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 shapes to geometric elements. He made sculptures and reliefs in wood and in metal (since 1957). The multiplication of the basic plastic unit within a regular grid is one of his trademark procedures. He was one of the founders and members of the group EXAT 51 which, in the period 1950–1956, consisted of the architects

Vjenceslav Richter Vjenceslav Richter (; 8 April 1917 – 2 December 2002) was a Croatian architect. He was also known for his work in the fields of urbanism, sculpture, graphic arts, painting and stage design. Career In 1949, Richter graduated at the Department o ...

, Bernardo Bernardi, Zdravko Bregovac, Božidar Rašica and Vladimir Zaharović, and the painters Vlado Kristl and Aleksandar Srnec. He was also a member of the Industrial Design Studio – SIO (1956). He is one of the founders of the New Tendencies movement, and he participated in the production and exhibited at the ''New Tendencies'' exhibitions in Zagreb (1961–67). He spent a lot of time in Paris where he collaborated with the Denise René Gallery. He also involved himself in graphic design (posters and books) from the mid-1960s and published four graphic maps: ''8 seriographies'' (1957), ''Oeuvre programmeé'' (1966), ''Cyclophoria'' (1971) and ''Géométrie élémentaire'' (1973). He organized the first industrial design exhibition in Zagreb in 1955 and helped design the Yugoslavian pavilions for national and international exhibitions. He exhibited at many solo (since 1952) and group shows, such as the

Venice Biennale 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 ...

(1969, 1972), ''A Century of Avant-garde Art in Middle and Eastern Europe'' (Bonn, 1994), ''Constructivism and Kinetic Art'' (Zagreb, 1995), ''Ivan Picelj – Graphic Art Opus 1957–2003'', International Centre of Graphic Arts (MGLC), (Ljubljana, 2003), ''Picelj'', Denise René Gallery (Rive Gauche, Paris, 2008). His works are part of the museum collections at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Rijeka, the

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 ...

, the

Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź Muzeum () is a Prague Metro station providing the interchange between Lines A and C, and serving the National Museum. It is located at the top end of Wenceslas Square. The Line C station was opened on 9 May 1974, with the first section of ...

, the International Centre of Graphic Arts in Ljubljana, the

Museum of Modern Art, New York The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

. Many works also belong to many private collections such as the Filip Trade Collection, Croatia. 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 "Life Achievement" (1994).http://www.avantgarde-museum.com/kolekcija/ht/autor.php?lang=en&autor=53 avantgarde-museum Ivan Picelj was born in

Okučani Okučani is a village and municipal centre in western Slavonia, Croatia. It is located 19 km southeast of Novska and 17 km west of Nova Gradiška.

and died in

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 ...

Notes and references

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Picelj, Ivan 20th-century Croatian sculptors 21st-century Croatian sculptors 20th-century Croatian painters Croatian male painters 21st-century Croatian painters 21st-century male artists Croatian contemporary artists 1924 births Vladimir Nazor Award winners Croatian sculptors Croatian designers People from Okučani 2011 deaths Op art 20th-century male artists