Imaju li krajevi i poeci stoljea stvaranutjecaj na razvitak umjetnosti, na

geneze odreenih likovnih izriaja, nakvalitetu i kvantitetu umjetnike produkcije?Moemo li uope u ovakvim relacijama go-voriti o likovnoj umjetnosti? Ima li i umjet-nost, kao iva i razvijajua struktura, svojmilenijski bug, svoj Y2K koji, uvjetnoreeno, razara postojee, zaboravlja tradicijui nakon kojega nita ne ostaje onakvimekakvo je bilo? Kako se prema situaciji novo-ga imaginarnog poetka odnose figurativniizrazi 1 i tradicionalni medij poput slikarstva?esto se govori o krizi slikarstva 2, ali ta sekriza, ako prihvatimo njezino postojanjesagledavajui ope tehnoloke, drutvene,politike i kulturne tendencije sadanjice,moe razvui na opu krizu umjetnikogizraavanja, dakle ne samo na likovneumjetnosti, ve i na knjievnost, kazalinuumjetnost, pa ak i na popularnu glazbu 3.Psiholoki utjecaj kraja i poetka nameepovjesniarima umjetnosti, likovnim kriti-arima, umjetnicima i svima koji su vezaniuz likovnu umjetnost neizbjenu potrebu zasumiranjem dostignua i zatvaranjem ladi-ca te oekivanjem novoga naina izraa-vanja koji e donijeti svjeinu u vrijeme ukojem su sve granice sruene i u kojem suve odavno svi umjetnici i sve umjetnost.Iako je kriza u likovnim umjetnostima rela-tivna, takve situacije obino raaju netonovo, a oekivanje toga postaje, ini se,uzaludnim poslom. Jer, budimo iskreni, svipomalo imamo osjeaj ve vienog.

elimo li definirati poetak slikarskogdvadesetog stoljea u Hrvatskoj, uvidjet e-mo kako na nekoliko dogaaja, individual-nih slikarskih postignua ili skupnih istupa,moemo gledati kao na poetnu toku. Uovom kontekstu jednako su vani izlobaHrvatskog salona 1898. godine, djelovanjeslikara Mnchenskog kruga u drugoj polovi-ci prvog i na prijelazu u drugo desetljee ilizaetak kontinuiranog nastupanja slikara ipromoviranja novih stilskih usmjerenja usklopu Proljetnog salona (1916. - 1928.).Meutim, sve navedeno imalo je za slikarstvovie znaenje loginog nastavka na ranije os-tvareno nego otrog reza ili vrstog zaokreta.

Povijesne avangarde i nagnua k apstrakt-nim izriajima koji su obiljeili europskislikarski poetak stoljea (niti on se,razumljivo, ne poklapa s okruglom godi-nom), u naem okruenju ne nailaze na pot-puno prihvaanje. Samim time, kao to jereeno, ne dogaa se znaajan preokret u

Can ends and beginnings of the cen-turies have real influence on the devel-

opment of art, on the genesis of specificmodes of fine arts expression, on the qualityand the quantity of the artistic production?Can these terms be applied to art after all?Does art as a living, developing structurehave its own millennium bug, its Y2K,which, in a way, destroys the existing andobliterates the tradition, changing things sothat they will never be the same again? Howdo figurative expressions 1 and the tradition-al medium such as painting relate to thenew imaginary beginning? It is often talkedabout the crisis in painting 2, which, if weacknowledge its existence within the frame-work of technological, social, political andcultural tendencies in todays world, can beexpanded to a more general crisis of artisticexpression, which therefore affects not onlyfine arts, but also literature, theatrical art,and even popular music. 3 The psychologicalimpact of the end of one and the beginningof the next century inevitably induces art his-torians, art critics, artists, and all thoseinvolved with fine arts, to summarise theachievements made and close the drawersin expectation of a new form of expressionthat would bring some refreshment in thisage in which all barriers have long fallendown and everyone can be an artist andeverything art. Even though the crisis in finearts is a relative phenomenon, situations likethese usually result in something new.However, our waiting for it to happen seemsto be in vain. For, to be honest, we all some-times have this dja vu feeling.

If we wish to define the beginning of the20th century painting in Croatia, we shallrealize how several events, individualachievements, and group appearances maybe viewed as a starting point. Equally impor-tant in this context is the exhibition CroatianSalon 1989, the work of painters of the so-called Munich Cycle in the second half of thefirst and at the beginning of the seconddecade, or the beginning of a continuouspresentation of painters and promotion ofnew painting styles within the Spring Salon(1916 - 1928). All this, however, represent-ed more a logical continuation of pastachievements than a clear cut or a definitechange of direction.

