Ivan Kožarić (10 June 1921,

Petrinja Petrinja () is a town in central Croatia near Sisak in the historic region of Banovina. It is administratively located in Sisak-Moslavina County. On December 29, 2020, the town was hit by a strong earthquake with a magnitude of 6.4 , causing ...

– 15 November 2020,

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 ...

) was a Croatian artist who worked primarily with sculpture but also in a wide variety of media, including: permanent and temporary sculptures, assemblages, proclamations, photographs, paintings, and installations. He lived and worked in

, Croatia. His works are characterized by a sense of mischief, spontaneity and by his nonchalant approach to life. He was one of the founding members of the Gorgona Group, whose active members between 1959 and 1966 were Miljenko Horvat,

Julije Knifer Julije Knifer (23 April 1924 – 7 December 2004) was a Croatian abstract painter and a founding member of the 1960s Croatian art collective known as the Gorgona Group. The central motif of Knifer's art is the exploration of meander, a geometric f ...

Marijan Jevšovar Marijan Jevšovar (1922 in Zagreb, Croatia – 1998 in Zagreb, Croatia) was a Croatian painter and founding member of the prominent 60s Croatian art group known as, Gorgona Group. Jevšovar's explorations of the medium of painting led him to ...

Dimitrije Bašičević Mangelos (born Dimitrije Bašičević; 21 April 1921 – 18 December 1987) was a Yugoslavian artist, curator and art critic whose artistic production included handmade books, sculptures and paintings. His work and research contributed greatly to t ...

(who also works under the name Mangelos), Matko Meštrović, Radoslav Putar,

Đuro Seder Đuro Seder (29 November 1927 – 2 May 2022) was a Croatian painter. He lived and worked in Zagreb. Career At the beginning of his career he worked as an illustrator, image editor, and designer at various magazines. He was one of the founding me ...

and Josip Vaništa. During his period in Gorgona, his sculptures reduced in form, which would become the main characteristic of his later sculptural project consisting of numerous sculptures entitled the ''Feeling of Wholeness''.Beroš, Nada ''Highlights: Collection in Motion'' p. 178 (Muzej Suvremene Umjetnosti, Zagreb 2010) He had many solo exhibitions, both in Croatia and internationally. Some of the exhibitions were held at the Museum of Modern Art in

Paris Paris () is the capital and 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), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

(2002) and at the

Art Pavilion in Zagreb The Art pavillion in Zagreb ( hr, Umjetnički paviljon u Zagrebu) is an art gallery in Zagreb, Croatia. The pavilion is located on the Lenuci Horseshoe, Donji grad(Zagreb), Lower town area of the city, south of Nikola Šubić Zrinski Square, on th ...

(2005–2006). He participated in many international group shows, including 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 ...

(1976), the São Paulo Biennale (1979), and

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 ...

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...

(2002). 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 ...

bought his entire studio for display in the gallery in 2007. Commissioned by the

Filip Trade Collection The Filip Trade Collection (Croatian: ''Zbirka Filip Trade'') is a large private collection of contemporary Croatian art. The collection is a subsidiary of Filip Trade, a distribution company with its offices located in the capital city of Croatia, ...

, he made ''Ascent'', a slender sculpture more than 13 meters high (2002). He was the author of many public sculptures, including ''Landed Sun'' in Zagreb (1971), ''A. G. Matoš'' in Zagreb (1978), and ''Tree'' in

Bochum Bochum ( , also , ; wep, Baukem) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a population of 364,920 (2016), is the sixth largest city (after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg) of the most populous Germany, German federal state o ...

(1979–1980). He received numerous awards, including 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 Cr ...

for Life Achievement (1997).Ministry of Culture Website
link to the recipients of the Vladimir Nazor Life Achievement Award. File:Kožarić - Prizemljeno sunce.jpg, 'Prizemljeno sunce'('The Grounded Sun', 1971)in downtown

u, Bogovićeva street. Since 2004, it is a part of the ambiental installation

Nine Views ''Nine Views'' ( hr, Devet pogleda) is an ambiental installation art, installation in Zagreb, Croatia which, together with the sculpture ''Prizemljeno Sunce'' (''The Grounded Sun''), comprises a scale Solar System model, model of the Solar System. ...

. File:A.G. Matos (Zagreb).jpg,

Antun Gustav Matoš Antun Gustav Matoš (; 13 June 1873 – 17 March 1914) was a Croatian poet, short story writer, journalist, essayist and travelogue writer. He is considered the champion of Croatian modernist literature, opening Croatia to the currents of E ...

(writer) on Strossmay walkway in

File:Ivan Kozaric Hodac Korzo Rijeka 090610 2.jpg, Walker on

Rijeka Rijeka ( , , ; also known as Fiume hu, Fiume, it, Fiume ; local Chakavian: ''Reka''; german: Sankt Veit am Flaum; sl, Reka) is the principal seaport and the third-largest city in Croatia (after Zagreb and Split). It is located in Primor ...

main street Korso

Published works on Ivan Kožarić

* Maračić, Antun & Turković, Evelina, ''Studio Kožarić'' (Ideaimago, Zagreb, 1995). * Župan, Ivica, ''Cheerful Sisyphus'' (Biblioteka Duchamp, Naklada MD, Zagreb, 1996). * Koščević, Želimir, ''Kožarić'' (Naklada Naprijed d.d. Zagreb, 1996). * Denegri, Jerko, ''Ivan Kožarić'' (Matica Hrvatska Sisak,

Sisak Sisak (; hu, Sziszek ; also known by other alternative names) is a city in central Croatia, spanning the confluence of the Kupa, Sava and Odra rivers, southeast of the Croatian capital Zagreb, and is usually considered to be where the Posavin ...

, 2006.). * Denegri, Jerko & Maroević, Tonko, ''Ivan Kožarić'' (exh. catalogue, Art Pavilion in Zagreb, Zagreb, 2006).

Notes and references

External links

Ivan Kožarić at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb

Ivan Kožarić at the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kozaric, Ivan Croatian sculptors Croatian contemporary artists 1921 births 2020 deaths Vladimir Nazor Award winners People from Petrinja Members of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts Academy of Fine Arts, University of Zagreb alumni Yugoslav sculptors