Vojin Bakić ( sr-cyrl, Војин Бакић; 5 June 1915 – 18 December 1992) was a prominent Yugoslav sculptor. Educated at the Zagreb Academy of Fine Arts and by

Ivan Meštrović Ivan Meštrović (; 15 August 1883 – 16 January 1962) was a Croatian sculptor, architect, and writer. He was the most prominent modern Croatian sculptor and a leading artistic personality in contemporary Zagreb. He studied at Pavle Bilinić's ...

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 ...

, Bakić's early works were dominated by a figurative depiction of female nudity with reduced breasts and closed volumes. After 1945, he moved towards the

impressionistic Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

treatment of the surface with expressive transitions of light and shadow without superfluous details, which, according to him, represented the expression of the joy of life, flash, and light, something he shared with his contemporaries who wanted to create a better and more humane world in post-World War II Yugoslavia. He was at first influenced by the

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 ...

, but later shifted towards

modernism Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

in the late 50s, embracing the challenges of an open form, interior spaces and light reflections, being among the first sculptors in Croatia that followed the program principles of geometric - in his case mostly circular - abstraction and optical research. His best-known works are ''busts of I. G. Kovačić and S. S. Kranjčević'', ''Bjelovarac'', ''Taurus'', ''Light Forms'', and WWII monuments at Petrova Gora,

Kamenska Kamenska is an uninhabited village in Požega-Slavonia County, Croatia. Kamenska is administered as a part of the Brestovac municipality. The village is connected by the D38 state road. Demographics According to the 2011 census, the village of K ...

, Kragujevac and Dotršćina. Bakić succeeded in realizing the avant-gardism of abstraction with the monumentality and immediacy that were traditionally features of classical figurative sculpture. During his lifetime, Bakić exhibited in over 200 group exhibitions in Yugoslavia, of which 75 were organized abroad. Uninterested in his own promotion, deeply immersed in creation, he had only a handful of solo exhibitions. In 1979, he received the

Vladimir Nazor Award The Vladimir Nazor Award ( hr, Nagrada Vladimir Nazor) is a Croatian prize for arts and culture established in 1959 and awarded every year by the Ministry of Culture. Named after the writer Vladimir Nazor (1876–1949), the prize is awarded to C ...

for lifetime and achievements in the arts.

Work and artistic career

Bakić was an important figure, particularly in the 1950s and 1960s Croatian contemporary art scene, and collaborated with the group EXAT-51 and the Nove tendencije (New Tendencies) movement. He executed many public sculptures notably, the ''Call to Arms (the man from Bjelovar)'', Bjelovar (1946) the ''Monument to the Revolution'' in

(1958–1968), the ''Monument to the Train Accident Victims'' in Zagreb (1975–1978), the ''Monument to the Uprising of the People of Kordun and Banija'' on Petrova Gora (1982) as well as monuments in

Kragujevac Kragujevac ( sr-Cyrl, Крагујевац, ) is the fourth largest city in Serbia and the administrative centre of the Šumadija District. It is the historical centre of the geographical region of Šumadija in central Serbia, and is situated on ...

and Dotrščina (Valley of Graves). After 1945 he gravitated towards the impressionistic treatment of the surface. This period is primarily marked by his portraits of Ivan Goran Kovačić (1946) and

Silvije Strahimir Kranjčević Silvije Strahimir Kranjčević (; 17 February 1865 – 29 October 1908) was a Croatian poet. His reflexive poetry, reaching its zenith in the 1890s, was a turning point that ushered modern themes in Croatian poetry. Early life Kranjčevi ...

(1948). During the 1950s Bakić reduced the volume of his sculptures by the use of sharp fractures as edges, and later by merging the details of the sculptural mass (''Self-portrait'', 1952 and ''sketch for the Marx and Engels Monument'', 1950–1953). During that time, he made an entire series of bull sculptures in various dimensions (''Bull'', 1950, 1956). With the series entitled ''Nudes, Torsos and Heads'' he completed his focus on organic, associative shapes, and from 1958 he turned towards the challenge of open forms, inner spaces and light reflections. Further professional development made him the first artist in a local context to follow the principles of geometric abstraction and to start the study of optic effects. By alternating concave and convex surfaces, he made "light shapes" which were close to constructivist poetics. In ''Elaborated Surfaces'' (1960–1964) he articulated strict and consistent units made of lined-up elements, whereas in ''Light-bearing Shapes'' (1963–1964) he created effective structures by means of modulating identical mirror units, for which he also used new materials, such as stainless steel.

