Marijan Trepše (25 March 1887 – 4 October 1964) was a Croatian painter, graphic artist and set designer, considered to be one of the key figures in Croatian art in the early part of the 20th century. In 1919 the seventh exhibition of the Spring Salon opened at the Crafts school in

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 ...

. Exhibiting for the first time together,

Milivoj Uzelac Milivoj Uzelac (1897–1977) was a painter influential in the Zagreb modern art scene of the 1920s and 30s. During the Zagreb Spring Salon of the 1920s, he participated with Vilko Gecan, Marijan Trepše and Vladimir Varlaj as the Group of Four. ...

Vilko Gecan Vilko Gecan (16 June 1894 – 25 June 1973) was a Croatian painter, influential in the Zagreb modern art scene of the 1920s and 1930s. He is best known for his expressionist paintings and drawings, and for his contributions to the local avantgarde ...

, Marijan Trepše and

Vladimir Varlaj Vladimir Varlaj (25 August 1895 – 15 August 1962) was a Croatian artist, a member of the Group of Four during the Zagreb Spring Salon of the 1920s, and a founder of the Independent Group of Artists. He was influential in the Zagreb modern art s ...

dominated the exhibit with their expressionist works. The Prague Four, as they became known, had returned to Zagreb that year from their studies at the Prague academy and the work of these young painters brought in new expressionist ideas that were to dominate the Croatian art scene of the 1920s. Together with Gecan, Uzelac and Varlaj, with whom he was later to exhibit as the Group of Four, Marijan Trepše represents the link through which

Miroslav Kraljević Miroslav Kraljević (14 December 1885 – 16 April 1913) was a Croatian painter, printmaker and sculptor, active in the early part of the 20th century. He is one of the founders of modern art in Croatia. Kraljević studied painting in Vienna an ...

’s style evolved into expressionism. Trepše’s own art moved from early expressionist and classicist inspirations to more open colour and freedom of gesture. His early work was characterised by interiors with figures, generally featuring a single woman. After 1933, he created a series of landscapes from around Zagreb and motifs from the south, and worked as a set designer for the

Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb The Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb ( hr, Hrvatsko narodno kazalište u Zagrebu), commonly referred to as HNK Zagreb, is a theatre, opera and ballet house located in Zagreb. Overview The theatre evolved out of the first city theatre opened ...

Biography

Marijan Trepše was born in Zagreb on 25 March 1887. He attended the High School for Arts Crafts in Zagreb (1914–1918), where he studied under Bela Čikoš Sesija. His studies continued at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague with

Max Švabinský Max Švabinský (17 September 1873 – 10 February 1962) was a Czech people, Czech painter, draughtsman, graphic artist, and professor in Academy of Graphic Arts in Prague. Švabinský is considered one of the more notable artists in the histo ...

, then from 1920 to 1922, in Paris, at the

Académie de la Grande Chaumière The Académie de la Grande Chaumière is an art school in the Montparnasse district of Paris, France. History The school was founded in 1904 by the Catalan painter Claudio Castelucho on the rue de la Grande Chaumière in Paris, near the Acadé ...

. From 1919, Marijan Trepše exhibited his work at the Zagreb Spring Salon, and later as part of the Group of Four (Gecan, Trepše, Uzelac, Varlaj). In 1926 he was awarded a gold medal for art in an international exhibition in Philadelphia. From 1925 until his retirement in 1956 he worked as a set designer at the

, and between 1926 and 1931 he taught at the National Crafts School in Zagreb. From 1950, he worked with the Zadar and Zagreb Puppet Theatres. Marijan Trepše died 4 October 1964 in Zagreb.

Legacy

Trepše is one of those artists who achieved his best work in his youth. Although Trepše was educated at the Zagreb Academy of Bela Čikoš Sesija, his early work shows no traces of the

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

and

Symbolism Symbolism or symbolist may refer to: Arts * Symbolism (arts), a 19th-century movement rejecting Realism ** Symbolist movement in Romania, symbolist literature and visual arts in Romania during the late 19th and early 20th centuries ** Russian sy ...

of his teacher. After graduating from Zagreb, in the autumn of 1918 he moved to Prague, where

had been since 1915.

and

also arrived in Prague, meeting up with Ivo Režek and

Frano Kršinić Frano Kršinić (24 July 1897 – 1 January 1982) was a Croatian sculptor active in former Yugoslavia. Along with Ivan Meštrović and Antun Augustinčić, he is considered one of the three most important Croatian sculptors of the 20th centur ...

to make the city an important reference for Croatian modern art. From there, they picked up the new ideas of secessionism and expressionism, which they brought back to Croatian art. An important influence on Trepše and his contemporaries was the artist Miroslav Kraljević, who had died in 1913, aged only 27. While Kraljević had depicted wealthy gentlemen in the company of courtesans in Paris, Trepše and his fellow artists in Prague showed working people. A typical scene in Trepše's paintings had sombre men in hats sitting around a wooden table in a bar, playing cards and drinking, some fallen asleep where they sat. The place is obscurely lit, full of smoke, and there is usually just one woman in the company. A large retrospective exhibit of his works opened in 2010 in the

Art Pavilion The Art pavillion in Zagreb ( hr, Umjetnički paviljon u Zagrebu) is an art gallery in Zagreb, Croatia. The pavilion is located on the Lenuci Horseshoe, Lower town area of the city, south of Nikola Šubić Zrinski Square, on the northern side of ...

