Serbian art
Serbian art refers to the visual arts of the Serbs and their nation-state Serbia. The medieval heritage includes Byzantine art, preserved in architecture, frescos and icons of the many Serbian Orthodox monasteries. In the early modern period, Serbian visual arts began to be influenced by Western art, culminating in the Habsburg monarchy in the late 18th century. The beginning of modern Serbian art is placed in the 19th century. Many Serbian monuments and works of art have been lost forever due to various wars and peacetime marginalizations.[1]
Prehistory
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Currently, Europe's oldest known civilization was discovered in
Roman period
Geographically Serbia was always part of the
Medieval Serbian art
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Serbian silk, c. 1330
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Bogorodica Trojeručica, the 14th century
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Praise to King Lazar, Serbian weaving in the Middle Ages
We know little of the lives of the painters, craftsmen (
Church architecture developed under the patronage of the medieval Serbian state. The most distinctive piece of medieval Serbian architecture was the
Icon of the Holy Virgin Pelagonitissa, dating from 1421, is considered one of the last outstanding achievements of icon painting, a representation of the then still-living Byzantine iconography. Its author Makarije Zograf worked on the icon in the Church of Transfiguration in the monastery of the village Zrze, near Prilep, and many other Serbian monasteries during the fifteenth century. Makarije Zograf and his brother Metropolitan Jovan Zograf cared for the monastery endowment until it was transferred to Constantine, the village head (kmet).[4]
The
There was a further spate of church building as the Serbian state contracted to the Morava basin in the late 14th century. Prince
Manuscripts were another significant feature of Serbian medieval art. Miroslav's Gospel features lavish calligraphy and miniatures and is a significant artwork as well as a notable work of literature. The
Later in 19th century, Serbian medieval art was used as inspiration for notable architect Andrey Damyanov who, between 1835 and 1878, along the Vardar and Morava Valleys and Bosnia, built around 40 churches and other buildings.[7] Adapting to the social demand of its Serbian sponsors, Damyanov combined simultaneously traditional elements of the 15th century Morava school with Occidental baroque elements found North of Sava river.[7]
Thanks are due to field scientist and academic
A large number of artistically worthy icons was made in this period.
Fresco paintings
Orthodox fresco painting represents the peak of Serbian medieval art. Its birth went in line with the creation and development of medieval Serbian state, but unlike Serbian state it didn't cease to exist during the Ottoman occupation. While Serbian architecture has seen mixed influences of both
Frescos were being painted under the patronage of Serbian rulers, as the highest form of religious decorative form. Following the political expansion and military growth, the 13th and 14th century are marked as the period when the biggest amount of newly built or existing sanctuaries have been decorated, mostly by unknown artists. Studenica monastery has been built in 1196 under the patronage of Stefan Nemanja, the founder of Nemanjić dynasty, and ever since it enjoyed the care of Stefan's descendants as the archi-model. Its most representative fresco, The Crucifixion, was made twelve years later, in 1208, on the blue background brought into contrast with golden-yellow of Christ's bare crucified body. In the second half of 14th century an unknown artist painted monumental The Dormition of the Virgin in Sopoćani monastery, which remained the supreme achievement of byzantine painting tradition.
However, the most famous Serbian medieval fresco is the Myrrhbearers (or the "White Angel")
Another notable mention is the fresco of Serbian queen
Your eyes were gouged out, oh beautiful image,
On a pilaster at the approach of night,
Knowing that no one would witness the pillage,
An Albanian’s knife robbed you of your sight.[16]
However, between 1971 and 1976, during the conservation works in the monastery, it was discovered that for centuries the queen's eyes were lying under what actually was (unsuccessfully intentionally damaged) grey layer. Once the patches were removed, Simonida was shown to media with light-blue eyes.[17]
16th and 17th centuries
The Ottoman conquest of Serbia during the 15th century had a negative impact on the visual arts. The Serbs became part of the
Baroque (18th century)
Traditional Serbian art was beginning to show some Baroque influences at the end of the 18th century as shown in the works of Nikola Nešković, Teodor Kračun, and Jakov Orfelin. Painting of the early Baroque did not create a homogeneous group of painters. It developed under the Russian-Ukrainian and Southern Balkan basis and the influences that had slowly arrived from Western European art centers. The first generation of Baroque painters nourished on the learnings of the Russian painters
