20.08.2014.

The exhibition "Danica Jovanovic (1886-1914)" opened

In the course of marking of the centenary of the beginning of the First World War, at the Grand Gallery of the Central Military Club, tonight, a gala opening was held for the art exhibition “Danica Jovanovic (1886-1914), organized by Odbrana Media Center in cooperation with the Pavle Beljanski Memorial Collection and the Matica Srpska Gallery from Novi Sad. The opening was attended by His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Irinej and the State Secretary at the Ministry of Culture and Information Dejan Ristic, PhD.

While talking about the importance of the exhibition, Director of Odbrana Media Center Lieutenant Colonel Slavoljub M. Markovic stressed that this was the best beginning of the exhibition season at the Central Military Club’s Gallery dedicated to marking of the centenary of the beginning of the Great War. He announced a rich program prepared by the Media Center for this fall to honor this jubilee, expressing his particular pleasure with the fruitful cooperation with the Pavle Beljanski Memorial Collection.

As Director of the Gallery of Matica Srpska Tijana Palkovljevic Bugarski, MA pointed out, this gallery stores the largest number of Danica Jovanovic’s works and was the first one to start collecting her works, in 1948, while Jasna Jovanov, PhD, continued the practice in the ‘80s, for the first time publishing a catalogue of her works and the story of this, somewhat forgotten, artist.

- Now, three decades after the first researches, thanks to Jasna Jovanovic, we know much more and perceive more deeply the opus of Danica Jovanovic, the characteristics of the times of her creation, and everything that revolved around her – Palkovljevic Bugarski, MA, pointed out, adding that this exhibition is a good example of cooperation between cultural institutions with the mission of promoting Serbian culture and cultural heritage.

According to the exhibition’s author Jasna Jovanov, PhD, Director of the Pavle Beljanski Memorial Collection, the exhibition places Danica Jovanovic in the context of the period she grew up in, shines a light on the circumstances that had formed her artistic character, and the brutal circumstances of the beginning of the First World war when her life tragically ended when she was shot under the Petrovaradin Fortress.

- A great number of people was included in the research and helped in acquiring data, and, thanks to them all, we today have the opportunity to see this exhibition – Jovanov stressed, expressing her particular gratitude to Odbrana Media Center for their support and the preparations for the exhibition, and for their long-lasting cooperation.

The exhibition’s author Jasna Jovanov, PhD, for the first time reveals to the Belgrade audience the opus of one of the most significant Serbian painters from the beginning of the 20th century, and her unusual life. The rich artistic work of Danica Jovanovic will be displayed via 75 expositions, 58 of which are paintings. Alongside the Pavle Beljanski Memorial Collection and the Matica Srpska Gallery, the organization of the exhibition was also supported by the National Museum, Ethnographic Museum, Historical Museum of Serbia and independent collectors.

The exhibition will be opened until September 20, 2014, and it will be followed by a diverse program, including children’s workshops (on Saturdays, from 13.00), lectures and film projections (on Saturdays, from 14.00) and expert guidance through the exhibition on Thursdays, from 17.00.