- Krsto Hegedušić
Krsto Hegedušić (
November 26 ,1901 -April 7 ,1975 ) was aCroatia n painter, illustrator and theater designer. His most famous paintings depict the harsh life of the Croatian peasantry in the manner ofnaive art . He was one of the founders of theZemlja group of artists.He was born in
Petrinja , but when his father died in 1909, the family came back toHlebine , the village in the region ofPodravina from which they originated.In 1920 Hegedušić enrolled in the
Arts and Crafts College inZagreb , where he made his first idyllic paintings of Podravina. The painting courses ofVladimir Becić andTomislav Krizman widened his horizons, but did not influence his style.In 1926 he was awarded a French government scholarship and spent two years in
Paris . There he studied the paintings ofPieter Breughel .Hegedušić made his first one-man exhibition with
Juraj Plančić at the Ulrich Gallery in Zagreb in 1926. He made paintings with social themes, showing the exploitation of the Croatian peasants. In 1929 he got together with the paintersIvan Tabaković andOton Postružnik , as well asLeo Junek in Paris. They foundedZemlja ("soil" in Croatian), the first Croatian group of artists that promotedMarxism . Hegedušić was their ideologue and unofficial leader. Paintings like "The Accordionist" and "The Flood" are socially critical and reject purely artistic goals.In 1930 he founded the
Hlebine School , anaive art movement that involved young peasant painters. One of them,Ivan Generalić , reached world fame. "Podravina Motifs", published in 1933, was a book combining his drawings with a poeticessay byMiroslav Krleža , today considered a masterpiece ofCroatian literature . Krleža would later write a script for a documentary feature about Hegedušić (1962).Hegedušić started teaching at the
Academy of Zagreb in 1936. During the anti-communist oppression in the 1930s, he was arrested several times. When the Nazi-sponsoredUstaša came to power in 1941, Hegedušić came under the protection of the Archbishop Stepinac. He spent the war quietly working on various themes, including religion (numerous sketches for the Calvary fresco inMarija Bistrica in 1941). When the communist government was installed inYugoslavia in 1945, Hegedušić was appointed professor at the Zagreb Academy. In 1950, he founded a "master's studio" there.Paintings like "The Bridegroom, the Ox and the Pump" from 1969 are critical of urban life. In the period 1971-73, Hegedušić worked on a large cycle of macabre frescoes for the war memorial of
Tjentište .He illustrated books and designed ballet and theater sets. He died in Zagreb.
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