Marking the 100^th Anniversary of Academician Vojislav J. Đurić’s Birth

A ceremonial session in honour of the centenary of the birth of Academician Vojislav J. Đurić was held on Monday, 8 December, at the SASA Grand Hall.

Vojislav J. Đurić (b. Velika Pisanica near Bjelovar on 26 February 1925 – d. Belgrade on 12 May 1996) was one of the foremost Serbian and Yugoslav art historians. He completed his secondary education in Vukovar, Sremska Mitrovica and Belgrade, graduating in 1944. He joined the  People’s Liberation Front in September of the same year. Following the end of the Second World War, he enrolled in the art history studies at the Faculty of Philosophy, where he received his Bachelor’s Degree in 1949. In 1948, during his studies, he started working as a part-time assistant at the Department of Recent Yugoslav Art of the National Museum in Belgrade.

He was appointed assistant at the Department of Art History at the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade in 1950. He pursued specialised training in Paris at École des Hautes Études and the Collège de France, under the supervision of Professor Andre Grabar in the 1953-54 academic year. In December 1956, he defended his doctoral thesis titled ’The Dubrovnik Painting School’ at the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade. The following year, he was appointed assistant professor at his alma mater for the course Yugoslav Art – Medieval Times. He was promoted to associate professor in 1962 and to full professor in 1967.

He was elected a corresponding member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts in 1970 and its full member in 1978. In the period between 1979 and 1981, he served as the secretary of the Department of Historical Sciences. He was also the president of the SASA Chilandar Board (from 1978) and the Art History board (from 1977 to 1983). Furthermore, he was a member of the SASA Presidency from 1989.

For a number of years, he was a member of the Managing Board and vice-president of the Serbian Literary Guild. Additionally, he was a long-term associate of the Matica Srpska’s Department for Fine Arts, as well as a member of its Managing Board.

His field of study comprises the study of medieval art related to the Byzantine cultural sphere across the territories of former Yugoslavia. Among his extensive body of works, a particular landmark is his study ’Byzantine Frescoes in Yugoslavia’, published in 1974.

He edited journals Zograf and Hilandarski zbornik SANU for many years, greatly contributing to high scholarly standards and international standing of these publications.

He was the recipient of numerous awards and distinctions, including the October Prize of the City of Belgrade (1964), the Herder Prize (1982), the 7th July Award of Serbia (1985), the Order of Merits to the People with Silver Rays (1964), and the Labour Day Order with the Red Star (1988).

Through his scholarly and pedagogical work, he left an indelible mark on the study of national medieval art.