Vladimir Becić (1886–1954) was a

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 ...

ian painter, best known for his early work in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, which had a strong influence on the direction of

modern art Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradit ...

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 ...

. Becić studied painting in

at the prestigious

Academy of Arts An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

along with Oskar Herman, Miroslav Kraljević and Josip Račić. This group of Croatian artists are known as the Munich Circle or Munich Four, and are very important figures in Croatian art of the 20th century. After Munich, Becić spent 2 years studying and working in Paris before returning to

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 ...

in 1910. During the First World War, Vladimir Becić worked as a war artist on the

Salonika front The Macedonian front, also known as the Salonica front (after Thessaloniki), was a military theatre of World War I formed as a result of an attempt by the Allied Powers to aid Serbia, in the autumn of 1915, against the combined attack of Germa ...

producing a series of images of the soldiers and wounded. Following the end of the war, he spent time in a village near

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

, where he painted landscapes and rural subjects in a style that used colour and tonal variations to depict form and space. Becić was a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb (1924–1947), and a member of the

Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts The Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts (; , HAZU) is the national academy of Croatia. HAZU was founded under the patronage of the Croatian bishop Josip Juraj Strossmayer under the name Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts (, JAZU) since its ...

from 1934.

Biography

Vladimir Becić 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 ...

on 1 June 1886. He initially studied law in

and attended the private art school of Menci Clement Crnčić and

Bela Čikoš Sesija Bela Čikoš Sesija (born Adalbert Csikos Sessia; 27 January 1864 in Osijek – 11 February 1931 in Zagreb) was a Croatian Symbolism (art), Symbolist painter, art teacher and one of the founders of the Academy of Fine Arts, University of Zagr ...

. In 1905, he gave up his law studies for art, moving to Munich, where he first studied with

Heinrich Knirr Heinrich Knirr (2 September 1862 – 26 May 1944) was an Austrian Empire-born German painter, known for his genre scenes and portraits, although he also did landscapes and still-lifes. He is best known for creating the official portrait of Adolf ...

, and then at the

. In 1909, he went to Paris where he enrolled in the Academy La Grande Chaumiére and worked as a draftsman at the magazine ''Le Rire''. He returned to Zagreb in 1910, where he staged his first solo exhibit. He exhibited his artworks as a part of the

Kingdom of Serbia The Kingdom of Serbia was a country located in the Balkans which was created when the ruler of the Principality of Serbia, Milan I of Serbia, Milan I, was proclaimed king in 1882. Since 1817, the Principality was ruled by the Obrenović dynast ...

pavilion In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings; * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...

at the International Exhibition of Art of 1911. Becić then worked in

Osijek Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja ...

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 ...

and Bitolj. He joined the Serbian army shortly before the outbreak of the First World War.Nina Ožegović: Nepoznati crteži Vladimira Becića: Ratna tajna slikarskog klasika, Nacional, br. 655, 2008-06-02; pristupljeno 3. ožujka 2014. He was then a war correspondent and artist for the magazine "''L'Illustration''" on the Salonika front, creating a series of images of the soldiers and the wounded. In 1919, he held his second solo exhibit, also in Zagreb. From 1919 to 1923, Vladimir Becić lived and worked in the village of

Blažuj Blažuj is a village in the Municipality of Tomislavgrad in Canton 10 of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, i ...

near

, producing a series of oils and watercolours of landscapes, peasants and shepherds that show an increasingly mature style of tonal painting using colour forms for rounded volume and space. He then moved back to Zagreb, where he taught at the Academy of Fine Arts (Croatian: Akademija likovnih umjetnosti) (1924–1947). In 1930, Vladimir Becić, together with

Ljubo Babić Ljubomir Tito Stjepan Babić (14 June 1890 – 14 May 1974) was a Croatian artist, museum curator and literary critic. As an artist, he worked in a variety of media including oils, tempera, watercolour, drawing, etching, and lithography. He wa ...

and

Jerolim Miše Jerolim Miše (25 September 1890 – 14 September 1970), was a Croatian painter, teacher, and art critic. He painted portraits, still lifes and landscapes of his native Dalmatia. A member of the Group of Three, Group of Four, and the Independent ...

formed "''Group Three''" (Grupa trojice). Becić became a member of the

in 1934, at that time called the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Art. Vladimir Becić died in

on 24 May 1954.

