Lecture series ‘Poleksija Todorović: Person and Work’

The Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts has launched the series titled ‘Serbian Women Artists of the 19th and 20th Centuries (The Period of Establishment)’.

The programme will feature a lecture titled ‘Poleksija Todorović – Person and Work’, which is to be delivered by SASA Corresponding Member Igor Borozan on Wednesday, 11 March, at the SASA Grand Hall, at 12 o’clock.

In Serbian art historiography, the work of painter and cultural figure Stevan Todorović has been thoroughly studied. However, Poleksija Todorović’s work, his wife’s work, has remained mostly unknown. She did not have access to formal academic education, as women were not permitted to study at major European art academies at the time, which, to a certain extent, confined her artistic expression to portraiture. However, her training with the painter Jovan Deroko, followed by further instruction at Stevan Todorović’s school, along with her undeniable talent, was enough for her to secure a prominent place in Serbian cultural life, particularly in portraiture and church painting. Together with her husband, she also participated — often as a model — in the creation of church compositions and historical scenes, highlighting the collaborative dimension of their artistic practice.

Poleksija Todorović’s public engagement is further evidenced by her participation in significant group exhibitions, including the International Exhibition in Rome in 1911, which had a considerable impact on contemporary art criticism. Her fifteen-year tenure as a drawing instructor at the Higher Women’s School also contributed substantially to the education of young women during the formative period of women’s emancipation in late 19th-century Serbian society.