Ljubomir Micić ( sr-cyr, Љубомир Мицић; 15 November 1895 – 14 June 1971) was a

Serbian Serbian may refer to: * Pertaining to Serbia in Southeast Europe; in particular **Serbs, a South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans ** Serbian language ** Serbian culture **Demographics of Serbia, includes other ethnic groups within the co ...

poet, writer, critic, editor and actor. He was the founder of the avant-garde movement

Zenitism Zenitism ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Zenitizam, Зенитизам) was an avant-garde art movement in Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia that lasted from 1921 until 1926, first appearing in Zagreb from 1921 to 1924 and from 1924 in Belgrade ...

and its magazine ''Zenit''. Both he and his brother, Branko Ve Poljanski became prominent ''

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

'' artists.

Biography

He studied philosophy at

University of Zagreb The University of Zagreb (, ) is a public university, public research university in Zagreb, Croatia. It is the largest Croatian university and one of the oldest continuously operating universities in Europe. The University of Zagreb and the Unive ...

. He founded the review ''Zenit'', set up a Zenit Gallery and published his own writings and other authors under the Zenit imprint. Zenit was active from February 1921 until April 1924 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 ...

, and afterward in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

from 1924 until late 1926 with a total of 43 editions. The first artist to collaborate with Micić and to contribute to Zenit's orientation towards

Expressionism Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

was Vilko Gecan. Micić's Zenitism was supported by a small number of younger Yugoslav artists, namely

Mihajlo Petrov Mihajlo S. Petrov (1902-1983) was a Serbian-Yugoslavian avant-garde painter, graphic artist, illustrator, etcher, and art critic. Biography After he completed his studies under the tutelage of Ljubomir Ivanović at the Arts and Crafts School and ...

Vasa Pomorišac Vasa Pomorišac (15 December 1893 — 9 September 1961) was a Serbian artist and professor at the Academy of Applied Arts in Belgrade. He worked as a painter, stained glass window maker, etcher, printmaker and he was also an art critic. He is consi ...

Jovan Bijelić Jovan Bijelić ( sr-cyr, Јован Бијелић ( – 12 March 1964) was a painter and academic. Bijelić is one of the most important representatives of color expressionism in Yugoslavia. The Department of Fine Arts and Music of the Serbia ...

, Petar Dobrović,

Ivan Radović Ivan Radović ( sr-Cyrl, Иван Радовић ; 22 June 1894 – 14 August 1973) was a Serbian-Yugoslavs, Yugoslav tennis player and Painting, painter. Early life and education Ivan Radović was born in Vršac and graduated from the Teach ...

. Micić worked on collecting and exhibiting avant-garde art in Zenit editorial offices in

and

, and he organized Zenit international exhibitions of new art in Belgrade in 1924. Micić initially followed expressionistic ideas, which can be seen in the introductory text of the first Zenit, and in texts of authors including

Miloš Crnjanski Miloš Crnjanski ( sr-Cyrl, Милош Црњански, ; 26 October 1893 – 30 November 1977) was a Serbian writer and poet of the expressionist wing of Serbian modernism, author, journalist and a diplomat. Biography Crnjanski was born in Cso ...

, Stanislav Vinaver, Rastko Petrović and Dušan Matić. Besides Serbian authors, international writers contributed in more than five languages, including

Esperanto Esperanto (, ) is the world's most widely spoken Constructed language, constructed international auxiliary language. Created by L. L. Zamenhof in 1887 to be 'the International Language' (), it is intended to be a universal second language for ...

. The magazine established ties with

Futurists Futurists (also known as futurologists, prospectivists, foresight practitioners and horizon scanners) are people whose specialty or interest is futures studies or futurology or the attempt to systematically explore predictions and possibilities ...

, including

Filippo Tommaso Marinetti Filippo Tommaso Emilio Marinetti (; 22 December 1876 – 2 December 1944) was an Italian poet, editor, art theorist and founder of the Futurist movement. He was associated with the utopian and Symbolist artistic and literary community Abbaye de ...

. Joined by Ivan Galom and Boško Tokin, he published the "Manifesto of Zenitism" in which they stated their ideas and ideology. Beside clear contradictions in their statements, Zenitists placed humans in the center of their attention and advocated antitraditionalism, antimilitarism and reaching out to new media and art forms such as radio, film, and jazz. After closing Zenit, he moved to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, where he lived from 1927-1936. Inspired by the

Russian avant-garde The Russian avant-garde was a large, influential wave of avant-garde modern art that flourished in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, approximately from 1890 to 1930—although some have placed its beginning as early as 1850 and its e ...

, Micić favored the Constructivist view on creativity, denying inspiration as a term in favor of work, with a clear goal in mind. Shortly after abandoning expressionistic ideas, Micić coined the idea of ''Barbarogenije'', proposing Balkanisation and barbarisation of Europe. His ideas in favor of primitive and folk art came after

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and general disappointment in the culture of Western Europe. Micić considered the

Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

to be an unexplored area that could offer freshness and honesty. He was also highly critical of the total value of alleged "great" Croatian culture which he considered to be inferior compared next to

Serbian culture Serbian culture is a term that encompasses the Serbian art, artistic, Serbian cuisine, culinary, Serbian literature, literary, Music of Serbia, musical, Politics of Serbia, political and Serb traditions, social elements that are representati ...

Legacy

His work was almost forgotten after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. After his death, a collection of art and documentation of his publishing activities were found in his apartment, thus stimulating fresh research into the history and aesthetics of Zenitism. Micić's possessions, including a number of paintings, collages, drawings, books, and magazines were given to the

National Museum of Serbia The National Museum of Serbia () is the largest and oldest museum in Belgrade, Serbia. It is located in the central zone of Belgrade on a square plot between the Republic Square (Belgrade), Republic Square, formerly Theatre Square, and three stree ...

in 1980 and today they are a part of the permanent exhibition.

Works

* ''Ritmi mojih slutnja'', 1919. * ''Ritmi bez sjaja'', 1919. * ''Istočni greh'', 1920. * ''Misterij za bezbožne ljude čiste savesti'', 1920. * ''Spas duše'', 1920. * ''Stotinu vam bogova'', 1922. * ''Aeroplan bez motora'', 1925. * ''Antievropa'', 1926. * ''Hardi! A la Barbarie. Paroles zénitistes d'un barbare européen'', 1928. * ''Zéniton, L'Amant de Fata Morgana'', 1930. * ''Les Chevaliers de Montparnasse'', 1932. * ''Etre ou ne pas être i Après Saraïevo – Expédition punitive'', 1933. * ''Rien sans Amour'', 1935. * ''Barbarogénie le Décivilisateur'', 1938.

References

* Irina Subotić,
Istorijske avangarde: dadaizam - zenitizam - nadrealizam
, in ''Od Avangarde do Arkadije'', Belgrade: Clio, 2000. * Part of the article adapted from - https://monoskop.org/Ljubomir_Micić {{DEFAULTSORT:Micić, Ljubomir Serbian Austro-Hungarians Serbian male poets Serbian critics Serbian male journalists 20th-century Serbian poets 1895 births 1971 deaths Serbs of Croatia Zenitism

Biography

Legacy

Works

See also

References