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George Grosz and Croatian Art Between the Two World Wars Lovorka Magaš, Petar Prelog

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George Grosz and Croatian Art Between the Two World Wars Lovorka Magaš, Petar Prelog RIHA Journal 0031 | 7 November 2011 George Grosz and Croatian Art between the Two World Wars Lovorka Magaš, Petar Prelog Originally published in Croatian !in a slightly di""erent version) as$ "Nekoliko aspekata utjecaja eor!ea rosza na #rvatsku umjetnost i"me$u %va svjetska rata&' in( Radovi Instituta za povijest umjetnosti 33 )200*+' 227,2-0. Translation initiated by$ Institut "a povijest umjetnosti / Institute o0 Art Histor1' Za!reb Abstra%t The paper analyses the key aspects of George Grosz's influence on Croatian art between the two World Wars. A number of artists, especially the members of the association eml!a, considered Grosz to be an author of similar ideological belief, who ad"ocated an acti"e role of art in society. Grosz's standpoints thus indirectly influenced the formation of the o"erall cultural atmosphere, marked by the polarization of the entire artistic scene. The artist became one of the key reference points and a figure cited by those who e#erted a crucial influence on the formation of Croatian artistic scene between the two World Wars $ the writer and one of the most prominent intellectuals %iroslav &rle'a and "isual artists &rsto (egeduši* and +!ubo ,abić. The paper also addresses the circumstances regarding the organization of Grosz's solo e#hibition in agreb in -./0, along with an analysis of the reception of his work among Croatian art critics. 1-2 The role and importance of the painter and graphic artist George Grosz 3-4./5-.678 has already been firmly determined in art history as particularly significant in the key artistic turmoil of the first half of the twentieth century.- As one of the most influential personalities of a"ant5garde mo"ements of the period, Grosz participated in the formation of inno"ati"e stylistic and "isual approaches and techni9ues. :n the other hand, his o"erall acti"ity $ as artist and theorist $ displayed the full strength of the influence of ideological discourses on artistic practices. In that sense, any attempt to e#amine his intriguing life and comple# oeu"re $ which pro"ides an e#hausti"e, in5depth picture of the di"ided German society in the period between the end of World War I and (itler's accession to power $ offers a myriad of different perspecti"es and interpretati"e possibilities. 102 In many aspects, the case of George Grosz and his influence on Croatian art differed from the influence of other artists who played a crucial role in the de"elopment of Croatian modernism. %anet's and C<zanne's work appealed to Croatian artists in certain aspects of composition and modelling. =uch reflection of the "ital points of modernism in painting has pro"en to be a crucial paradigm on the path towards the understanding of a painting as an autonomous "isual fact. (owe"er, Grosz's influence was not limited solely to the formal aspect, which implies the acceptance of particular elements of "isual - George Grosz and his work ha"e been the sub!ect of numerous monographic studies, e#hibitions and scholarly papers. =ee editions with selected rele"ant bibliography> (ans (ess, George Grosz, London -.?@A Bwe %. =chneede, George Grosz. Der Künstler in seiner Gesellschaft, &Cln -.?6A George Grosz: Berlin – New York, e#h. cat., ,erlin-Düsseldorf -..@A The Berlin of George Grosz: Drawings, Watercolours and !rints, "#"$%"#&', ed. Frank Whitford, e#h. cat., Gew (a"en-London -..?. This text is provided under the terms of the Creative Commons License 55,78,NC-ND 3.0. RIHA Journal 0031 | 7 November 2011 syntaxA there is hardly any e"idence of literal adoption of Grosz's style in the work of Croatian artists. Gonetheless, affinities on a formal le"el indisputably e#ist and bear significance. Croatian art history was prone to assign them primarily to the inclination towards the Hprimiti"eH, in the conte#t of the formation of the elements of Neue (achlichkeit as a reaction to I#pressionism and its influence on the de"elopments in Croatian art.0 The influence of Grosz's "iews and artistic production on Croatian art between the two World Wars, discussed and interpreted in this paper, was by no means uni"ocal, but can be discerned and analysed on se"eral le"els. The most prominent is certainly the ideological le"el> a number of Croatian artists acti"e in the interwar period, especially those belonging to the Association of Artists eml!a 3Bdru'en!e um!etnika eml!a),/ saw Grosz as an artist of similar ideological beliefs who, through analogous "isual language, ad"ocated an acti"e role of art in society. Thus Grosz's standpoints indirectly