, Zagreb. It included works in oils, watercolour and prints, as well as some of his original designs for theatre sets. More comprehensive than the previous retrospective held at the same venue in 1975, the exhibit provided the opportunity for a new reading of Trepše's work. In fact, much of his work was not generally known to the public, and this was the first showing for some of his best works. According to the art historian Zvonko Matković, who was responsible for organizing the exhibit, Marijan Trepše belongs among the most important Croatian artists of the first half of the 20th century. He was one of those who revived the style of Miroslav Kraljević, and took it closer to expressionism. Together with his contemporaries (Uzelac, Gecan and Varlaj) he brought important changes to the Spring Salon, a key part of the development of art in Croatia between the World wars. Trepše's output was diverse. He is considered one of the best graphic artists in the years immediately after World War I. In the early 1920s in Paris, classicist tendencies had emerged, with the rounded solid forms which can be seen in much of Trepše's art. Derain and

Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

were important references of the time. In the mid-1920s Trepše began to work in stained glass for which he received many commissions. His most important work Calvary (''Golgota''), which in 1935 was placed in the chapel of the suffering of Jesus (''Trpećeg Isusa'') in Zagreb. In 1925 he began work at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb, at a time when set design was developing in exciting new directions.

Works

Paintings

* Olive Tree (''Maslinik''), 1919 * Calvary (''Golgota''), 1920 * Portrait of Krleža (''Portret Krleže''), 1920 * Portrait of a Boy (''Portret dječaka''), 1920 * Self-portrait (Autoportret), around 1920 * Spring (''U prirodi''), 1921 * Ilich Square (''Ilički trg''), 1921 * Card Player (''Kartaš''), 1920/21 * Woman Before Sleeping (''Žena prije spavanja''), 1921/22 * Woman with Jar (''Žena s vrčem''), 1926 * Reclining Woman (''Žena koja leži'') * Woman with Fan (''Dama s lepezom''), 1930 * Woman with Cat (''Žena s mačkom''), 1931 * Village (''Selo''), 1930s

Graphical illustrations

* From Tales of Hoffmann (''Iz Hoffmannovih priča''), 1919 * From Cabaret (''Iz cabareta''), 1919 * Murder (''Ubojstvo''), 1919 * Thunderbird (''Grom''), 1919 * The Afflicted (''Bijednici''), 1919 * Samson and Delila (''Samson i Dalila''), 1919 * We Want Barrabas (''Hoćemo Barabu''), 1919

Theatrical set designs

Sets and costumes for National Theatre productions, including * Calderon's Gospođe Đavolice, 1925 * Johnny plays (''Johnny svira''), 1928 * Maruf's H. Rabauda (1929) * Bone (''Koštana''), 1931 * Samson and Delila (''Samson i Dalila''), 1937 * Stonemason (''Kamenik'') 1946/1947 * Equinox (''Ekvinocij''), 1950/1951

Exhibitions

During his lifetime, Marijan Trepše exhibited in the Zagreb Spring Salon, and with the Group of Four.

Solo exhibitions

Recent exhibitions of his work include: * 2010-2011 Marijan Trepše retrospektiva,

Zagreb * 1975 Marijan Trepše - Art Pavilion, Zagreb

Group exhibitions

* 1997 Realism of the 1920s: Magic, Classic, Objective in Croatian Art. ArTresor Studio, Zagreb * 1980 Expressionism and Croatian Art, Art Pavilion Zagreb

Public Collections

Marijan Trepše's work can be found in the following public collections Croatia *

Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb The Museum of Contemporary Art ( hr, Muzej suvremene umjetnosti, often abbreviated to MSU) is a contemporary art museum located on Dubrovnik Avenue in Zagreb, Croatia. It is the biggest and most modern museum in the country. History The museum ...

Gallery of Fine Arts, Split The Museum of Fine Arts ( hr , Galerija umjetnina), is an art museum in Split, Croatia containing works from the 14th century up to the present day providing an overview of the artistic developments in the local art scene. The museum was founded ...

* Gallery of Fine Arts,

Osijek Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja ...

* Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art,

Rijeka Rijeka ( , , ; also known as Fiume hu, Fiume, it, Fiume ; local Chakavian: ''Reka''; german: Sankt Veit am Flaum; sl, Reka) is the principal seaport and the third-largest city in Croatia (after Zagreb and Split). It is located in Primor ...

Serbia * Museum of Contemporary Art,

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 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trepse, Marijan 1887 births 1964 deaths Croatian designers Artists from Zagreb Academy of Fine Arts, Prague alumni Alumni of the Académie de la Grande Chaumière 20th-century Croatian painters Croatian male painters 20th-century Croatian male artists