Nikola Graovac
Nikola Graovac (Serbian Cyrillic: Никола Граовац; Gospić, 29 May 1907 - Topola, 16 January 2000) was a Serbian painter. He is one of the greatest masters of coloristic expressionism in Serbian painting of the 20th century.
Biography[edit]
He was born in Lika, in the small village of Vrebac near Gospić in 1907 as the 14th and the youngest child in the Graovac family house.[1]He finished primary school in his native village school in Vrebac and did not have the means for further education. At the age of 15, he came to Belgrade, as a migrant worker, where he worked hard to survive on his own and sent part of his earnings to his family in Lika. He did work, from construction to gardening and even housework.
The first permanent job he got was a job in a lathe plant in Željin, and the second in a foundry in Zrenjanin. He tried to learn carpentry in Belgrade, but his parents did not give him consent because he did not have any income while studying the craft. Fortunately for him, he found a job in the Dental Depot of Maks Mošić, where he worked in various jobs, from receiving and distributing dental material to installing appliances in dental offices. His job was interesting and dynamic, which suited his nature, the boss was a curious and correct man, so the young Graovac began to lead a normal life. In addition to his regular job, he also worked as a janitor in the building in which he lived, so he had additional income. Modest by nature, and having a goal in life to become a painter and do something he loves the most, he saved and prepared for painting school. At that time, the most famous painting school in Belgrade was the painting school in the studio of Jovan Bijelić. Graovac got in touch with the then already famous artist and after a comprehensive test, Bijelić decided to admit him to the school. In 1932, he moved to Bjelić's studio, which was located in the attic of the Second Men's Gymnasium in Belgrade. In addition to spending time with his professor Bijelić, he came into contact with other students at this school, so that a whole series of friendships were formed there that lasted for the rest of his life.[2]
He exhibited for the first time at a collective exhibition in 1933, and in 1934, together with three other students from Bijelić's school (Danica Antić, Aleksa Čelebonović and Jurica Ribar), he made a joint exhibition that was well received by both the audience and the critics. This group of artists was later popularly called the group "Four", although it never had an official form. Graovac had his first solo exhibition in 1935 in the Cvijeta Zuzorić Art Pavilion in Belgrade. He exhibited with the group called Oblik in 1938, although he was not their official member, and with the group Desetoro (Desetorica which means "Ten") he exhibited in Belgrade and Zagreb in 1940. He was an extremely prolific painter who lived from painting. With about 10,000 paintings in official institutions, many institutions, companies and private collections. The last solo exhibition was organized in the spring of 1998 in the premises of the Association of Fine Artists of Serbia better known as ULUS in Belgrade.
In addition to painting, Nikola Graovac had another passion, it was old clocks, in his studio they were hung on the walls and stood on shelves. He collected them and repaired them himself and brought them into proper condition.
He died in his house in Oplenac on 16 January 2000.[3]
Painting group "Ten"[edit]
The painting group "Desetoro" exhibited together in 1940 in Belgrade and Zagreb. The group consisted of Danica Antić, Borivoj Grujić, Nikola Graovac, Dusan Vlajić, Milivoj Nikolajević, Jurica Ribar, Ljubica Sokić, Stojan Trumić, Aleksa Čelebonović and Bogdan Šuput.[4][5]Although heterogeneous in its composition, the group consisted of two women and eight men, there were academic painters with a university degree, but also painters by vocation, they belonged to various social strata from the working class, the intelligentsia to the bourgeoisie. What this group had in common was that they were all painters and students of Jovan Bijelić. Some of these artists perished in World War II, and those who survived were significant artists in the postwar period.
Solo exhibitions[edit]
Nikola Graovac presented himself to the public for the first time at the Fifth Spring Exhibition of Yugoslav Artists in 1933. After his first presentation to the Belgrade audience, Graovac appeared almost without exception at all spring Yugoslav and autumn exhibitions of Belgrade artists. This lasted until the end of 1940, just before the outbreak of World War II and the April 1941 invasion of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The exact number of group exhibitions in which Nikola Graovac participated in the country and abroad has yet to be determined? His solo exhibitions were:
- 1935: Belgrade,
- 1948: Prishtina,
- 1951: Belgrade,
- 1954: Bor, Belgrade, Novi Sad,
- 1956: Bor,
- 1957: Belgrade, Novi Sad, Zrenjanin, Prague,
- 1958: Sarajevo,
- 1960: Belgrade, Novi Sad,
- 1961: Zrenjanin,
- 1964: Belgrade,
- 1965: Belgrade,
- 1969: Sombor,
- 1972: Novi Sad,
- 1976: Novi Sad,
- 1977: Pančevo,
References[edit]
- Translated and adapted from Serbian Wikipedia: https://sr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9D%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%B0_%D0%93%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0%D1%86
- ↑ Времеплов (РТС, 29. мај)
- ↑ Ристић, Вера . Никола Граовац 1907—2000. Монографија (на ((sr))). Опленац, Топола-Србија: Задужбина Краља Петра I, 163 стране. page|year=2007|isbn=978-86-80647-24-1|pages=
- ↑ Умро сликар Никола Граовац, Приступљено 15. 4. 2013.
- ↑ Група „Десеторица“, Приступљено 15 April 2013.
- ↑ Art magazin - Ljubica Cuca Sokić - Slike, Приступљено 15 April 2013.
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