21. Morning [1959.]

Krsto Hegedušić was born in Petrinja in 1901. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb in 1926 under T. Krizman and V. Becić. He was one of the initiators of the Association of Artists Earth, 1929, whose poetic direction sought for an expression that was primarily socially conscious, but also connected to the specific historical economic conditions of Croatian space. One of the Earth group's projects was the discovery of the naive art of the Croatian village, which Hegedušić began in Hlebine. From 1937 he taught at the Art Academy in Zagreb, and from 1950 he ran a master's workshop, a postgraduate painting study program, at the same Academy. He was a member of JAZU. He died in Zagreb in 1975. His opus is entirely marked by socially engaged painting, which found its expression in simplified figuration. His motifs were initially scenes from the lives of poor peasants, often in markedly anxious situations. His art book "Podravski motivi", with a foreword by writer Miroslav Krleža, represents the literary-artistic essence of their social aspirations that they tried to reconcile with classical aesthetics, and express the expression of life of socially endangered people without entering into pronounced agitation. After the Second World War, urban motifs of proletarian life in European cities (Soho, 1967, National Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb) began to appear in his opus. The simplified figuration with which he painted peasants is now applied to prostitutes, workers, flea market vendors, urban proletarians. At that time, the paintings often included desolate landscapes filled with garbage, as an indicator of a dark vision of contemporary civilization. The painting "Morning" from 1959 depicts two figures performing morning toilet. The cap on the head of one character suggests that it is an employee of any system. Few objects (phone on the wall, table), undefined space painted in blotches of intense colors and a caricatural, not at all flattering, depiction of the human body prompts thoughts about the banality of human life within everyday, repetitive rituals (such as shaving) and within the systems in which our lives take place. The painting, perhaps, does not depict a real scene, but the event on it is symbolic and metaphorical, an endlessly repeating morning of countless, meaningless lives. The painting is reproduced in the monograph Krsto Hegedušić by the Graphic Institute of Croatia, 1974. Its color reproduction is on p. 39; in the catalog of works, it is listed on p. 139 (as Morning I, and in the chronology there is a smaller, black and white reproduction of another variant of the painting, Morning II from 1960); and is mentioned in V. Maleković's text on p. 51, where he writes about the painting as a "nihilistic revealing of human intimacy". (F.G.)

Dimensions

width 114 cm, height 130 cm

Description

oil and tempera on canvas, signed and dated bottom left, in white, "K Heg 1959"

Research information

The work was exhibited at the personal exhibition of Krsto Hegedušić at the De Beyerd Cultureel Centrum in Breda, the Netherlands, in 1960, under catalog number 21. The work was shown at the personal exhibition of Krsto Hegedušić in the Groninger Museum in Groningen, the Netherlands, in 1960, under catalog number 21. The work was exhibited at the "Hegedušić" exhibition in La Haye, the Netherlands. It was exhibited at the "Hegedušić" exhibition at the Societe auxiliaire des Exposition du Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, under the name "An matin". The work was exhibited at the personal exhibition of Krsto Hegedušić at the Salon of the Modern Gallery in Belgrade, from December 18, 1964, to January 8, 1965, and it was reproduced in the exhibition catalog under catalog number 2 "Morning I". The work was shown at the personal exhibition of Krsto Hegedušić, at the Galleria Gian Ferrari, in June 1968. It was exhibited at the "Profile 6. Yugoslav Art Today" exhibition at the Städt Kunstgalerie in Bochum, from September 18, 1966, to October 20, 1966. The piece was included in the retrospective exhibition of Krsto Hegedušić, at the Modern Gallery, in Zagreb, from December 26, 1973, to January 20, 1974, and it was also reproduced and cataloged in the exhibition catalog on pages 211, 219, and 228 under catalog number 52. The work was reproduced in the monograph "Krsto Hegedušić", with a foreword by Miroslav Krleža, Zagreb, 1974, on page 39. It was exhibited at the retrospective exhibition dedicated to "Krsto Hegedušić", at the Adris Gallery in Rovinj, from April 20, 2011, to June 1, 2011, and was reproduced in the exhibition catalog on page 34 "Morning 1".

Dating

1959.

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