian. This does not prevent him from being considered, for his landscapes, as THE painter of Bosnia, whose light he renders like no other.
Similarly, Roman Petrović (1896-1947) is an admirer of Cézanne. Painter of the avant-garde, he marked the artistic life of the interwar period. The Association of Artists of Bosnia and Herzegovina gives his name to his gallery, opened in 1980. Galerija Roman Petrović in Sarajevo remains a mecca for contemporary art and photography.
The solitary Behaudin Selmanović (1915-1971) also had a period inspired by Cézanne. Later, he turned to a realistic art with expressive colors.
One of the few female painters of this period, Mica Todorović (1900-1981) was also inspired by Cézanne. In the 1930s, her painting is socially engaged. This is followed by an intimist and then realistic period. Then, influenced by the Yugoslav Communist Party, she founded the Collegium Artisticum, an exhibition space still active in Sarajevo. Her career is more militant than most other painters, and her paintings are often more urban.
The expressionism of Lazar Drljaca
Like many of his contemporaries, Lazar Drljaca (1882-1970) enrolled at the Vienna School of Fine Arts. In 1911, he was invited to exhibit at the International Exhibition in Rome. The same year, he moved to Paris and copied the works of the great masters in the Louvre.
Upon his return in 1914, he temporarily gave up painting to travel. In the 1930s, he participated in several exhibitions in Mostar; his inspiration had returned. But a tragedy occurred in 1943: a fire destroyed many of his drawings and paintings. Overwhelmed, his already fragile health deteriorated. He remained in the mountains for twenty years, leaving only for health reasons in 1959. In doing so, he practiced a variety of manual trades. The year 1962 marks his consecration with the individual exhibition organized in Mostar to celebrate his 80th birthday. Known for his cantankerous temperament, he tried to oppose the event. He felt he had nothing to show. However, his powerful and varied work imposes him as a figure of the Bosnian art.
Committed painters
Vojo Dimitrijević (1910-1980) is the unclassifiable of the Bosnian painting, because influenced by no school. Born in Sarajevo, this avant-gardist is distinguished by a strong social and anti-fascist commitment. It is naturally that he gets closer to German expressionism. After the war, he painted objective realities in an expressionist manner and then, after having passed through the monumental and heroic style (communism, no doubt), he turned to Fauvism, which everyone else had abandoned. His paintings are then very complex and symbolic.
Social themes are also at the heart of the approach of Daniel Ozmo (1912-1942), a painter of Jewish faith born in Olovo. In Belgrade, where he continued his studies, Ozmo joined the Communist Youth Party. Ozmo focused on representing rural life and the daily life of the working class. Deported to the Jasenovac concentration camp, the artist ran a "ceramics" workshop that produced propaganda works. He was executed in 1942.
Among the politically committed painters, Mario Mikulić (1924-1991) is also a caricaturist. A portrait specialist, he became almost an official Communist painter when he painted Tito.
Sculpture
Contemporary sculpture from Bosnia and Herzegovina is represented by 3 great names.
Arfan Hozić (1928-1991). Alternately professor of applied arts and director of the National Art Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina, he is distinguished by works more inspired by painting. From social realism to the avant-garde, he became an artist of the "middle" by returning to the country after his studies in Belgrade. He began by working with wood, shaping polished nudes before adopting stone. His references are then Rodin and Maillol. He then realized imaginary portraits and monumental works. Prolific, he was compared to Giacometti for his bronzes and then to Brancusi for his artificial stones. We owe him in particular the monument of Smetovi, near Zenica (Central Bosnia).
His contemporary Boško Kućanski (1931-2016), originally from Krbavica in Croatia, had a long career. He produced more than 3,000 sculptures, drawings and paintings during his lifetime. This jack-of-all-trades studied medicine, fine arts and philosophy before visiting Europe and the United States. His unusual path, during the era of socialist realism, allowed him to find his own way from the beginning by destroying and transforming forms to achieve a unique modern sculpture. He combines wood, stone and clay to create metaphorical instruments that address the subconscious and spiritual energy. His art remains above all rooted in the Balkans and its history. The remains of his Monument to the Battle of the Wounded (The Fist of the Poet) have stood since 1978 in Makljen, the work having been partially destroyed in 2000.
Drago Handanović was born in 1939 in Ostrožac, near Bihać. He moved to Doboj (Central Bosnia) where he opened his workshop and built several monuments. From 1989 to 1992, he taught ceramics and technology in the ceramics department at the School of Applied Arts in Sarajevo and was a member of the International Academy of Ceramics (AICA). In this field, his search for modern forms brings him closer to abstract sculpture. Several of his ceramics are exhibited at the Regional Museum in Doboj.
Contemporary
Since the war of the 1990s, in a climate that is not very favorable, a handful of artists have been trying to push back the limits. All new modes of expression, in the graphic arts in particular, are being experimented with. Zoran Banović, born in 1966 in Prijedor, proposes a new sensibility, centered on a freer and more direct approach to graphic design. Ars Aevi, the museum of contemporary art located in Sarajevo, became the emblem of cultural resistance. Founded in 1992, it brings together world-renowned artists, including Michelangelo Pistoletto, Anish Kapoor and Joseph Beuys.
Safet Zec, probably the most famous artist of the 1990s, moved to Venice in 1992. For a long time, he lived and exhibited between Sarajevo, Italy and Paris. Born in 1943 in Rogatica, he became the figurehead of "poetic realism". His immense canvas Descent from the Cross, painted for the sacristy of the Church of Jesus in Rome, was even blessed by Pope Francis.
The painter Mersad Berber has become famous by joining the collection of the Tate Gallery. Born in 1940 in Zagreb, he teaches at the Sarajevo Fine Arts School. His complex cycles of historical paintings appeal to collectors around the world.
Street Art
In Sarajevo, graffiti artists are fighting an intense battle to ensure their promotion in the public space. Techniques borrowed from marketing are applied to artistic creation, in order to make themselves known to the public. This pictorial practice "punch", which sometimes invades a whole street, in force, took the name of guerrilla art.
Thus, street installations have been developing since the war. The one that made history, Sarajevo's Red Line, covered Maršal Tito Street in 2012. The Red Lign consisted of chairs and war posters.
Sports fans express themselves on the walls, including Ultras, amateur painters with a passion for soccer. Another theme present, the paintings that pay tribute to the victims of war are deployed on abandoned walls.
As you walk around, have fun spotting the Mr. Chat: originally from Orleans, the big yellow cat appears a dozen times in the streets of the capital!
Lovers of outdoor art should not miss the Sarajevo Street Art Festival. During three days, every year in July, concerts accompany the realization of collective frescos. Unique in this part of Europe, the Beton Fest celebrates street art in 3D. All the big names in public art meet in Sarajevo!