High Baroque art was reflected in the firmer cultural orientation towards Vienna, as well as church and school reforms. The changes are visible in the works of Teodor Kračun who in his work represents a significant step towards understanding the actual Central European art. The retrospective Orthodox heritage confronted the emphasized emotionality and the movement as a fundamental element of artistic expression. Scenes are placed in the real world, Christ and Mary are depicted according to the rules of the secular ruler iconography and rely on graphic templates from popular illustrated Bibles. The group of representatives of the High Baroque include Mojsije Subotić, Grigorije Davidović-Obšić, Grigorije Jezdimirović and Lazar Serdanović.[22]
The emergence and development of Late Baroque painting had been determined by the cultural and political changes of the time of Joseph II. Conceptual changes in the era of enlightened and learned man - the Enlightenment - marked the last decade of the 18th century. The learned artist, traveling the European capitals of Art, accepts and implements the ideas of the Enlightenment reforms. Among the artists who took Serbian painting of Central European Late Baroque formulation, Jakov Orfelin and Teodor Ilić Češljar stand out. They are joined by master woodcarvers Marko Gavrilović and his sons, Arsenije and Aksentije Marković and Marko Vujatović. Neoclassicism as the style of the new era, based on the ideas of the Enlightenment, would not jeopardize the ruling Late Baroque conception in the first decades of the next century. Such a sequence is identified in the works of painters Stefan Gavrilović, Jovan Isailović Sr., Georgije Mišković and Mihajlo Živković.[23]
Among the important painters were
19th-century painting and drawing
- Religious art
Printed magazines with engravings became a popular method of communicating through art, of both religious and irreligious themes. The printing of engravings of figures of prominent Serbian rulers fitted in the ideas of continuity of Serbian statehood. Monasteries on Fruška Gora and other ones in the Metropolitanate of Karlovci issued engraved magazines in which protector saints with monasteries were represented.[24] Graphical arts of the 18th century were the first-class documents of the appearance and condition of monastery buildings before photographs. In the last decades of the 18th century, the written word suppressed visual arts as the main communication activity in religious magazines, with graphical arts becoming more and more used in illustrated books.[25]
- Graphical arts
In the first decades of the 19th century a new graphic technique of lithography experience a real boom in the countries of Western Europe. Serbian artists gradually introduced it to the history of national arts in the 19th century. In contrast to modest attempts of scarce individuals, lithography becomes an important branch of Serbian art only with the emergence of
- Neoclassicism
Under the influence of the ides of
- Biedermeier
In the 1830s the Serbian art scene is added by a generation of painters who transferred Biedermeier and Nazarene art programs from Central Europe. As a stylistic expression that deeply permeated the Serbian art at that time, Biedermeier was most suitable for the wide layers of citizens that concerned about themselves, their family and home. In the changed social circumstance in which the middle class had become the bearer of social changes, the family becomes the basic unit of modern society and the main scene of private life. Awareness of family is confirmed and visualized in family portraits, in groups or of some of its members. Family portraits depict the social status of the family, but at the same time, they have a private character and are part of a narrow family cult. In addition to portraits, Biedermeier painting is also focused on the Genre art and Still life. The most important representatives of the Biedermeier expression in Serbian painting are Konstantin Danil, Katarina Ivanović, Dimitrije Avramović and Nikola Aleksić.[28][29]
- Romanticism
In the mid-19th century Serbian artistic creativity was marked with the reception of content and design of civil works (Biedermeier), but at the same time the development of a program of historicism. For the penetration of Romanticist conceptions, education and stays of Serbian painters in Vienna and Munich, as well as trips to Italy, were crucial. Social and political conditions contributed to the Romantic expression in Serbian art accomplishing its highest achievements in the late 1860s and beginning of 1870s. In stylistic and thematic view, Romanticism brought notable innovations: greater freedom of strokes and composition, warm colours complemented by the play of light and shadow. Most Serbian artists of that period reflected national-historical content in painting compositions, however, the client needs kept iconography and portrait painting popular.