Legacy

The beginnings of modernity in Croatian art are primarily linked to the Munich Cycle of painters, some of whose key works are housed in the Museum of Contemporary Art collection. These include oil paintings by Vladimir Becic dating back to the period 1910–1922, the most important phase in his artistic career, including works from the early 40s. Vladimir Becić's earliest works date from the time of the Munich school, and together with the works of Josip Račić and Miroslav Kraljević, they point to a new direction in Croatian modern painting. Moving away from traditional academic styles, they are strongly influenced by Leibl's realism, and the works of

Impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

artists such as Manet, whose work they saw in an exhibit of 1907. Other influences at that time were Velázquez and

Goya Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 1746 – 16 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, an ...

. Becić's later works show an approach that is closer to Cézanne, and emphasizing the structure and geometric shapes. His artistic expression was focused towards modeling and clarity. His sketches in oil, and especially watercolour, express the freshness of the immediate experience. He uses rich colour expression, and tone shaping for strong volume. Some insights into Vladimir Becić can be derived from his self-portraits, which he painted from his youngest days until just before his death. They are especially remarkable as they cover his time in Munich, then Paris and finally

. Compared to the contemporary self-portraits of Joseph Racic and Miroslav Kraljevic, the Becic self-portraits are simpler, but show a full and complete expression. His early paintings, above all, show an accurate observation of form, subject and body and their spatial relationships rendered by a trained and skilful hand. The style of his later work owes something to the widespread tendency in Europe to return to nature in all things cultural and artistic after the First World War, and the influence of post-cubism - emphasizing the importance of construction. For Becić, nature was not a shelter, but an incentive, a great teacher of life, order, and organization. According to

Miroslav Krleža Miroslav Krleža (; 7 July 1893 – 29 December 1981) was a Croatian writer who is widely considered to be the greatest Croatian writer of the 20th century. He wrote notable works in all the literary genres, including poetry ('' The Ballads o ...

, Becić holds a deservedly high place in the history of Croatian modern art. Measured with Račić and Kraljević, he is not simply one of three, but is completely different. In 2006, the Croatian Post Office issued a set of stamps depicting Croatian art, one of which was Becić's ''Still Life'' of 1909.

Works

* Guslar (Guslac) 1906 * Nude Study (Studija Akta) 1906 * Woman Nude in Front of Mirror (Ženski Akt pred ogledalom) 1906 * Oak (Hrast) 1907 * Nude Girl at a Table (Akt djevojcica kod stola) 1907 * Nude with Newspaper (Ženski akt s novinama) 1907 * Nude in Front of Mirror (Akt pred ogledalom) 1908 * Girl with Doll (Djevojčica s lutkom) 1908 * Portrait of Miroslav Kraljević (Portret Miroslava Kraljevića) 1908 * Self-portrait with Hat (Autoportret sa polucilindrom) 1908 * Still Life (Mrtva Priroda) 1909 * Watermelons (Lubenice) 1911 * Hill Landscape with Stream (Planinski pejzaž s potokom) 1923 * Vera 1926 * Peasant Woman (Saljanka) 1926 * Fisherman (Ribar) 1932 * Girl with Flower (Djevojka s cvijecem) 1933 * Small Meadows (Male sjenokoše) 1934 * Boy with Corn (Dječak s kukuruzom) 1935 * Crabs (Rakovi) 1936 * Ragotin 1937 * Tovarenje ugljena, 1938 * Samoborski pejsaž, 1941.

Exhibitions

Solo shows

* 1910 in Zagreb * 1919 in Zagreb * 1984 Vladimir Becic - Umjetnicki paviljon / Art Pavilion Zagreb, Zagreb * 2005 Adris Gallery, Rovinj Vladimir Becić, Svjedok Istine Postojanja

Group shows

* 1973 Paintings of the Munich Circle - Umjetnicki paviljon / Art Pavilion Zagreb, Zagreb * 2007 Iz fundusa galerije - Museum of Modern Art Dubrovnik, Dubrovnik * 2008 From the holdings of the museum - Museum of Modern Art Dubrovnik, Dubrovnik

Dealers

* Galerija Kaptol, Zagreb Croatia

Public collections

* Museum of Modern Art Dubrovnik, Dubrovnik, Croatia * Gallery of Fine Arts / Galerija likovnih umjetnosti, Osijek, Osijek, Croatia * MMSU - Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia * Galerija Umjetnina Split, Split, Croatia * MSU Muzej Suvremene Umjetnosti / Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb, Croatia

Online gallery

Online gallery of paintings at Gallery Adris

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Becic, Vladimir 1886 births 1954 deaths Croatian artists Croatian painters Post-impressionist painters Academic staff of the University of Zagreb Members of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts People from Slavonski Brod Academy of Fine Arts, Munich alumni Alumni of the Académie de la Grande Chaumière People from Slavonia Burials at Mirogoj Cemetery