Zlatko Šulentić (16 March 1893 – 9 July 1971) was a Croatian
painter
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 ...
of landscapes and portraits.
He was one of the second generation of Croatian modern painters, a follower of the
Munich Circle painters. He also studied at the
Academy of Fine Arts, Munich
The Academy of Fine Arts, Munich (, also known as Munich Academy) is one of the oldest and most significant art academies in Germany. It is located in the Maxvorstadt district of Munich, in Bavaria, Germany.
In the second half of the 19th centur ...
, and began to develop his own version of
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 ...
and
cubism
Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement which began in Paris. It revolutionized painting and the visual arts, and sparked artistic innovations in music, ballet, literature, and architecture.
Cubist subjects are analyzed, broke ...
in Croatia, with refined colour harmonies. In his later work Šulentić painted religious motifs, landscapes and city views, but he remained foremost a portrait painter. He taught drawing in school and at the
Academy of Fine Arts, Zagreb. He travelled extensively, and published a book "People, Places, Infinity" (''Ljudi, krajevi, beskraj'').
Biography
Zlatko Šulentić was born 16 March 1893 in Glina. When he was three years old, his mother died. In later years he would tell his wife that she lived in his memory "like a shadow sitting with him on the couch."
He attended high-school at Karlovac,
then in 1910 took classes given by
Robert Auer at the Provisional School for Arts and Crafts in Zagreb.
His training continued in Munich, firstly private lessons 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 ...
, then at the
Academy of Fine Arts, Munich
The Academy of Fine Arts, Munich (, also known as Munich Academy) is one of the oldest and most significant art academies in Germany. It is located in the Maxvorstadt district of Munich, in Bavaria, Germany.
In the second half of the 19th centur ...
(1911–1914).
While still a student, in 1913 he visited Paris.
Šulentić exhibited for the first time at the inaugural Zagreb Spring Salon of 1916, when he was one of the organizers.
During the period 1921-1927 he exhibited with the Independent Group of Artists (''Grupa nezavisnih umjetnika'') whose other members were
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 ...
,
Vladimir Becić
Vladimir Becić (1886–1954) was a Croatian painter, best known for his early work in Munich, which had a strong influence on the direction of modern art in Croatia.
Becić studied painting in Munich at the prestigious Academy of Arts along wit ...
,
Jozo Kljaković
Jozo Kljaković (3 March 188910 October 1969) was a Croatia, Croatian painter.
He studied in Prague and then at an Arts institute in Rome. He also studied fresco painting in Paris. Kljaković was professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb f ...
,
Frano Kršinić
Frano Kršinić (24 July 1897 – 1 January 1982) was a Croatian sculptor active in former Yugoslavia. Along with Ivan Meštrović and Antun Augustinčić, he is considered one of the three most important Croatian sculptors of the 20th cent ...
,
Ivan Meštrović
Ivan Meštrović (; 15 August 1883 – 16 January 1962) was a Croatian and Yugoslav sculptor, architect, and writer. He was the most prominent modern Croatian sculptor and a leading artistic personality in contemporary Zagreb. He studied at Pa ...
,
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 ...
,
Marin Studin
Marin Studin (1895—1960) was a Croatian sculptor.
Biography
Studin was born in 1895 in Kaštel Novi village in a family of farmers, not to far away from Split. He got his education in art at the Academy of Art, Zagreb and spent two years, fro ...
and
Vladimir Varlaj
Vladimir Varlaj (25 August 1895 – 15 August 1962) was a Croatian artist, a member of the Group of Four during the Zagreb Spring Salon of the 1920s, and a founder of the Independent Group of Artists. He was influential in the Zagreb modern art ...
.
He also held solo exhibits in Gallery Ulrich in 1921, 1927, and 1941.
From an early age, he travelled extensively, initially in the company of his father, a physician.
He travelled within Croatia: around Glina and Karlovac, Zagreb, Japetić, Plešivica and the Adriatic coast,
and later Šulentić would visit most European countries, across North Africa, North America, South America, Burma, Indonesia, Malaysia and Egypt.
Impressions from these trips were recorded in sketches and watercolors, with a series of notes which were later published in his book "People, Places, Infinity" (1971).
Šulentić taught life drawing in school, and later became a professor at the
Academy of Fine Arts, Zagreb.
In 1947, due to the politics of the time, his position at the Academy was terminated.
At the age of 54, he found himself retired on a small pension at a time when there was limited opportunity to exhibit and earn a living from art.