The historical avant-gardes and tenden-cies towards abstract forms of expression,which marked the beginning of the 20th

century in the European painting (this begin-ning, of course, does not coincide with the

56

petar prelog

figurativno uslikarstvu krajastoljea

the figurative inthe painting at thecentury

t l

1 O pojmu figurativnog i razvoju njegova znaenja u: Z. Rus, Postojanost figurativnog 1950. - 1987. (katalog),Zagreb, 1987., str. 5, bilj. 1

1 On the figurative and the development of its meaningsee: Rus, Z. Postojanost figurativnog 1950- 1987,Zagreb, 1987, p. 5, note 1

tl

PRIMJERI IZ HRVATSKOGSLIKARSTAVA

EXAMPLES FROM CROATIAN PAINTING

1

slikarstvu kao umjetnikom mediju, kao toje to sluaj u europskim sredinama. Ipak,danas se ne ini kako je apstraktno slikar-stvo svojom pojavom nainilo potpuni lom uodnosu na ono to mu je prethodilo 4.Figurativno e u hrvatskom slikarstvu krozitavo stoljee ostati postojanim, te e se,kao i u svjetskim okvirima, relativno us-pjeno nositi s bujajuim novim medijima itehnoloki naprednim nainima umjetnikogizraavanja. Tako je osnovna teza izlobePostojanost figurativnog 1950. - 1987. iprateega teksta autora Zdenka Rusa oslon-jena na injenicu da je krajem sedamdesetihi poetkom osamdesetih umjetnik ponovnouspostavio sloeni komunikacijski odnos sasvijetom koji je bio napustio na avangard-nom krilu u ezdesetim i sedamdesetim godi-nama i jo ranije u apstraktnoj umjetnosti 5,ali da taj odnos u poslijeratnoj umjetnostinikada nije bio prekinut, te da je figurativniizraz - ipso facto - konstantno prisutan 6. I udevedesetima je u hrvatskome slikarstvu,iako moda ne tako intenzivno kao uosamdesetima, figurativni izraz kroz razliitemodalitete nastavio svoj ivot i ostao aktu-alan, pa tako ni danas, kada je posljednjedesetljee dvadesetog stoljea iza nas, nemoemo govoriti o naoj umjetnosti bez datom segmentu umjetnikog stvaralatvadamo zaslueno, pa i istaknuto mjesto.

Vrijedno je, dakle, podsjetiti kako je po-etkom i tijekom osamdesetih slikarstvo do-ivjelo svoj posljednji veliki boom. Tadanije bilo govora o krizi. To je vrijeme po-vratka slici i isticanja volje za slikanjem,fenomena koji nee zaobii ni nae sli-karstvo 7. Tada je slikarstvo pokazalo snagukao medij afirmirajui sam proces slikanja,a esto su se isticale upravo osnovnelikovne injenice poput materijalnosti boje. Ifigurativno je unutar te navale slikanja narazliite naine - ponajprije kroz isticanjejednostavnih motiva i detalja iz svakodne-vice (ali ne kroz sloenu naraciju!) i suivots apstraktnim - imalo dostojnu poziciju.

U kontekstu prisutnosti figuracije uumjetnosti 20. stoljea zanimljiva je izlobaIdentitet i drugost, postavljena kao sredinjatematska izloba na 46. Bijenalu u Veneciji1995. godine. Njezin autor, francuski kri-tiar, povjesniar umjetnosti i teoretiar JeanClair, istupio je sa sljedeom osnovnom ide-jom - ljudsko tijelo bilo je u sreditu umjet-nikih interesa tijekom cijelog 20. stoljea.Tako Clair istie: Od Rodina doGiacomettija, od Martinija do Antonia Lopeza,

round year), did not meet with completeacceptance here. This, as said before,implies that the painting as an art mediumunderwent no significant change, as thiswas the case with other European countries.Nonetheless, we dont seem to have theimpression now that the abstract paintingmade a complete break with what had pre-ceded it.4 The figurative will remain presentin the Croatian painting throughout thewhole century and will rather successfullykeep pace with the growing new media andtechnologically advanced forms of artisticexpression, as is the case with the rest of theworld. Thus the main idea of the exhibitionThe Persistence of the Figurative 1950 -1987 and the accompanying text by ZdenkoRus relies on the fact that towards the end ofthe seventies and at the beginning of theeighties the artist has reestablished a com-plex communication with the world he hadabandoned on the wings of the avant-gardein the sixties and the seventies, and evenearlier in the avant-garde art 5, but that thiscommunication has never been broken inthe post-war art, and that the figurativeexpression - ipso facto - has always beenpresent 6. In the Croatian painting of thenineties, the figurative expression continuedits existence through different modalities andremained topical, although perhaps not tosuch an extent as in the eighties, so thattoday, with the last decade of the twentiethcentury already behind us, we cannot talk ofthe Croatian art without giving this segmentof the artistic work a well-deserved, even aprominent place.

It is therefore worth noting that at thebeginning and in the course of the eightiesthe painting experienced its last big boom,and the crisis was out of question. It was thetime of the return to painting, and asser-tion of the will to paint, a phenomenon to beencountered in the Croatian painting of thetime 7 as well. It was then that the paintingdemonstrated its strength as a medium,affirming the process of painting in itself, andfrequently the importance given to the basicfacts of painting, such as the materiality ofcolour. The figurative too earned a distin-guished position in this surge of painting indifferent ways - primarily by highlightingsimple motifs and details from everyday life(but not through complex narration!).

In terms of presence of the figurative inthe 20th c