affected the formation of the o"erall cultural atmosphere, marked by the polarization of the entire artistic scene. In that sense, through fre9uent referral to Grosz, Croatian art criticism also stepped forward to new modes of interpreting a work of art. Furthermore, an ade9uate reception of Grosz's work, especially his graphic oeu"re, made a significant contribution to the recognition of graphic art as an essential medium of social art. (ence the artist became one of the key reference points and a figure cited by those who e#erted a crucial influence on the formation of Croatian artistic scene between the two World Wars $ the writer %irosla" &rle'a and "isual artists &rsto (egeduši* and 0 Croatian art history has referred to Grosz mainly in the conte#t of ideological and formal aspects which marked the work of the protagonists of the Association of Artists emlja. Cf. Josip Depolo, H emlja -.0.5-./6H, in: Nadrealizam. (ocijalna umetnost. "#$#%"#+', e#h. cat., ,eograd -.K., /K567A ,o'idar Gagro, H emlja naspram e"ropske umjetnosti izmeLu d"a rata", in: ,i-ot um*etnosti --M-0 3-.?78, 065/0A ;gor idi*, H=likarst"o, grafika, crte'H, in: Kriti.ka retros/ekti-a 0e)lja, e#h. cat., agreb -.?-, --5-4A ;"anka Neberski, 1ealiz)i -adesetih go ina u hr-atsko) slikarst-u: )agi.no, klasi.no, o2*ekti-no, agreb -..?, @.560. Oarticular elements of influence ha"e been sought for and identified in works of art preceding and not related to the artistic circle around the emlja Association. Thus, for e#ample, certain elements of spatial organization and simplified rendering of singular figures in %ili"o! Bzelac's painting (elf%/ortrait in front of a 2ar 3-.0/8 can, according to "onko %ako"i*, be associated with the work of George Grosz. Cf. "onko %ako"i*, H%ili"o! Bzelac> Autoportret u baru", in: "$+ -rhunskih *ela hr-atske u)jetnosti, e#h. cat., agreb -..K, ?0. :n Grosz's influence on Bzelac's drawings and illustrations see also Frano Dulibi*, HErotski crte'i i grafike %ili"oja Bzelca 3-.-?$-.07.8H, in: !eristil @@ 3077-8, ---5--0. Jasna Galjer ga"e an analysis of the reception of Grosz's work in the conte#t of the Hclash on the leftH> Jasna Galjer, Liko-na kritika u 4r-atskoj "565– "#+", agreb 0777, 00450/.. / Association of Artists emlja 3-.0.5-./68 was one of key artistic groups in the history of Croatian modern art, a collecti"e and organized phenomenon of left5wing political orientation and pronouncedly socially engaged moti"ation. Through firmly set programmatic goals and clearly formulated manifesto, it brought together painters, sculptors and architects. ;ts acti"ities were concentrated on changing the dominant social "alues and criticism of contemporary society, with motifs based on the "isual interpretation of the problems of urban and rural life. The conse9uences of the Association's brief e#istence were far5reaching> it assigned a precise, acti"e social role to artistic production in Croatian cultural milieu, while ideological disagreements among its members and confrontations with their opponents remained li"e issues e"en after the official ban of its acti"ities, e#tending e"en to the period following the =econd World War. The painter and graphic artist &rsto (egeduši* was one of the initiators of the formation of the Association and its main ideologist. ;n an endea"our to form an independent national "isual e#pression, he engaged in teaching peasant painters in the "illage of (lebine, thus setting the foundations of the so5called =chool of (lebine and Croatian naï"e art. This text is provided under the terms of the Creative Commons License 55,78,NC-ND 3.0. RIHA Journal 0031 | 7 November 2011 +!ubo ,abić. In this sense, &rle'a's "iews can be recognized as particularly important in the e"aluation of the acceptance of Grosz's work. This paper will also discuss in detail the reception of Grosz's solo e#hibition in agreb 3-./08 in which notably graphic works were on display 3cf. figs. -, 0, /, @8. Orecisely the modes of understanding of his work, re"ealed in the writings of prominent critics and artists, would show the comple#ity and entanglement of all rele"ant aspects of his influence. * * * 1/2 +ike Filip +atino"icz, the main character of one of &rle'a's key no"els,@ who stands out as a paradigm of an artist of interwar Croatia in search of his own identity and the definitions of the identity of his nati"e en"ironment, Grosz was also an artist continually tormented by the same 9uestions.6 This is testified by his personal, as well as artistic path> after his initial inclination towards the I#pressionists, he participated in the formation of the Berlin Dada immediately after the First World War, finally to become one of the key protagonists of the left5wing fraction of German neonaturalism.
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