Exhibitions and awards

At his first solo exhibition (Bjelovar, 1940) he exhibited drawings and sculptures where the predominating subjects were female nudes in stone, characterized by reduced curves and closed volumes. From 1940 he participated at many national and international exhibitions: the

Venice Biennial The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

(1950, 1956, 1964), the Mediterranean Biennial in Alexandria (1956, 1969), the

Milan Triennial XI The Milan Triennial XI was the Triennial in Milan of 1957 sanctioned by the Bureau of International Expositions (BIE). Its theme was ''Improving the Quality of Expression in Today’s Civilisation''. Contents There was a survey of sculpture of th ...

(1957),

Documenta ''documenta'' is an exhibition of contemporary art which takes place every five years in Kassel, Germany. The ''documenta'' was founded by artist, teacher and curator Arnold Bode in 1955 as part of the Bundesgartenschau (Federal Horticultura ...

in Kassel (1959), the Rijeka Salon (1959, 1961). He also exhibited with

Ivan Picelj Ivan Picelj (28 July 1924 – 22 February 2011) was a contemporary Croatian painter, sculptor and graphic designer. Picelj developed a specific variation of geometric abstraction in Croatian painting by using primary colours and by reducing the sh ...

and Aleksandar Srnec in Paris (Gallery Denis René, 1959) and London (1960). He participated at the New Tendencies exhibitions (Zagreb, 1963, 1969, Gelsenkirchen, 1969 and Mainz, 1971), the São Paulo Biennial (1969), and at the exhibition ''Constructivism and Kinetic Art'' (Zagreb, 1995). Gallery Nova (Zagreb, 2007), in collaboration with the artist's family, organized the opening of Bakić's first solo exhibition in Croatia after 41 years. In 1979 he received the

for life achievement.Ministry of Culture Website
link to the recipients of the Vladimir Nazor Life Achievement Award.

Destruction of Bakić's monuments

During the early 1990s, after the fall of the Communist regime, many of Bakić's

Yugoslav World War II monuments and memorials The authorities of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia established many World War II memorials during its existence. Several memorial sites were established between 1945 and 1960, though widespread building started after the founding of t ...

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

were damaged, destroyed or removed from public spaces. a) Destroyed monuments from 1990 to 1995: * ''Bjelovarac'', bronze,

Bjelovar Bjelovar ( hu, Belovár, german: Bellowar, Kajkavian: ''Belovar'') is a city in central Croatia. It is the administrative centre of Bjelovar-Bilogora County. At the 2021 census, there were 36,433 inhabitants, of whom 93.06% were Croats. History ...

, a gift to his home town. Mine-blasted in 1991. Restored on 8 December 2010. * ''Gudovčan'', bronze, Mine-blasted in 1991. Melted. * ''

Monument to the victory of the people of Slavonia Monument to the revolutionary victory of the people of Slavonia or Monument to the people-hero of Slavonia was a World War II memorial sculpture by Vojin Bakić, that was located in, now uninhabited, Serbian village of Kamenska, Brestovac, Slavo ...

'', stainless steel,

Voćin Voćin is a village and municipality in western Slavonia, Croatia, located southwest of Slatina and east of Daruvar. The population of the municipality is 1,911, with 956 people living in Voćin itself (census 2021). Geography Voćin, a pilgrima ...

. Blasted on 21 February 1992. Parts of it were used to produce utensils and dishware. * ''Monuments to Partisans of Bilogora'', bronze, Bačkovica near

. Destroyed in 1991. * 6–7 smaller statues in the Dotrščina Memorial Park near

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 ...

were destroyed or stolen. * Busts of

Ljudevit Jonke Ljudevit Jonke (29 July 1907 – 15 March 1979) was a Croatian language, Croatian linguist. Life and work Jonke was born in Karlovac, where he completed primary school and Gymnasium Karlovac. He graduated at the Faculty of Philosophy, Zagreb, ...