Šulentić devoted his time to painting, and in 1953 resumed his travels. By 1959, he began to receive recognition for his work in major Croatian exhibitions. In 1961 he was decorated with the Order of the Republic. The Rijeka Museum of Modern Art held an exhibition marking his 70th anniversary, and other galleries followed: Zorin Dom, Karlovac, Strossmayer Galleries in Zagreb, Art Salon in Osijek, Gallery of Fine Arts in Split, and Matica hrvatska.
From 1964 to 1968 Šulentić worked for the Franciscan monastery at Ksaver in Zagreb.
His picture of the "Sermon on the Mount" (''Propovijedi na gori'') includes his last self-portrait.
In 1969 he received the
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 in the visual arts.
Zlatko Šulentić died in Zagreb on 9 July 1971.
Legacy
Šulentić is one of the best-known Croatian expressionists.
A crucial early influence was the paintings of
Miroslav Kraljević and the
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 ...
movement.
Public appreciation of his own paintings dates from 1916, the first Spring Salon in Zagreb.
His pictures featured the lively colour and
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 ...
so often present in his later work. He strove for spiritual content in his painting, saying that he wanted to know what was behind the reality.
Throughout his artistic career, landscapes, still lifes, portraits, and religious compositions bore his personal artistic signature of graded tones and colours with free line-work.
This was evident in his gouaches, watercolors, oils, and drawings.
In 1930 on a trip to Paris, he painted one of his best pictures "Place de Tertre", using a limited colour palette, and creating a modern sense of space.
In the 1950s and 1960s he painted his summer travel series (Zadar, Vrbnik, Kvarner, Šipan). The use of expressive colour tending towards
abstractionism
Abstractionism is the theory that the mind obtains some or all of its concepts by abstracting them from concepts it already has, or from experience.Geach, Peter (1957) Mental Acts - Their Contents and Their Objects. Routledge Kegan Paul. One may, ...
put him among the ranks of the best contemporary Croatian artists.
Šulentić was an important figure of the second generation of Croatian Modernism, the creator of a series of iconic works in his own signature style.
He was also a contemporary artist. At the end of the sixties he was a master of expressive colour and portrayed in-depth content in human, painterly gestures.
A major retrospective of his work was held at the
Modern Gallery, Zagreb
Modern Gallery (; since 2021 the National Museum of Modern Art, ) is a museum in Zagreb, Croatia that holds the most important and comprehensive collection of paintings, sculptures and drawings by 19th and 20th century Croatian artists. The colle ...
in 1972,
and at the Art Pavilion in 2011.
In 1993, on the centenary of his birth, Croatian Post issued a stamp featuring his self-portrait of 1929.
Works
His paintings include
Exhibitions
During his lifetime, Šulentić exhibited his work in solo and group shows, most notably in the Zagreb Spring Salon from 1916, and with the Independent Group of Artists in the 1920s.[
]
Solo exhibitions
Recent exhibitions of his work include:
* 2011 Retrospective Exhibition, Art Pavilion, Zagreb
Group exhibitions
* 2006 Croatian Collection – Museum of Contemporary Art Skopje, Skopje
Public collections
His work can be found in the following public collections
* Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb
The Museum of Contemporary Art (, often abbreviated to MSU) is a contemporary art art museum, museum located on Dubrovnik Avenue in Zagreb, Croatia. It is the biggest and most modern museum in the country. Vesna Meštrić is current director of MS ...
, CroatiaModern Gallery, Zagreb
Modern Gallery (; since 2021 the National Museum of Modern Art, ) is a museum in Zagreb, Croatia that holds the most important and comprehensive collection of paintings, sculptures and drawings by 19th and 20th century Croatian artists. The colle ...
, CroatiaStrossmayer Gallery of Old Masters
The Strossmayer Gallery of Old Masters () is a fine art museum in Zagreb, Croatia exhibiting the collection donated to the city by Bishop Josip Juraj Strossmayer in 1884. Located at 11 Nikola Šubić Zrinski Square, it forms part of the Croatian ...
, Zagreb
References
Bibliography
* Zlatko Šulentić by Mladen Pejaković. Monografija. Publisher:Art studio Azinović;
* Zlatko Šulentić – Tragom onostranog i svetog (''Zlatko Šulentić – On the Trail of the Transcendental and the Sacred'') by Ivanka Reberski. Monografija. Publisher: Požeška biskupija, 2009.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sulentic, Zlatko
1893 births
1971 deaths
Vladimir Nazor Award winners
Academy of Fine Arts, Munich alumni
Burials at Mirogoj Cemetery
20th-century Croatian painters
People from Glina, Croatia
Croatian male painters
20th-century Croatian male artists