- Historicism
In accordance with the general ideas of Historicism, as the dominant characteristics of the culture of the 19th century in the European context, the top role in the process of constituting national identity was held by events and figures from national history. They represented a representative of the golden age of the nation, which in Serbian culture of the 19th century was equated with the period of the rule of the Nemanjić dynasty. The idealization of a glorious past, regardless of whether it was based on real facts or myth, was the main tool in the constitution and the homogenization of the nation. This idealized past was directly at the service of the glorification of the present, which emphasized the idea of rebuilding the former Serbian glory. These ideas are directly reflected in the visual art of the epoch - historical compositions, but also patriotic scenes that illustrate the events of the recent past are gaining more and more importance. They praise the nation through the idealization of events and personalities, becoming at the same time engaged means of communication with the aim to awaken national and patriotic feelings.[31] Some examples of notable Historicist painters include Đura Jakšić (1832–1878) and Pavle Simić (1818–1876). The most productive period of visual arts made following the trends of Historicism in Serbian art was 1848—1878.[32]
- Academicism
In the last decades of the 19th century, Serbian painters began to stay at Munich as a center of education and its Academy of Fine Arts, which compared to the Viennese, was more
- Orientalism
Orientalism indicates interest in Oriental scenes in the visual arts of the 19th century. Napoleon's campaign in Egypt, the conquest of Algeria, as well as travel books and other literary descriptions, encouraged the enthusiasm and imagination of artists. Islamic countries of the Arabian Peninsula and North Africa had become the preferred travel destination for many artists. Scenes of squares, bazaars, harem and various folklore events entered European painting. Orientalism rarely had a purely documentary character and more often depicted the enthusiasm of Europeans for beauty, vividness, and allure of the unknown and exotic world. The wild nature and unusual customs, combined with gorgeous colours and light, had become a great inspiration to European artists. During a long period of education, Paja Jovanović,[34] along with classes at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, attended the School of historical painting of Leopold Müller, famous for its oriental motifs. There is no doubt that Miller's crucial lessons determined his painting preference. Noting the increased interest of Europe to the events in the Balkans, he travelled during the holidays to Albania, Montenegro, Dalmatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia gathering sketches and studies of the life of the Balkan peoples. Precisely these themes brought Paja Jovanović worldwide fame and popularity.[35]
- Realism
In the last decades of the 19th century, with Serbian painters attending the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, Realism entered the Serbian art scene. In stylistic view, Realists, succeeding the Romantic agitation, brought calm and order in painting. In Serbian painting Realism never took root in the true sense, in the symbiosis of thematics and techniques. Serbian painters, taught artistically to express in a new form, return to be faced with the difficult solvable problems of adapting the conditions of an economically, socially and culturally underdeveloped environment, which was unwilling to accept new social themes which European Realism advocated. Serbian painters, therefore, continue to paint portraits, religious and historical compositions.[36]
- Symbolism
As a formulated artistic phenomenon on a European scale, Symbolism was also present at the Munich art scene, where some Serbian painters were formed. Representatives of Symbolism proclaimed turning of the indirect, associative and suggestive mode of expression. They used mythological symbols, dreams, and imagination as a visual language of the soul. Stevan Aleksić is the most notable representative of the period.[37]
Applied art and design
In terms of periodization, monuments can be divided into those from the period of the Principality, period of the Kingdom of Serbia, the monuments from the period of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, as well as those built in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the present-day Republic of Serbia.[1]
Applied art and design through the centuries have evolved in Serbia through crafts. The wealth of forms, the variety of materials with powerful color schemes and ornamentation folk art represented a strong stimulus for the affirmation of applied art, which in the second half of the 19th century, gets its first artists in Serbia. End of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century were marked by the work of individual personalities, each of them made a significant contribution to the development and the history of applied art in Serbia. These were people of different professions and some of them include:
Modern visual arts
After World War I, the Belgrade School of Painting developed in the capital with some members such as Milan Konjović working in a Fauvist manner, while others such as Marko Čelebonović working in a style called Intimisme based on the use of colours.
Some artists chose to emigrate from Yugoslavia.
Naïve art became prominent in the second half of the 20th century, with many notable artists coming from Vojvodina province.[38] Serbian naïve art painters include Dušan Jevtović and Milosav Jovanović.
The first part of 21st century, with young artists like Jovanka Sanijenovic or Simonida Rajčević, marks a predominance of a figurative art linked to realism – a realism "where everything is real and nothing is real – considering contemporary time as needing a return to what is real and concrete, and at the same time social and existential".[39] The Human Rights Logo was created by Serbian graphic designer Predrag Stakić.[40]
Contemporary art
At the beginning of the 1980s in Belgrade was established movement "New Image" painting with Milovan Destil Marković and Vlasta Volcano Mikić (Žestoki), later followed by (Alter imago group) Nada Alavanja, Tahir Lušić, Vladimir Nikolić and later Mileta Prodanović.
Performance art
Maga Magazinović, philosopher and choreographer, was one of the most important figures of contemporary physical practice in Serbia before the Second World War. The emancipation of the body in her work was realized through the application of gymnastics, dance and physical education. During the 1960s and 1970s history of the contemporary dance developed in the framework of performance art, body art and happenings. On the status of the body can meditate in the works of Marina Abramović and Katalin Ladik. The performance art of the eighties was marked by a specific attitude toward ideology. This attitude is manifested in the work within the context of using utopian socialist iconography. During the '90s performance art was focused on the fight against the regime.[41]
Marina Abramović is the most prominent Serbian performance artist. Active for over three decades, she has been described as the "grandmother of performance art." She pioneered a new notion of identity by bringing in the participation of her observers. Her art focuses on the theme of “confronting pain, blood, and physical limits of the body,” while relying on the extent of these discomforts based on the actions of her audience members.[42]
Another performance artists include Gabrijel Savić Ra, Nela Antonović, Lidija Antonović, Predrag Radovančević.
See also
- Serbian architectural styles
References
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- ^ "ICONS". www.sv-luka.org. Retrieved 2019-08-16.
