Kossa Bokchan ( sr-cyr, Косара Бокшан, January 1, 1925 in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

– November 21, 2009 in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

) was a Serbian painter who lived in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. She married Petar OmAiikus (Pierre Omcikous).

Education

In 1928, when Bokchan was three, her parents moved to

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, as a teen, she studied painting with

Mladen Josić Mladen Josić (15 July 1897, Bečej - 1 October 1972, Paris) was a Serbian painter. He had his own ''atelier'' in Belgrade where art students came to hone their skills, many becoming renowned academic painters and sculptors. Biography Mladen ...

and in 1944, at the studio of

Zora Petrović Zora Petrović ( Dobrica, May 17, 1894 – Belgrade, May 25, 1962) was a Serbian painter. Her notable works can be seen in the Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade, and in Pavle Beljanski Memorial Collection in Novi Sad. Biography She attend ...

. Afterwards, Bokchan enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Belgrade, in the class of

Ivan Tabaković Ivan Tabaković (10 December 1898, Arad – 27 June 1977, Belgrade) was an Austro-Hungarian-born Serbian painter. Biography Tabaković was born in Arad, then part of the Habsburg Empire, in 1898, to a Serbian family. He studied at the B ...

. Others in the class included, Petar Omčikus (Bokchan's future husband),

Mića Popović Miodrag "Mića" Popović (23 June 1923 – 23 December 1996) was a Serbian painter, experimental filmmaker and one of the major figures of the Yugoslav Black Wave. Life and work Mića Popović was born on 12 June 1923 in Loznica. He finished g ...

, Bata Mihailović, Vera Božičković, Ljubinka Jovanović and Mileta Andrejević.

Career

In 1947, Bokchan joined a post-war Yugoslav

art commune An art colony, also known as an artists' colony, can be defined two ways. Its most liberal description refers to the organic congregation of artists in towns, villages and rural areas, often drawn by areas of natural beauty, the prior existence o ...

, ''Zadarska grupa'' (Zadar's group). Bokchan first exhibited her work in 1950. Her first solo exhibition was 1952. Bokchan then moved to Paris with Petar Omčikus. She made Paris her home and had her first exhibition there in 1954. From 1960, she made regular summer trips to

Vela Luka Vela Luka (, it, Vallegrande) is a small town and a municipality in Dubrovnik-Neretva County in southern Dalmatia, Croatia. The town is located on the western side of the island of Korčula at the bottom of a wide bay which has many indented cove ...

Korčula Korčula (, it, Curzola) is a Croatian island in the Adriatic Sea. It has an area of , is long and on average wide, and lies just off the Dalmatian coast. Its 15,522 inhabitants (2011) make it the second most populous Adriatic island after K ...

. Bokchan has exhibited in

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Pref ...

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, Nancy,

Novi Sad Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; hu, Újvidék, ; german: Neusatz; see below for other names) is the second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pan ...

Niš Niš (; sr-Cyrl, Ниш, ; names in other languages) is the third largest city in Serbia and the administrative center of the Nišava District. It is located in southern part of Serbia. , the city proper has a population of 183,164, while ...

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

Skopje Skopje ( , , ; mk, Скопје ; sq, Shkup) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre. The territory of Skopje has been inhabited since at least 4000 BC; r ...

and

Titograd Podgorica (Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: Подгорица, ; Literal translation, lit. 'under the hill') is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Montenegro, largest city of Montenegro. The city was formerly known as Titograd ...

. The Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade held a Bokchan retrospective in 2001. From 5 March 2010 to 27 April 2010, the Serbian cultural centre in the Latin quarter of Paris held a Bokchan retrospective. Bokchan was also published as an illustrator.Goerres K
"Community Young European Artist: Bokchan, Bouqueton."
Exhibition Suermondt Museum, Aachen. 1955. Accessed in German at Google Books 22 November 2013.

Art

Kossa Bokchan's painting has changed over time. One early stage was her transition from

socialist realism Socialist realism is a style of idealized realistic art that was developed in the Soviet Union and was the official style in that country between 1932 and 1988, as well as in other socialist countries after World War II. Socialist realism is ch ...

to genres outside that dogma such as landscapes and portraits. This was evident in her first exhibition. She also moved away from genres taught at the Academy which she described as "still life and skeletons". Bokchan's style belongs to the school of expressive realism. Her move to Paris began her stylistic journey towards contemporary art trends, especially geometric and lyrical abstraction and from there towards the informal. After 1961, Bokchan returned to realism as determined by 'The Paris School'. Michel Ragon, art historian, suggested this was a type of abstract naturalism. Bokchan's art is also influenced by the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

tradition. Bokchan transforms mythical symbols into artistic expression.

Awards

*1968 Ministry of Culture and Communication, Paris *2000 Special Award on VI International Biennial of Miniature Art,

Gornji Milanovac Gornji Milanovac ( sr-Cyrl, Гoрњи Милановац, ) is a town and municipality located in the Moravica District of central Serbia. The population of the town is 24,216, while the population of the municipality is 44,406. The town was foun ...

Bibliography (selection)

*Jean-Clarence Lambert, Actualité, Opus international, No 8, Paris, 1968 *Georges Boudaille, 'Yougoslave 68', rendez-vous international, Les lettres françaises, No 1248, s. 24-27, Paris, 1968 *Jeanine Warnod, Grâce a un mécénat populaire, une petite île yougoslave crée la ville de la mosaïque, Le Figaro, Paris, 1968 *Georges Boudaille, Le Salon de Mai 1969, Les lettres françaises, No 1284, s. 21-27, Paris, 1960 *Jeanine Warnod, Rencontre d'artistes à Vela Luka, Le Figaro, Paris, 1970 * Jean Senac, Les fermes solaires de Kossa Bokchan, Opus international, No 18, s. 19-20, Paris, 1970 *Gerald Gassiot Talabot, Vela Luka actualités, Opus international, No 21, s. 53-56, Paris, 1970 *Gerald Gassiot Talabot, Sur une île dalmate, Annales, Paris, 1970 *Joseph Ryckwert, La Bienalle de Vela Luka suit isola di curzola Yugoslavia, Domus, No 491, Milano, 1970 *Georges Boudaille, Giorgio di Genova, Galleria 'il Grifo (pref) Rome, 1974 *Anne Tronche, 'Face a Femmes', (pref), Le Havre, 1978 *Georges Boudaille, Anne Tronche, (pref), Nancy, 1995

References

Sources

* Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade * Kosara Bokšan, a retrospective exhibition catalog, Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade, 2001 {{DEFAULTSORT:Bokchan 1925 births 2009 deaths 20th-century Serbian painters Serbian women artists Serbian women painters 20th-century women artists