Inspired by France, the current exhibition of the Matica Srpska Gallery in Novi Sad, is the story of our artists of the last century who lived, studied and even exhibited in Paris, the then center of the most advanced artistic movements, or just dreamed of it.
Paris shaped them with its streets, parks and museums and way of life. At the same time, he had a formative influence on their artistic poetics through numerous artistic movements and ideas that were changing on the Parisian stage at the time.
The exhibition features more than 60 works by artists such as Sava Šumanović, Bogdan Šuput, Petar Dobrović, Milan Konjović, Peđa Milosavljević, Ljubica Cuca Sokić, Lazar Vozarević, Mića Popović and sculptural works by Đorđe Jovanović.
The largest group in the exhibition consists of works by Serbian modernists created in the interwar period, and the exhibition also includes works from the first post-war years.
They found inspiration at every step - in people, way of life, monumental buildings, wide boulevards, cafes, but also in the rich art world.
Kosta Hakman, Stojan Aralica, Jefto Perić, Petar Lubarda, Milo Milunović and Stojan Aralica had studios in the Malakof suburb, while Sava Šumanović, Bogdan Šuput, Ljubica Cuca Sokić had studios in Montparnasse.
"In Paris, one is surrounded by many good paintings, rich museums and exhibitions, and Paris itself is very picturesque." In Paris, every stain is somehow in its place," wrote Ljubica Cuca Sokić.
In a letter to his brother, Bogdan Šuput describes his experience in Paris in the following words: "I returned from Paradise." Ah, Paris. I came back, because I know that I will come to him again".
Sava Sumanovic, English women in Paris, 1925.Sava Sumanovic "English women in Paris"
They admire the buildings of Paris. Hakman, for example, paints the New Bridge, and Cuca Sokić Notre Dame, as she saw it through the window of her friend Olga Kešeljević's apartment, Peđa Milosavljević facades and roofs, Sava Šumanović chose nature and the moment of leisure of the bourgeois class (Englishwomen in Paris) ...
In the Serbian-French catalog that accompanies the exhibition, Ivana Rastović describes that Bogdan Šuput was amazed by jazz and the atmosphere of the night club, painting the Tavern in Paris. The fact that in the picture he represents himself with Peđo Milosavljević, Cuco Sokić and Olga Kešeljević shows that the Serbian painters in Paris were not only observers but also active participants.
Ivan Tabakovic "In a Paris Tavern"
The night world of Paris was recorded by Peđa Milosavljević and Ivan Tabaković, artists who, according to Milosavljević's memory, carried notepads with pencils and recorded scenes and people, dipping their fingers in white coffee.
In short, each exhibited painting at the exhibition Inspired by France is a story about its author and about Paris as experienced by our artists of the last century.
The exhibition is part of the Month of Francophonie event, it was realized with the French Institute in Serbia, and is open until May 26.