- ^ "Fig. 2. Mihajlo Pupin, South Slavs Monuments, vol. I Serbian Orthodox..." ResearchGate. Retrieved 2019-08-16.
- ^ "Art in the middle ages". rastko.rs. Retrieved 21 March 2013.
- ^ "Manastir Mileševa - crkva Belog anđela" [Mileševa Monastery - the Church if the White Angel] (in Serbian). Večernje novosti. 5 August 2012. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
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Further reading
- Babić, Gordana (1989). "Western Medieval and Byzantine Traditions in Serbian Art". Tradition and Modern Society: A Symposium at the Royal Academy of Letters, History, and Antiquities. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell International. pp. 117–132. ISBN 9789174022025.
- Čanak-Medić, Milka; Todić, Branislav (2017). The Monastery of the Patriarchate of Peć. Novi Sad: Platoneum, Beseda. ISBN 9788685869839.
- ISBN 9781405142915.
- Ćurčić, Slobodan (1979). Gračanica: King Milutin's Church and Its Place in Late Byzantine Architecture. Pennsylvania State University Press. ISBN 9780271002187.
- Dragojević, Predrag. "The evaluation of old Serbian art during the formation of Serbian art history." Zograf 34 (2010): 153-163.
- Đorđević, Života; Pejić, Svetlana, eds. (1999). Cultural Heritage of Kosovo and Metohija. Belgrade: Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of the Republic of Serbia. ISBN 9788680879161.
- Đurić, Vojislav J. (1995). "Art in the Middle ages". The history of Serbian Culture. Rastko.
- Đurić, Vojislav J.; Babić-Đorđević, Gordana (1997). Srpska umetnost u srednjem veku: XIV-XVI vek. Srpska književna zadruga. ISBN 9788637906636.
- Fruht, Miroslav (1995). "Design and Applied art". The history of Serbian Culture. Rastko.
- Gavrilović, Zaga (2001). Studies in Byzantine and Serbian Medieval Art. London: The Pindar Press. ISBN 9781899828340.
- ISBN 9781870732314.
- Janićijević, Jovan, ed. (1990). Serbian Culture Through Centuries: Selected List of Recommended Reading. Belgrade: Yugoslav Authors' Agency.
- Janićijević, Jovan, ed. (1998). The Cultural Treasury of Serbia. Belgrade: Idea, Vojnoizdavački zavod, Markt system. ISBN 9788675470397.
- Krstić, Branislav (2003). Saving the Cultural Heritage of Serbia and Europe in Kosovo and Metohia. Belgrade: Coordination Center of the Federal Government and the Government of the Republic of Serbia for Kosovo and Metohia. ISBN 9788675560173.
- Ljubinković, Radivoje (1975). The Church of the Apostles in the Patriarchate of Peć. Belgrade: Jugoslavija.
- Marković, Miodrag; Vojvodić, Dragan, eds. (2017). Serbian Artistic Heritage in Kosovo and Metohija: Identity, Significance, Vulnerability. Belgrade: Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts.
- ISBN 9789174022025.
- Medaković, Dejan (1995). "Art in the Eighteent and Nineteenth centuries". The history of Serbian Culture. Rastko.
- Mileusnić, Slobodan (1998). Medieval Monasteries of Serbia (4th ed.). Novi Sad: Prometej. ISBN 9788676393701.
- Pantelić, Bratislav (2002). The Architecture of Dečani and the Role of Archbishop Danilo II. Wiesbaden: Reichert.
- Peić, Sava (1994). Medieval Serbian Culture. London: Alpine Fine Arts Collection.
- Petković, Vesna; Peić, Sava (2013). Serbian Medieval Cultural Heritage. Belgrade: Dereta.
- Popović, Marko; ISBN 9788671025256.
- Protić, Miodrag B. (1995). "Painting in the Twentieth century (The First epoch - 1900-1950)". The history of Serbian Culture. Rastko.
- Protić, Miodrag B. (1995). "Painting in the Twentieth century (The Second Epoch - after 1950)". The history of Serbian Culture. Rastko.
- Protić, Miodrag B. (1995). "Painting and sculpture in the twentieth century". The history of Serbian Culture. Rastko.
- ISBN 9788675830153.
- Smiljković, Koviljka (1995). "Naive art". The history of Serbian Culture. Rastko.
- Subotić, Gojko (1998). Art of Kosovo: The Sacred Land. New York: The Monacelli Press. ISBN 9781580930062.
- Todić, Branislav (1999). Serbian Medieval Painting: The Age of King Milutin. Belgrade: Draganić. ISBN 9788644102717.
- Todić, Branislav; Čanak-Medić, Milka (2013). The Dečani Monastery. Belgrade: Museum in Priština. ISBN 9788651916536.