59. Tavern in Zagorje [1935.- 1936.]

This version of "Tavern in Zagorje" was painted by Režek after he permanently settled in Zagreb in 1931. His return to his homeland after more than two decades of absence – first due to painting studies at the Academy in Prague (1918-1924), then further education in Paris with André Derain (1925-1927) and finally due to studying fresco technique with Marcel Lenoir (1928-1930) – also meant a dramatic turn in his painting. Proximity to Zagorje landscape and rural life in the vicinity of Zagreb and his native Varaždin encouraged him to paint landscapes and scenes from modest rural taverns which also led to stylistic transformations. From 1932 to 1938, he painted a number of landscape views with small houses covered with vines and several interiors of rural taverns where its everyday guests often doze off with a glass of wine. Two paintings, "Taverns in Zagorje," from 1938 are kept and exhibited at the National Museum of Modern Art in Zagreb. As for the stylistic changes, it should be noted that during the 1930s Režek completely abandoned the concept of the universalist line of European magical realism expressed in the portraits from the 1920s and that he freed himself from both stylistic and iconographic influences of Picasso which is significantly present in his Parisian paintings and that in Zagorje landscapes and taverns he became a painter of coloristic openness and expressive expressiveness of noble tone. Režek's distinct thematic specificity, a kind of synonym for his "regional style," which he continued to paint as long as he could paint, has entered the anthology of Croatian painting with the motif "Tavern in Zagorje," grew and bore objects like baskets and fireplaces, scythes and pots, and culminated in the cycle of Zagorje landscapes in which Režek renounced the "universal" and leaned to the "regional style" whose role in overall art events in Croatia from the 1930s to the 1960s of the last century is indeed great and significant. BRP

Dimensions

width 80 cm, height 63.5 cm

Description

oil on board, signed upper right, in red, "Ivo Režek"

Research information

In 1936, Ivo Režek participated in the 10th exhibition of Croatian artists from November 8 to 25, 1936, at the Art Pavilion, along with Ljubo Babić, Vladimir Becić, and Bruno Bulić. He exhibited three works entitled "Zagorska Krčma" (Tavern in Zagorje), one oil painting and two drawings; the offered oil painting is most likely the one he exhibited at the time as Režek's 10th artistic piece at the exhibition, with the label still visible on the back of the painting. Previously, the painting was owned by Natalija Matovinović, born Gottlieb, who comes from a prestigious Zagreb medical family rooted in high society. Her father, Antun Gottlieb, was a renowned surgeon and head of surgery at Vinogradska hospital, while her grandfather Albert Gottlieb, also a doctor, was the first doctor in Vukovar. When she was two years old, Natalija posed for painter Ljubo Babić, and eight years later for Ivo Režek, in her grandfather Albert's arms. Oskar Herman painted Albert Gottlieb, as well as other members of the family. These works, among a total of 22 paintings, were donated to HAZU in 2013 as part of the "Antun and Anka Gottlieb Collection.” The collection includes works by Ljubo Babić, Oskar Herman, Vilim Svećnjak, Ivan Tišov, Menci Klement Crnčić, Ferdo Kovačević, and Ivo Režek. The piece is reproduced in the book "Croatian Painting of the XX. Century", volume one, Grgo Gamulin, Naprijed, Zagreb, 1997., under the title "Tavern in Zagorje III.", 1936., on page 400.

Dating

1935.- 1936.

PROVENANCE

Gottlieb historical collection.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

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