25 MARCH – 8 JUNE
Author: Ivana Bašičević Antić, PhD
The retrospective exhibition of artworks by Ilija Bašičević Bosilj, a modern autodidact, titled Bosilj: The Triumph of Art presents a selection of nearly a hundred of his artworks from numerous museum and private collections, many of which will be unveiled for the first time. The introduction to the exhibition consists of texts by distinguished members of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, which are to introduce to the public the artist’s opus which has defied conventional categorization for decades.
Ilija Bosilj was born in Šid in 1895. He went to school with Sava Šumanović whose decision to dedicate himself to painting considerably impacted Bosilj. During the Second World War, he spent some time in Vienna where he encountered the works of Gustav Klimt. He produced his first gouaches and drawings in 1957, and the next year he transitioned to oil painting. He painted until his death having developed a visual language that expressed his extremely personal philosophy. He left behind a body of work comprising over 200 paintings. During his life, he had his works exhibited across the globe, and his first solo exhibition in the USA was held in 2006. The London-based magazine Raw Vision listed him among 50 classic art brut artists. His works are exhibited in numerous museums and private collections. He passed away in 1972 in Šid.
The exhibition offers a perspective on how to apply contemporary views of the theory of art on the positioning of Ilija Bosilj’s painting in domestic art history and the way to approach the relevant understanding of his opus. Starting with interpretations offered by the members of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, the exhibition Ilija Bosilj: Triumph of Art contains an overview of various phases of the artist’s work, beginning with early phases to the mature period with particular attention being paid to the painting in front of a committee which represents an act of incomparable contesting of an artist’s authorship previously unheard of. In addition to presenting works that have remained largely unknown to the public, the segment making this exhibition exclusive is the first exhibition set up of a long-present thesis in the history of art on Art Informel and Ilija Bosilj’s art connections. The exhibition concludes with a dialogue between Ilija Bosilj and Raša Todosijević’s opuses, who honoured his predecessor through the ’Ilija in the Sky’ series.
The exhibition is accompanied by a selection of documentary and video material, a film about Ilija Bosilj produced by Centrofilm Belgrade, and a bilingual catalogue published by SASA.