Jovan Pešić (24 October 1866 in Bukovac,

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire, officially known as the Empire of Austria, was a Multinational state, multinational European Great Powers, great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the Habsburg monarchy, realms of the Habsburgs. Duri ...

- 4 January 1936 in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a country in Southeast Europe, Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 to 1929, it was officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, but the term "Yugoslavia" () h ...

) was a Serbian warrior artist who fought for the liberation of

Old Serbia Old Serbia () is a Serbian historiographical term that is used to describe the territory that according to the dominant school of Serbian historiography in the late 19th century formed the core of the Serbian Empire in 1346–71. The term does ...

and

Macedonia Macedonia (, , , ), most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a former administr ...

at the turn of the 20th century (1903-1908), and later in the

Great War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Today he is remembered among as the first modern Serbian cartoonists (the first being Dimitrije Avramović), though totally forgotten until the early 2000s.

Early life and work

He was a self-taught artist when he first started to study

art Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around ''works'' utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, tec ...

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

and

photography Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...

in a craft shop in

Novi Sad Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; #Name, see below for other names) is the List of cities in Serbia, second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pannoni ...

. He studied under Đorđe Jovanović. In 1897 Pešić created an eight-page story in caricature (

comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...

) showing a sculptor with clay in hand how he created a female figure that suddenly came alive when she began to dance with him. This was inspired by his relationship with Jovanović. More than three decades after his death, Pešić's eight-page strip was first published, in 1969, by the Belgrade's Museum of Applied Arts. Caricatures by Pešić were published in numerous newspapers and popular magazines like ''Vrača pogačaču'', ''Zvono'', and ''Bosnia'' and ''Balkans''. Pešić fought as a volunteer in the

Serbian Chetnik Organization The Serbian Revolutionary Organization () or Serbian Chetnik Organization (Српска четничка организација / Srpska četnička organizacija) was a paramilitary revolutionary organization with the aim of liberation of Old Se ...

from its earliest beginning with the earliest battles in 1903, the Battle of Guglin in 1905 and many others until the

Young Turk Revolution The Young Turk Revolution (July 1908; ) was a constitutionalist revolution in the Ottoman Empire. Revolutionaries belonging to the Internal Committee of Union and Progress, an organization of the Young Turks movement, forced Sultan Abdul Hamid II ...

when the leaders of the Ottoman

Millet Millets () are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. Most millets belong to the tribe Paniceae. Millets are important crops in the Semi-arid climate, ...

in 1908 made demands on Turkish leadership to improve the status of her Christian population there. After, he went to

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

to study, and in 1914 he returned home to join the Serbian army in defense of Serbia. Later, he joined

Serbian army's retreat through Albania The Great Retreat, also known in Serbian historiography as the Albanian Golgotha ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Албанска голгота, Albanska golgota), refers to the retreat of the Royal Serbian Army through the mountains of the Principalit ...

and then left

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for

Odessa ODESSA is an American codename (from the German language, German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Ratlines (World War II aftermath), Nazi underground escape-pl ...

, where he joined the

First Serbian Volunteer Division The First Serbian Volunteer Division () or First Serbian Division, was a military formation of the First World War, created by Serbian Prime Minister Nikola Pašić, and organised in the city of Odessa in early 1916. This independent volunteer u ...

as a soldier and war painter. During the final months of the war, he worked as a war photographer and was decorated with the

Albanian Commemorative Medal Commemorative Medal for Loyalty to the Fatherland 1915 () or Commemorative Medal of the Great Serbian Retreat, better known as the Albanian Commemorative Medal () was a single-classed military medal awarded to all Serbian military personnel who ...

. He became a member of ''Lada'', the first Serbian art organization and one supportive of diverse artistic innovations of all kinds.

After the War

In the art of sculpture, he performed several realistic portraitures of famous historical figures, including poet

Vojislav Ilić Vojislav Ilić (Serbian Cyrillic: Војислав Илић; 20 April 1860 – 2 February 1894) was a Serbian poet, known for his finely chiseled verse. His poetry exemplifies a classic example of modern Serbian language and features the stand ...

in 1903. Since he spent most of his life in semi-seclusion and without sufficient orders for sculpting work, he was forced to devote himself to draw caricatures, which he published in various newspapers and comic books. At one time he was employed as a draftsman at the Ministry of Construction. His interest in political and social problems was very skillfully transferred to the level of the brutish satire, he reacted against various social distortions, snobbery, and communion.name="auto1"

References

Sources

* Pavlović. 1963: 63–73; Dragićević. 1964: 95—97; Janc. 1970: 121—130. {{DEFAULTSORT:Pesic, Jovan Serbian cartoonists Artists from Novi Sad Chetniks 1866 births 1936 deaths People from Austria-Hungary

Early life and work

After the War

See also

References

Sources