58. Summer Hat [1885.-1890.]

Nikola Mašić painted this portrait of a young unknown woman in profile in Zagreb, and it is one of many mysterious depictions of the same young lady found in the painter's sketchbooks. The painting was exhibited at the retrospective exhibition "Nikola Mašić - noble realist" organized in 2018 by museum advisor Dajana Vlaisavljević at the Modern Gallery (now the National Museum of Modern Art). It is also reproduced in the exhibit catalogue on page 111. Nikola Mašić, together with his twin brother Aleksandar - also a painter, lived in Trieste at the age of eight with guardians who took over their schooling after both of their parents had passed away. In 1863, they moved to Vienna to live with their sister Emilija, where they attended high school. After graduating, their lives and painting paths separated for a while. Nikola first attended the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, and from 1872, the Academy in Munich. His studies did not go smoothly due to frequent bouts of pulmonary disease, which led him to return to Otočac where he remained until 1875. From that period, many of his painting studies from Krajina and portraits of people from Lika remained. He completed his painting studies in 1879 in Munich, immediately afterwards the Academy provided him with a studio where he realized a large part of his opus. Upon his final return to his home country, Mašić frequently visited Posavina, where he intensively painted water scenes and rural yards in the manner of "pure painting" between 1881 and 1883. For example, his first-rate oil painting "Painter in a bar" and a series of studies and pictures of domestic animals, including the famous "Goose woman on Sava". At the same time, he was very active in the exhibition scene and highly praised by critics. In 1884, he was appointed a professor at the School of Crafts in Zagreb, and in 1894, he became the director of the Strossmayer Gallery of Paintings of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts. BRP

References

Dajana Vlaisavljević, Nikola Mašić - Noble Realist (catalogue), Modern Gallery, Zagreb, 2018., pg. 22, 93, 111

Dimensions

width 23.5 cm, height 31 cm

Description

ulje na papiru kaširano na kartonu, signed with initials in the bottom left, in black, "N.M."

Research information

The work was exhibited at the retrospective exhibition "Nikola Mašić - noble realist" in the Modern Gallery in Zagreb from 18.12. 2018. to 10.2.2019., and it was reproduced in the exhibition catalog on page 111.

Dating

1885.-1890.

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