European Contexts of the 20Th
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EUROPEAN CONTEXTS OF THE 20TH CENTURY ART IN VOJVODINA The Museum of Contemporary Art Vojvodina, Novi Sad, 2008 Book Concept: Miško Šuvaković i Dragomir Ugren Editors: Miško Šuvaković i Dragomir Ugren Editorial Staff: Živko Grozdanić, Ješa Denegri, Vladimir Mitrović, Miško Šuvaković i Dragomir Ugren Authors: Marija Cindori, Ješa Denegri, Nevena Daković, Nikola Dedić, Milica Doroški, Sanja Kojić Mladenov, Slo- bodan Ivkov, Olga Kovačev Ninkov, Kristian Lukić, Jelena Matić, Nebojša Milenković, Vladimir Mitrović, Miroslav Mušić, Ferenc Nemet, Gordana Nikolić, Tijana Palkovljević, Lidija Prišing, Milica Radulović, Miško Šuvaković, Slađana Varagić, Ana Vilenica, Suzana Vuksanović Original text selection: Miško Šuvaković Review: dr Aleksandar Ignjatović i dr Nikola Šuica TABLE OF CONTENTS: Vojvodinian Art Space 7 Ješa Denegri The 20th Century Art in Vojvodina: Contradictions and Hybrid Characteristics of the 20th Century Art in Vojvodina 13 Miško Šuvaković Ješa Denegri Vojvodinian artistic space It should be said at the very beginning that the use and the sults, in a �ord – their o�n opuses, artists as unique personali� advocation of terms such as “Vojvodinian art”, “art in Vojvo� ties – every�here, and in Vojvodina as �ell – represent the ey dina”, “Vojvodinian art scene”, “Vojvodinian artistic space”, indicator of artistic processes and artistic values. Only from an “Vojvodinian visual arts space” and ������������������������of ���������������������similar ones does not a posteriori understanding of these processes and values, and have any connotations relating to everyday politics, particularly not from an a priori constructed model of its supposed charac� those coming from the �����������������������������������standpoints������������������������ of “autonomy” or “seces� teristic qualities, can realistic insight into the identity of each sion” from the Serbian or Belgrade artistic situation, nor does separate cultural and artistic environment ensue.1 it intend to ����������������������������suggest��������������������� the relationship bet���������������������een the “margin” and Comprehensive, diverse and indispensable material for the the “������������center������” from ����������������������������������������hich this supposed margin tries to brea ����free understanding of the genesis and the developmental currents and separate. Contemporary pluralism�based history o���������f������� modern of different language modalities and ideological standpoints art gladly discusses “comparative histories”, “parallel narratives”, �ithin the modern/contemporary art in Vojvodina �as col� “separate �orlds”, “equal�footed developments”, and each of lected and analysed in the catalogues to the follo�ing e�hibi� these (histories, narratives, �orlds or developments) in such a tions: Slikarstvo u Vojvodini ���������1900-1944 (Painting in Vojvodina frame�or has its o�wn������������� speci�����������c features. ���������������������othing else and noth� 1900-1944)2, Likovna umetnost u Vojvodini 1944-195� (Visual ing more is required from the artistic issues and artistic produc� Arts in Vojvodina 1944-195�)3, Slikarstvo u Vojvodini 1955� tion ���������������������������������������������������������that����������������������������������������������������� originate in the geographical and cultural sphere of 1972 (Painting in Vojvodina 1955-1972)4, Skulptura u Vojvodini Vojvodina, only that they are recognized and appreciated – by (Sculpture in Vojvodina)5, Grafika u Vojvodini (Graphic Arts in themselves and by others – as specic, unique, different, in other Vojvodina)6, Grupa KÔD (∃�KÔD (The Group “Code”, (“ ∃”,“∃� �ords, as an artistic situation ��������������������������������independent��������������������� and equal to all oth� Code”) 7, Aktuelnosti u slikarstvu Vojvodine 1973-1993 (Current ers both in principle and in its starting point, �ithin the �idest Issues in the Painting of Vojvodina 1973-1993)8, Centralnoevrop� possible present�day global �����������������������and�������������������� multicultural conte���t. ski aspekti vojvođanskih avangardi 1920-2000 (Central Euro� To discuss the specic qualities of modern/contemporary pean ��������������������������������Aspects������������������������� of the Vojvodinian Avant������Garde)9, ���and Fatalne Vojvodinian art does not mean to discuss its predened or devedesete (Fatal Nineties)10, all of them organized by the ���al� predetermined identity (�hich �as once ����������������������believed�������������� to respond to lery������������������������������������������� of Contemporary Visual Arts, later �������renamed ���������useum of “lo�land painting” or the “landscape of plains”, in the sense of Contemporary Art of Vojvodina in �ovi