Fine arts in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia between the two world wars

The international symposium places focus on individual chapters of fine art during the Interwar Period addressed by the exhibition. The artists embarked on their professional careers in challenging times, an era unfavourable to the arts that was marked by economic crisis, political tension in the Kingdom and the struggle to sustain the growth of culture and the arts. The Independents mostly studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb (two of them graduated from the Prague academy), a venerable institution of learning that provided them with in-depth expert knowledge and focused on studying French and Spanish art. At the time, the general reversal towards realism in art and contemporary French art played a very important part in the establishment of subdued modernism and the so-called colour realism, a style in which The Independents also worked. On the other hand, Croatian art, in particular, raised the issues of socially engaged art and very role of art in society, which left an important mark on art criticism and some of the most prominent artists. 

Aimed at both professionals in the field and the general public, the symposium seeks to shed light on the work of individual artists, devote attention to the emergence of new stylistic orientations in fine arts in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the embeddedness of artists in the international art world, the relationship between art and politics (both at the highest level of the Kingdom and the illegal political activities of some artists and their contacts), as well as address the issue of erecting and demolishing commemorative monuments, the compiling of collections and exhibiting in the Interwar Period. 

Organized in cooperation with the Slovenian Art History Society.