Every donated collection is a window into a life lived. This year, the Gallery of Matica Srpska is delighted to open the doors to the intimate world of the renowned Novi Sad physician Dr Marija Mara Ognjanovi\u0107. Through this unique collection, which has now become a permanent part of our cultural heritage, we discover her private life, everyday world, and artistic taste.<\/p>\n
The opening of the exhibition <\/strong>Gift-Collection of Mara Ognjanovi\u0107<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0will take place on Saturday, 19 September at 7 p.m.<\/strong> The guests will be addressed by Dr Tijana Palkovljevi\u0107 Bugarski<\/strong>, Director of the Gallery of Matica Srpska, Marina Mandi\u0107<\/strong>, a major benefactor of the Gallery, and MSc Nikola Ivanovi\u0107<\/strong>, curator of the exhibition.<\/p>\n The exhibition presents the legacy of Dr Mara Ognjanovi\u0107 through objects that reflect the different layers of her life \u2013 from works of art, portraits, and family photographs, to furniture and objects of applied art, as well as personal belongings associated with her medical profession. The exhibition is conceived as a portrait of a woman told through her home, the people who shaped her life, the city in which she lived, and the profession to which she was devoted.<\/p>\n A special place in the exhibition is given to the works of \u0110or\u0111e Tabakovi\u0107, with whom Mara Ognjanovi\u0107 was on friendly terms. His watercolours and drawings depict places in her immediate surroundings \u2013 Trifkovi\u0107 Square, the streets of Novi Sad, and the Ognjanovi\u0107 family home. The dedications \u201cTo dear Mara\u201d reveal the personal nature of these works and bear witness to the close bond between the physician and the artist, as well as to the civic milieu that shaped the Novi Sad of their time.<\/p>\n Visitors will also have the opportunity to see a portrait of Mara Ognjanovi\u0107 painted in 1974 by Jovan Sevdi\u0107, a painter and the first post-war conservator of the Gallery of Matica Srpska, as well as objects of applied art, including a bowl designed by Ren\u00e9 Lalique.<\/p>\n The value and significance of this donated collection for the Gallery of Matica Srpska\u2019s holdings and for the national cultural heritage are further demonstrated by the fact that one of the works from the collection, The Virgin and Child<\/em>, is on display in the Gallery\u2019s permanent collection. Ivan Tabakovi\u0107\u2019s Artistice<\/em> from 1936 is currently included in the exhibition Hidden Spaces of Great Masters: The Studios of Serbian Artists<\/em>, which is on view at the Museum of Herzegovina in Trebinje and will subsequently be presented at the Museum of Contemporary Art of the Republic of Srpska in Banja Luka from November.<\/p>\n Dr Marija Mara Ognjanovi\u0107 (Kumane, 1912 \u2013 Novi Sad, 1990) was a physician, senior consultant, and specialist in phthisiology \u2013 the medical field devoted to the prevention and treatment of tuberculosis. She graduated from the Faculty of Medicine in Belgrade in 1936, specialised in Budapest, and furthered her training at the Children\u2019s Hospital in Zurich. She devoted most of her medical career to the health of children and young people.<\/p>\n During the Second World War, together with her husband, Dr \u0110or\u0111e Ognjanovi\u0107, she was part of a medical team sent to the S\u00e1rv\u00e1r internment camp. After the liberation, she continued working in Novi Sad healthcare institutions, where through her professional and scientific work she contributed to the prevention and treatment of tuberculosis and to the advancement of healthcare for children and young people. Known to her patients and colleagues as Aunt Mara, she received the October Award of the City of Novi Sad in 1977 for her many years of dedicated work.<\/p>\n The donated collection thus becomes more than a collection of preserved objects. It offers an opportunity to explore the private world of Dr Mara Ognjanovi\u0107 through the material traces of her life \u2013 her home on Trifkovi\u0107 Square, her relationships with the people around her, and the time in which she lived. Every object has a story of its own, and every story preserves the trace of a life.<\/strong><\/p>\n The exhibition will be on view until 22 November 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Every donated collection is a window into a life lived. This year, the Gallery of Matica Srpska is delighted to open the doors to the intimate world of the renowned Novi Sad physician Dr Marija Mara Ognjanovi\u0107. Through this unique collection, which has now become a permanent part of our cultural heritage, we discover her<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17223,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[],"mec_category":[76],"class_list":["post-17229","mec-events","type-mec-events","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","mec_category-exhibitions"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n