Exhibition 'Jovan Kratohvil. Composition 100/24'

The retrospective exhibition of Jovan Kratohvil (1924-1998) is being held in the hundredth anniversary of the artist's birth and ample time of his absence, in order to comprehensively view this rich and diverse artistic opus for the first time. The National Museum of Serbia opens the exhibition 'Jovan Kratohvil - Composition 100/24' on Friday, November 15, at 18:00 with the belief that only through the exhibition can there be a true opportunity for direct encounter, experience, understanding, reassessment, summarization, and possible repositioning of Jovan Kratohvil's artistic legacy. The exhibition brings together his most significant works from all creative phases, ranging from the 1940s to the 1980s, starting from partisan art and socialist realism, moving towards abstract expression within socialist aestheticism and modernism, through explorations of work in different materials, to pioneering achievements in sculptures made of transparent polyester. The exhibition curator, Lidija Ham Milovanović, has selected a total of 100 exhibits, predominantly sculptures, as well as Kratohvil's paintings, graphics, and drawings, alongside documentary exhibits about public monuments. As Jovan Kratohvil often titled his works 'Composition' followed by a serial number in the year of creation, the exhibition setup, like a new spatial composition, carries a title that connects to the artist's practice. The selected material is largely owned by the Kratohvil family, and along with works from the National Museum of Serbia, the exhibition includes works from the Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade, the Museum of Yugoslavia, the Faculty of Fine Arts, the National Museum Šumadija in Kragujevac, the Contemporary Gallery from Zrenjanin, Museum Zepter, as well as three works in private ownership. The exhibit selection includes emblematic works by Kratohvil and a selection of achievements that marked his creative phases from the beginnings to works that we believe represent his latest and most inventive outcomes of his artistic quests.