COLLECTION AS A MIRROR
Modernism in artworks from the Gallery of Matica srpska
After Ljubljana, Belgrade and Banja Luka, the Gallery of Matica Srpska and Art Gallery “Nadežda Petrović” present to the Čačak audience an exhibition COLLECTION AS A MIRROR. Modernism in artworks from the Gallery of Matica srpska. The exhibition displays 82 artworks – 72 paintings, 7 sculptures and 3 graphic prints – and illustrates not only the modernisms of the first half of the 20th century, but also their predecessors and role models, found in the work of painters who were creating art during last decades of the 19th century. It searches for the origins of modernist ideas in the works of renowned artists such as Đorđe Krstić, Uroš Predić and Paja Jovanović, whose education was based on realism but who were ready to embrace new thematic and artistic approaches. Then come artists who were active at the turn of the century, educated at the Art School in Belgrade and in various European art centers. Despite difficult historical circumstances, they readily embraced challenges of contemporary art practice and created authentic works. Artists such as Nadežda Petrović, Stevan Aleksić, Danica Jovanović and Milan Milovanović are part of that generation. Lastly, we also find those artists who can be considered the main protagonists of modernity between the two world wars: Petar Dobrović, Sava Šumanović, Milan Konjović, Milenko Šerban and Bogdan Šuput.
This selection of artworks depicts not only the Serbian art scene, but also the role Matica Srpska and its Gallery had in Serbian culture and the development of painting, it follows the creation process of the Museum’s collection, engaging artists in work of Matica Srpska, the formation of permanent exhibitions and the influence it all had on the contemporary art scene. Therefore, the exhibition “Collection as a Mirror. Modernism in Artworks from the Gallery of Matica Srpska” can be regarded not only as a potential overview of the art of Serbian modernism, but as a mirror reflection of the society and the time in which it was created as well.
The exhibition Collection as a mirror has a special significance because it is realized in the year of commemorating the 175th anniversary of the establishment of the Gallery of Matica srpska as well as the year of Čačak as a National Capital of Culture.
The author of the exhibition and the eponumous catalog is Tijana Palkovljević Bugarski, PhD. The associates are Jelena Ognjanović from GMS and Marija Radisavčević from Art Gallery “Nadežda Petrović”, as well as the conservation and technical teams of both galleries.
The realization of the exhibition and the catalog was supported by the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Serbia and the City of Čačak.
