Modernism in the Artworks from the Gallery of Matica Srpska’
23 December 2021 – 20 March 2022
Author: Tijana Palkovljević Bugarski, PhD
The Gallery of Matica Srpska from Novi Sad is a national gallery of a complex and long history in possession of one of the most splendid collections of the Serbian fine arts of the more recent times. From its foundation in Pest in 1847 to its relocation to Novi Sad in 1864, and opening to the public in 1933, it officially started working independently in 1958, when it relocated to its own building where it has been situated ever since. In addition to acquisition, study, protection and presentation, one of the main tasks, since the very beginning, has been the establishment of inter-institutional cooperation. Thus, the idea for the exhibition ’Collection as a Mirror – Modernism in the Artworks from the Gallery of Matica Srpska’ was born. Desiring to present the best from our collection through the selection of the most representative artworks of the national art and the most eminent creators, we have compiled an overview of thematic and stylistic achievements of an epoch, observed through a unique history of the institution and its role in social and art circumstances.
Unburdened by the conventional chronological framework, the exhibition features not just the modernism of the first half of the 20th century, but its predecessors and role models found in the works of painters who were active in the last decades of the 19th century. It explores the beginning of modernistic ideas in the artworks of well-known painters such as Djordje Krstić, Uros Predić and Paja Jovanović, educated on the ideas of realism but ready to embark upon new thematic and artistic approaches. The artists active at the turn of the century, educated at the Belgrade Art School and various European centres, come next. Despite difficult historical circumstances, they readily accepted the challenges of contemporary artistic practice and created authentic artworks. This is the generation of Nadežda Petrović, Stevan Aleksić, Danica Jovanović and Milan Milovanović. Finally, there are the ones who can be considered the main figures of inter-war modernism: Petar Dobrović, Sava Šumanović, Milan Konjović, Milenko Šerban and Bogdan Šuput.
This selection of artworks reflects not only the Serbian art scene, but the role of Matica Srpska and its Gallery in the Serbian culture and development of art, and it mirrors the constitution of the Museum’s collection, artists’ engagement in the work of Matica Srpska, setting up the permanent exhibitions and the influence it all wielded on the contemporary art scene. It is for this reason that the exhibition ’Collection as a Mirror – Modernism in the Artworks from the Gallery of Matica Srpska’ can be interpreted both as a potential overview of Serbian Modernism and as a reflection of the society and times in which it was created.
NUMBER OF VISITORS: 40.774
EXHIBITION RECORDING
VIRTUAL TOUR
