Sava Šumanović

Sava Šumanović (Serbian: Сава Шумановић, 1896-1942) is a 20th-century Serbian painter.

Sava Šumanović was born in Vinkovci in 1896. He graduated from the Zemun High School, where he was first introduced to the art of painting. He enrolled in the College of Arts in Zagreb. A part of his life Sava spent in Paris, only to return to Šid in 1930. He lived in Šid till the beginning of Second World War, when NDH police took him together with 150 citizen to Sremska Mitrovica where he was ruthlessly killed.

His early artistic stile was characterized by many different influences, first of all cubism but fauvism and expressionism as well. In the later works, Sava Sumanovic was managed to develop his own artistic expression, highly unique and original that he called "the way I know and can". Due to the inovative elements of his paintings he can be described as one of the most prominent painters of the first half of 20th cenury, originating from the ex-Yugoslavia territory.

A museum dedicated to his life and work is situated in Šid (Shid). His works are also on display in Belgrade and Novi Sad. Paintings gallery “Sava Šumanović” was established in 1952 on the basis of the deed of gift from Persida Šumanović, the painter's mother. The legacy of 417 works of art, out of which 356 are oil paintings and the rest are work done in other painting techniques, is located in the house of the family Šumanović, in which the Country court was situated, in 1989 the building was adapted and the original exhibition area was expanded from 400m2 to 700m2. This enabled a large number of paintings to be exhibited simultaneously. The main activity of the Gallery is preservation and presentation of paintings obtained through the deed of gift. In addition to this, a rich documentary materials has been collected, an extraordinary rich Hermoteca (Newspaper and Periodical Library), containing the catalogues from all the exhibitions held up until now.A part of the Gallery is the Memorial house of Sava Šumanović, as well as the archeological collection “Gradina on the Bosut”, and antique sarcophagus. The literally circle “Sava Šumanović” also operates within the Gallery, gathering the local amateur painters. Ten years after the Gallery had been established, the Memorial in the honour of Sava Šumanović was initiated, an event which takes place every three years.

* [http://www.savasumanovic.org.yu Galerija slika Sava Sumanovic Sid, slikarstvo, umetnost. ] at www.savasumanovic.org.yu