The central event of the visual arts week of the Kaleidoscope of Culture, which lasts from 24 to 29 September, will be the major exhibition dedicated to one of the most significant Serbian painters of the 20th century and the representative of Serbian modernism in European art, Sava Šumanović.
The exhibition ‘Sava Šumanović and European Realism Between the Two World Wars’ will last from 24 September to 4 December at the Pavle Beljanski Memorial Collection, the Gallery of Matica Srpska, Sava Šumanović Gallery in Šid, and will also include a related exhibition at the Gallery of Fine Arts – Gift Collection of Rajko Mamuzić.
In Novi Sad, Šumanović’s works between the two world wars will be presented for the first time, with a focus on his work in France. This exhibition will present the Serbian painter whose creativity has reached European frameworks and who can rightly be said to have brought the artistic language of European Cubism to Serbia.
After receiving his education, in what was then Yugoslavia, as a twenty-four-year-old, Šumanović went to Paris and rented a studio on Montparnasse, where his teacher was André Lhote. There he also socialised with Rastko Petrović, Amedeo Modigliani, Max Jacob, and other artists. The influences of Cubism are visible in this, but also in the later stages of the painter’s work. His rich creativity, which was just showing all the possibilities of a great artist, was interrupted by his suffering during World War II. Today for many his paintings stand synonymous with modern art.
‘Sava Šumanović and European Realism Between the Two World Wars’ project implemented by the Pavle Beljanski Memorial Collection, consists of two parts, an engaging exhibition and an international scientific gathering. The exhibition will be organised simultaneously in four museums, three in Novi Sad, and one in Šid. The three galleries from Novi Sad that participate in the organisation of this unique exhibition are located in Gallery Square, a space that has positioned itself as a centre of visual art and a famous location in Novi Sad known for nurturing existing and creating new lasting values, through the Kaleidoscope of Culture.
With its active design and various types of interpretations of Sava Šumanović’s work, the exhibition addresses a wide audience. At the opening, a multimedia performance will be given out, in the form of a special interpretation of the famous painting Breakfast on Grass.
During its span, the exhibition will have a very rich accompanying programme: a series of lectures and expert tours through the exhibition settings, with interpretations in sign language, workshops for young people and preschool children, film screenings, as well as the performance of the interactive play ‘Bohemians of Montparnasse’ in cooperation with the ‘Mišolovka’ Youth Theatre, which will present a mosaic of Šumanović’s life in Paris in the 1920s.
In addition, the exhibition in three museums will be accompanied by a representative catalogue with texts by prominent scientific and museum experts – Prof. Zvonko Maković, PhD, Prof. Lidija Merenik, PhD, Prof. Igor Borozan, PhD, Ana Ereš, PhD, Tijana Palkovljević Bugarski, PhD, Sofija Milenković, MA, Gordana Krstić Faj, Tamara Ognjević, MA, and Milane Kvas, MA.
During Visual Arts Week, the audience has the opportunity to enjoy programmes dedicated to the rich artistic heritage and contemporary visual creativity. Visitors will witness a different concept of presenting visual art, through new art media and forms, multimedia exhibitions, and a rich accompanying programme that includes documentaries, videos, performances, art installations, lectures, and the like. This year, in the visual art week of the Kaleidoscope of Culture, in addition to the large exhibition dedicated to Sava Šumanović, there will also be the first independent retrospective exhibition of Dragoljub Raša Todosijević, one of our most prominent conceptual artists and the representative of Serbia at the Venice Biennale of Contemporary Art.
In the title year of the European Capital of Culture, the Kaleidoscope of Culture will be held for the fifth time, from 1 September to 7 October. Throughout Novi Sad, almost 1,000 artists and experts in the fields of architecture, literature, visual, performing and applied arts from 67 countries will implement more than 250 events.
The partner of Visual Arts Week is DDOR.
Pictures:
Sava Šumanović, Bar in Paris, 1929, VI. Sava Šumanović Gallery, Šid
Sava Šumanović, A Woman with Fruits, 1921, VI. Gallery of Matica Srpska, Novi Sad
Sava Šumanović, The Two Nude Women, 1922, VI. Gallery of Matica Srpska, Novi Sad
Sava Šumanović, Breakfast on the Grass, 1927, VI. Pavlje Beljanski Memorial Collection, Novi Sad