Sad. ��������������umerous������ other the imperative of “rootedness in homeland”), nor should one solo, monographic and ���������������retrospective�� e���������������������hibitions of leading insist on the particular qualities that arise from different ethnic protagonists of the Vojvodinian art scene represent another communities, their traditions and mentalities, �hich indeed are source of this ���������������material�������, along �����������������������������ith a number of thematic and characteristic of Vojvodina’s multinational, social and cultural authorial critical e�hibitions, but the data on these �ould be conguration. For, �hen modern and contemporary art are con� simply impossible to quote here. cerned, differences bet�een one �����������������������������environment������������������ and another origi� Any future ����������������������������������historicization������������������� of artistic events ����������ithin the nate primarily in the individual traits of the artists themselves as geographical and cultural ���������������������������������space���������������������������� of Vojvodina must tae into the indisputable ����������������������������protagonists���������������� of the artistic ������orld, ��������������hose artistic account all of this material provided by art history, and even proles, the �ays in �hich they are formed and the problem��������s from the most �����super�������������������������������������������cial��������������������������������������� of insights into these events a ������conclu� they deal �ith in their �or are al�ays signicantly and e�clu� sion����������������������������� unavoidably suggests itself: �����������������������������hat is at hand is a rich and sively individual, simply because in �����������������������modern����������������� and contemporary fertile����������������������������������������������������������� continuity of artistic life, lasting over a ��������������hundred������� years, art only as such, individual, can they ever e�ist. �ith an array of generations of artists during this period, and Artists from several consecutive generations, �ith their each of these generations �������������������������������internalized������������������� current artistic e�����peri� o�n characteristics and personal obsessions, challenges, re� ences in their closer or �ider ��������������������������environment���������������, in accordance ����ith 7 the possibilities and circumstance�����������������������������������������s���������������������������� of the given historical con� practices in several Vojvodinian to�ns �ere, in places recently te�t, and performed its o�n creative undertaings. E�actly in torn from ������������������������������������������������oblivion���������������������������������������� and illuminated to the smallest details these���������������������������������������������������������� undertaings lies the origin of the entire issue of Vojvo������ o�ing to e�tensive historiographic research.11 Based on this dinian������������������������������������������ art or art in Vojvodina throughout the ��20th century. research���, a���������������������������er more than seven decades, ���������������������hat surfaces is an e���� The prevailing stereotype concerning modern art in Vojvo� citing �����������������������������������������������������atmosphere������������������������������������������� spared by the publication of the magazine dina is the model of art that e�ists in a small multinational and Ut in �ovi Sad bet�een 1922 and 1925, pervading the ��������matinees multicultural environment, in �hich this art comes to life at in �ovi Sad (held to mar the publication of the rst issue of the ����������������������������intersection���������������� of different in�������������������������������uences that originate in larger Ut on 1st April 1922), and in Subotica (9th ������������������ovember���������� 1922), in neighboring������������������ sources. These inuences�������������������������� initially came from Velii Bečere, and perhaps in Sombor and Srbobran (there ��is �unich and Budapest, their sources then transferred to Zagreb no reliable data about the ������last�� t�o).������������������������������� All of these can be seen as and Belgrade as center���������������������s�������������� of education, �������������������������here Vojvodinian artists an integral part of the spiritual climate and ������������������public������������ appearances stayed for shorter or longer periods an�����d�� e��������������hibited their �����or, by the representatives of the Hungarian activist and Dadaist �hile all of these inuences in fact shared the common root in movement, led by Lajos �assa and Sandor Bart. the e�periences of �������������������������visual������������������� arts aesthetics