![Nikola Martinoski 1967cr](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/Nikola_Martinoski_1967cr.jpg)
Nikola Martinoski (18 August 1903 – 7 February 1973), sometimes spelled Martinovski ( mk, Никола Мартиноски), was a
Yugoslav Aromanian painter.
He is considered as a founder of contemporary
Macedonian art.
Martinoski is best known for his painting titled ''
Mother with Child'', which, although first created in the 1930s, was not completed until the 1960s. He is also known as "The Doctor" for the many paintings he donated to
modern art.
Early life
![Nikola Martinovski self-portrait 1977 stamp of Yugoslavia](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/Nikola_Martinovski_self-portrait_1977_stamp_of_Yugoslavia.jpg)
Martinoski was born Nikolache Martin in 1903 to an
Aromanian family in
Kruševo
Kruševo ( mk, Крушево ; rup, Crushuva "Crușuva") is a town in North Macedonia. In Macedonian the name means the 'place of pear trees'. It is the highest town in North Macedonia and one of the highest in the Balkans, situated at an altit ...
(at the time part of the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
).
He developed an interest in painting at a young age and attended art classes in the workshop of Dimitar Andonov-Papradinski, an icon painter in
Skopje
Skopje ( , , ; mk, Скопје ; sq, Shkup) is the capital and List of cities in North Macedonia by population, largest city of North Macedonia. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre.
The territory of Sk ...
. Prior to 1921, he was constantly on the move. Finally, Nikola settled down in
Bucharest
Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...
,
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...
and attended the Academy of Fine Arts, now known as the
Bucharest National University of Arts, from which he graduated in 1927.
Years in Paris
Martinoski spent two years (1927–1928) in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 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), ma ...
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 Acad� ...
, which is famous for former students
Amedeo Modigliani and
Boris Anrep and the
Académie Ranson
The Académie Ranson was founded in Paris by the French painter Paul Ranson (1862–1909), who himself studied at the Académie Julian, in 1908. with artists like the
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles
Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...
painter
Moise Kisling and
Roger Bissiere, who acted as
mentors. This period had a major impact on his life and style as a painter.
Life in Skopje
![„Невеста“ (1937) -Н](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/%E2%80%9E%D0%9D%D0%B5%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%E2%80%9C_%281937%29_-%D0%9D.%D0%9C%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%BE%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8.jpg)
Martinoski came back to Skopje brimming with
avant-garde
The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...
ideas about art. He developed a very specific
expressionistic
Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...
style and started dealing with social themes rather than portraits. Nikola soon became a member of the Belgrade group
Oblik.
His first individual
exhibition was in 1929 in
Skopje
Skopje ( , , ; mk, Скопје ; sq, Shkup) is the capital and List of cities in North Macedonia by population, largest city of North Macedonia. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre.
The territory of Sk ...
. Afterwards, he started exhibiting in other cities such as
Belgrade,
Zagreb
Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Slov ...
and
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 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), ma ...
. While he continued drawing, painting, and exhibiting, Martinoski also began creating large murals. Later, he established the Artistic Gallery located in Skopje (now known as the
National Gallery of Macedonia) and won numerous awards.
Martinoski died on 7 February 1973, at the age of sixty-nine in Skopje, then in Yugoslavia. He gave sixty-two of his paintings to
Kruševo
Kruševo ( mk, Крушево ; rup, Crushuva "Crușuva") is a town in North Macedonia. In Macedonian the name means the 'place of pear trees'. It is the highest town in North Macedonia and one of the highest in the Balkans, situated at an altit ...
as a parting gift. His home in Kruševo is now a gallery where a small number of his works are exhibited.
Centenary of Martinoski's birth
In 2003, the
National Gallery of Macedonia completed the project "100 years from Martinoski's birth". The exhibition featured paintings that had never been publicly shown before because they were part of 116 paintings that Martinoski left to his family in a nondescript box.
Painting style
Many of Martinoski's works were greatly influenced by medieval
fresco art and modern Parisian school crisscross. However, his strongest artistic creations were portraits.
References
External links
Nikola Martinoski Biography and Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martinovski, Nikola
1903 births
1973 deaths
People from Kruševo
Alumni of the Académie de la Grande Chaumière
Yugoslav painters