Ivana Tomljenović-Meller (1906 – 1988), born Ivana Tomljenović, was a graphic designer and art teacher from

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 ...

who attended the

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 20 ...

art school in Germany.Ivana Tomljenović: Bauhaus100
Retrieved 16 April 2019. Her main interests were photography and poster design. She was also a semi-professional athlete.Otto, Elizabeth (2015
'Good luck, Bauhaus and Berlin comrades, and see you after the Revolution'
in The Brooklyn Rail. Retrieved 9 January 2017. She studied at the Royal College for Arts and Crafts in Zagreb, now the

Academy of Fine Arts, University of Zagreb The Academy of Fine Arts Zagreb ( hr, Akademija likovnih umjetnosti u Zagrebu or ALU) is a Croatian art school based in Zagreb. It is one of the three art academies affiliated with the University of Zagreb, along with the Academy of Dramatic Art ...

, from 1924 to 1928, and after graduating went to the

Kunstgewerbeschule A Kunstgewerbeschule (English: ''School of Arts and Crafts'' or S''chool of Applied Arts'') was a type of vocational arts school that existed in German-speaking countries from the mid-19th century. The term Werkkunstschule was also used for thes ...

(a college of applied arts) in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, now the

University of Applied Arts Vienna The University of Applied Arts Vienna (german: Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien, or informally just ''Die Angewandte'') is an arts university and institution of higher education in Vienna, the capital of Austria. It has had university sta ...

. However, she left Vienna in 1929 to attend the Bauhaus in Dessau. After undertaking Josef Albers' first year preliminary course she started the photography course taught by Walter Peterhans. Tomljenović-Meller took many informal photographs of everyday life at the Bauhaus, showing students in the canteen, and relaxing and socialising. These document the ''

Neues Sehen The ''Neues Sehen'', also known as New Vision or ''Neue Optik'', was a movement, not specifically restricted to photography, which was developed in the 1920s. The movement was directly related to the principles of the Bauhaus. ''Neues Sehen'' con ...

'' (New Vision), an avantgarde movement of the 1920s and 1930s espoused by

László Moholy-Nagy László Moholy-Nagy (; ; born László Weisz; July 20, 1895 – November 24, 1946) was a Hungarian painter and photographer as well as a professor in the Bauhaus school. He was highly influenced by constructivism and a strong advocate of the ...

and

Alexander Rodchenko Aleksander Mikhailovich Rodchenko (russian: link=no, Алекса́ндр Миха́йлович Ро́дченко; – 3 December 1956) was a Russian and Soviet artist, sculptor, photographer, and graphic designer. He was one of the founders ...

. It encouraged photography of ordinary scenes which used unfamiliar perspectives and angles, close-up details, use of light and shadow, and experimentation with multiple exposure.Ivana Tomljenović, 1930 Bauhaus Canteen, Dessau
. Retrieved 10 January 2017) Her father, Dr. Tomislav Tomljenović (1877 - 1945), was a prominent Croatian politician and lawyer, and although she came from an affluent middle class family, she joined the Communist Party of Germany and became politically active. When

Hannes Meyer Hans Emil "Hannes" Meyer (18 November 1889 – 19 July 1954) was a Swiss architect and second director of the Bauhaus Dessau from 1928 to 1930. Early life Meyer was born in Basel, Switzerland, trained as a mason, and practiced as an architect ...

was dismissed from his post as Bauhaus director in August 1930, all known Communist students were also thrown out. A number of others, like Tomljenović, left in solidarity. Tomljenović-Meller then went to Berlin and worked as a poster designer, and as a stage designer with the

Dada Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 1920 Dada flourished in Pari ...

ist artist

John Heartfield John Heartfield (born Helmut Herzfeld; 19 June 1891 – 26 April 1968) was a 20th century German visual artist who pioneered the use of art as a political weapon. Some of his most famous photomontages were anti-Nazi and anti-fascist statements. ...

on a theater set for Communist director

Erwin Piscator Erwin Friedrich Maximilian Piscator (17 December 1893 – 30 March 1966) was a German theatre director and producer. Along with Bertolt Brecht, he was the foremost exponent of epic theatre, a form that emphasizes the socio-political content o ...

. In the same period she participated in the European championship in

Czech handball Czech handball (Czech: ''česká házená'', also known as ''národní házená'' – ''national handball'') is an outdoor ball game which was created in 1905 in Prague and is still played today. This sport is very similar to team handball. ...

. She then moved to

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 ...

in 1931 to study literature at the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

. In 1932 she moved to

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

and married Alfred Meller, owner of the ROTA advertising company. After Meller’s death in 1935, Tomljenović-Meller returned to Zagreb and later moved to Belgrade, where she taught poster design. She returned to Zagreb in 1938 to teach at the Third State High School for Women. She stopped teaching during

WWII 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 ...

, but resumed after the war was over until retiring in 1962. Tomljenović-Meller died in Zagreb in 1988.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tomljenović-Meller, Ivana Croatian women artists Bauhaus alumni Artists from Zagreb Croatian photographers Croatian women photographers Sportspeople from Zagreb Yugoslav female handball players 1906 births 1988 deaths Women graphic designers Yugoslav expatriates in Germany

See also

References