ART WITHOUT FRONTIERES / FOREIGN MASTERS IN THE COLLECTION OF THE CROATIAN MUSEUM OF NAÏVE ART

11.12.2007

Exhibition and monographic catalogue "ART WITHOUT FRONTIERES / FOREIGN MASTERS IN THE COLLECTION OF THE CROATIAN MUSEUM OF NAÏVE ART" The Croatian Museum of Naïve Art is busy preparing an exhibition entitled "Art without Frontiers / Foreign Masters in the Collection of the Croatian Museum of Naïve Art" which will be held in the Klović Palace Gallery in Zagreb from July 12th till August 12th 2007, with the support of UNESCOs Culture Sector and Croatian Commission for UNESCO. This show will bring together 17 of the most important foreign artists, painters and sculptors, represented by their very best works from the holdings of the institution. This is a very stringent selection, then, not only of artists, but also of their works. The objective is to demonstrate the exceptional contributions of foreign art to our collection, as well as all the diversity of naïve art in general, including the departures towards Art Brut and Outsider Art, which have become increasingly important in the last few decades. Seventeen artists will be represented at the show: Simon Schwartzenberg (1897-1990) and Germain van der Steen (1897-1985) from France, Nikifor from Poland (1895-1968), Pavel Leonov (1920) from Russia, Vangel Naumovski (1924) from Macedonia, the Italians Enrico Benassi (1902-1978) and Pietro Ghizzardi (1906-1986), the German Erich Bödeker (1904-1971), the Netherlander Willem van Genk (1927-2005); from Serbia, Bogosav Živković (1920-2005), Emerik Feješ (1904-1969, who in origins also belongs to the art of Croatia), Sava Sekulić (1902-1989, who also because of his descent can be classified into Croatian art), Ilija Bosilj (1895-1972) and Milan Stanisavljević (1944); then Taizi Harada (1940) from Japan, Pal Homonai (1922) from Hungary (by descent from the former Yugoslavia) and the ethnically Croatian woman artist Sofija Naletilić Penavuša (1913-1994) from Bosnia and Herzegovina. These, then, are all only classics of the world’s Naïve, Art Brut and Outsider Art. Approximately one hundred exhibits will be on display. Each artist – irrespective of how many works we have in the collection – will be represented with a maximum of 10 works. The exhibition is accompanied with a catalogue with colour reproductions of all the works on show, with a critical interpretation by the author of the project, art historian and director of the Croatian Museum of Naïve Art, Vladimir Crnković. The catalogue will devote to each artist a basic biographical account, a short essay-style article on his or her works, a list of the most important solo and collective exhibitions, and a selection from the most important secondary sources. The texts will published in parallel Croatian and English versions, on 248 pages.