Branko Ružić (4 March 1919 – 27 November 1997) was a prominent Croatian painter, sculptor and professor at the Academy of Fine Arts, Zagreb.

Early days

Branko Ružić was born in

Slavonski Brod Slavonski Brod (, ), commonly shortened to simply Brod, is a city in eastern Croatia, near the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina. Being one of the principal cities in the historical regions of Slavonia and Posavina, Slavonski Brod is the 7th lar ...

to Katarina (born Blažeković) and Antun Ružić, as the youngest of four children. When he was six years old his parents moved him to

Vinkovci Vinkovci () is a city in Slavonia, in the Vukovar-Syrmia County in eastern Croatia. The city settlement's population was 28,111 in the 2021 census, while the total population was 30,842, making it the largest town of the county. It is a local tr ...

where he started school. Ružić showed a passion and skill for drawing from an early age and by the time he was in secondary school, he was already recognized by his art teacher who used to take him, along with his more advanced colleagues (one of them was painter Slavko Kopač), to

paint Paint is a material or mixture that, when applied to a solid material and allowed to dry, adds a film-like layer. As art, this is used to create an image or images known as a painting. Paint can be made in many colors and types. Most paints are ...

in the open air. After secondary school, Ružić has attended a few universities before he eventually entered the Academy of Fine Arts to study

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

in 1940. He graduated under Ivo Lozica and Frano Kršinić in 1944. Although he already had a degree in

he began a four–year

painting Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

course in professor Marino Tartaglia's class. He acquired a degree in

in 1948 and soon after began to exhibit his works. In 1951 Ružić mounted his first solo

exhibition An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibiti ...

paintings Painting is a visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or " support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush. Other implements, ...

in Vinkovci City Museum. In the next couple of years he successfully participated in numerous exhibitions (including in

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

and

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

), but soon found painting to be less and less fulfilling. Eventually Ružić completely abandoned painting so he could dedicate himself to sculpting, although he returned to painting later in his career. In 1956 he sculpted the head "Father", which he considered his first piece of

. In 1959 he held his first solo exhibition of sculptures at the ULUH (Society of Croatian Artists) salon 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, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

Work, career and awards

Ružić was known for his famous statement „Everything is a sculpture“. He made his

sculptures Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

in various techniques including

wood Wood is a structural tissue/material found as xylem in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulosic fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin t ...

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

plaster of Paris Plaster is a building material used for the protective or decorative coating of walls and ceilings and for moulding and casting decorative elements. In English, "plaster" usually means a material used for the interiors of buildings, while "re ...

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

plate,

terracotta Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based non-vitreous ceramic OED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used for earthenware obj ...

stone In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...

and

paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, Textile, rags, poaceae, grasses, Feces#Other uses, herbivore dung, or other vegetable sources in water. Once the water is dra ...

. With his condensed forms, suggestive profiling and architectural volumes in which he overcomes the general over the individual he joined the trend of renewal in Croatian

in the 1950s. The motifs of Ružić's

are varied: figures,

portraits A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face is always predominant. In arts, a portrait may be represented as half body and even full body. If the subject in full body better re ...

sequences In mathematics, a sequence is an enumerated collection of objects in which repetitions are allowed and order matters. Like a set, it contains members (also called ''elements'', or ''terms''). The number of elements (possibly infinite) is call ...

, groups, motifs from

nature Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the Ecosphere (planetary), ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the Scientific law, laws, elements and phenomenon, phenomena of the physic ...

. His works are characterized by simplicity and monumentality, and sometimes by specific deformations that carry a strain of

humor Humour ( Commonwealth English) or humor (American English) is the tendency of experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. The term derives from the humoral medicine of the ancient Greeks, which taught that the balance of fluids i ...

and

irony Irony, in its broadest sense, is the juxtaposition of what, on the surface, appears to be the case with what is actually or expected to be the case. Originally a rhetorical device and literary technique, in modernity, modern times irony has a ...

. In his career Ružić held more than one hundred solo and two hundred collective

exhibitions An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibition ...

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

and abroad. He won many recognitions and awards such as

Rovinj Rovinj (; Venetian and ; Istriot: or ; ; ) is a city in west Croatia situated on the north Adriatic Sea with a population of 14,294 (2011). Located on the western coast of the Istrian peninsula, it is a popular tourist resort and beach destin ...

Municipality Award (1967, 1972), City of

Award (1968), Vladimir Nazor Annual Award (1973), First prize at the Concorso Archettilegnani,

Madonna di Campiglio Madonna di Campiglio () is a village and a ski resort in northeast Italy. It is a ''frazione'' of the ''comune'' of Pinzolo. The village lies in the Val Rendena at an elevation of above sea level, and has approximately 1,000 inhabitants. Th ...

(1988), Grand Prix at the 3rd Triennale of Croatian

Sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

(1988), Grand Prix Grisie,

(1989) and

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

for lifetime achievement (1985). In 1964 Ružić exhibited his

at the 32nd.

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

where an international jury awarded his work with the prize for

from the "David Bright Foundation", which makes him the only

Croat The Croats (; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other neighboring countries in Central Europe, Central and Southeastern Europe who share a common Croatian Cultural heritage, ancest ...

ever to win a prize at the

. His works are exhibited at many galleries and

museums A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private collections that are used by researchers ...

but most of his opus stayed within his family and the Ružić gallery in

. Ružić also wrote about his views and experience in working with children in the book „Children drawing“ (1958). From 1961 to 1985 he was professor in

at Academy of Fine Arts, Zagreb.

The Ružić gallery

In 1993 the authorities of the city of

and Branko Ružić (and his wife Julia) signed an agreement concerning donation of 410 works and archives of the artist. Also, on Ružić’s call, more than a hundred renowned Croatian

painters Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

and

sculptors Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable ...

gave of their works for this collection, which makes it the first permanent exhibition of the Croatian modern art of the second half of the 20th century. Diminić, Radovani,

Petrić Petrić ( sr-Cyrl, Петрић) is a South Slavic surname, a patronymic of Petar. Notable people with the name include: * Daniel Petric (born 1991) American murderer * Bojan Petrić (born 1984), Bosnian f ...

, Džamonja, Srnec, Picelj, Richter, Bourek, Lončarić, Lesiak, Lipovac, Babić, Šebalj, Biffel, Hegedušić, Keser, Kožarić, Drinković, Jordan, Kinert, Parać, Šutej, Labaš, Murtić, Popović are just some of the names presented. The gallery is situated within the Brod Fortress, in the renovated part of the southwestern tract of the Cavalier, on the gross area of 1.800 sq. metres. The Ružić gallery was officially opened on 15 June 2004.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruzic, Branko People from Slavonski Brod Croatian sculptors 1919 births 1997 deaths 20th-century sculptors 20th-century Croatian painters Croatian male painters 20th-century Croatian male artists

Early days

Work, career and awards

The Ružić gallery

Further reading

References