, and Ivan Goran Kovačić. Bust of Ivan Goran Kovačić was destroyed on 17 July 2004. b) Damaged monuments: *''

Monument to the uprising of the people of Kordun and Banija The Monument to the Uprising of the People of Kordun and Banija (simply known as the Petrova Gora Monument) is a World War II monument built on Veliki Petrovac, the highest peak of Petrova Gora ( en, Peter's Mountain), a mountain range in centr ...

'', reinforced concrete and stainless steel. After

Operation Storm }) was the last major battle of the Croatian War of Independence and a major factor in the outcome of the Bosnian War. It was a decisive victory for the Croatian Army (HV), which attacked across a front against the self-declared proto-state Re ...

, the monument was devastated. *''Memorial to Bakić Brothers'' in Bjelovar. Removed. *''Memorial on Bakić family tomb''. Removed. *''Bust of Josip Broz Tito'' in Veliko Trojstvo. Removed and relocated to the Bjelovar museum.

Works published on Vojin Bakić

*Matić, Dušan – ''Vojin Bakić: Moj prijatelj'', (Euroknjiga, 2007) *Galerija Nova – ''Novine #12'', (Zagreb, June 2007)

Gallery of work

Vojin Bakić radi na skulpturi I. G. Kovačića.jpg, Bakić working on the Ivan Goran Kovačić bust (1946) Bakicev Bjelovarac - Borik 2010.jpg, ''Bejlovarac'' (1947), Borik Memorial Park,

(Part of the series of statues "Call to the Uprising'') Spomenik Marxu i Engelsu.jpg, ''Monument to Marx and Engels'' (1953) Vojin Bakić radi na skulpturi Bika, 1956.JPG, ''Taurus'' (1956) Spomenik borcima revolucije 008.jpg, '' Stjepan Filipović'' monument (1960),

Valjevo Valjevo (Serbian Cyrillic: Ваљево, ) is a List of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative center of the Kolubara District in western Serbia. According to the 2011 census, the administrative area of Valjevo had 90,312 inhabitants, 59,07 ...

Vojin Bakić, Spomenik pobjedi revolucije naroda Slavonije, Kamenska.JPG, ''

Monument to the Victory of the People of Slavonia Monument to the revolutionary victory of the people of Slavonia or Monument to the people-hero of Slavonia was a World War II memorial sculpture by Vojin Bakić, that was located in, now uninhabited, Serbian village of Kamenska, Brestovac, Slavo ...

'' (1957–68),

(destroyed) Dotrscina spomenik 1a.jpg, ''Dotrščina Monument'' (1963–68), Dotrščina Memorial Park,

Sculpture Rings Mainz.jpg, ''Rings'' (1974),

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main (river), Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-we ...

19.08.2010. Petrova Gora - panoramio (1).jpg, ''

Monument to the Uprising of the People of Kordun and Banija The Monument to the Uprising of the People of Kordun and Banija (simply known as the Petrova Gora Monument) is a World War II monument built on Veliki Petrovac, the highest peak of Petrova Gora ( en, Peter's Mountain), a mountain range in centr ...

'' (1971–81), Petrova Gora Krugovi-in-Sumarice.jpg, ''Circles'' (1981),

Šumarice Memorial Park October in Kragujevac Memorial Park ( sr, italic=yes, Spomen-park „Kragujevački oktobar", Спомен-парк „Крагујевачки октобар"), also known as Šumarice Memorial Park (''Memorijalni park Šumarice'', Мемориј� ...

Bjelovar IV.osnovna.jpg, ''Mirrors'', Location:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bakic, Vojin 1915 births 1992 deaths People from Bjelovar People from the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia Serbs of Croatia Members of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts Vladimir Nazor Award winners 20th-century Serbian people 20th-century Croatian people Burials at Mirogoj Cemetery 20th-century Croatian sculptors