28. Nude in White and Blue [cca. 1930.]

Omer Mujadžić (Bosanka Gradiška, 1903. – Zagreb, 1991.) was a Croatian painter. At just 15 years old, he enrolled in painting studies in Ljubo Babić's class. After studying, he spent a year in Paris, feeding on the old masters in the Louvre and on Pablo Picasso's figurative painting, as well as on André Lhote's post-cubist manners. During his stay in Paris, he drew inspiration from magic-realistic and neoclassical expression. Upon returning to Zagreb, he participated in the Zemlja group and then created works of social, street themes. In Zagreb, he worked at the Archaeological Museum as a drawer and taught at the Academy of Fine Arts, where he remained until his retirement. He mostly created portraits, figural compositions, and still life. His works are dominated by light glazes that bring softness and warmth. In many of his cycles, we also find a cycle dedicated to women which includes nudes. In those nudes, intimacy and ordinance are visible. In later works, he goes from light coloration to using darker earth tones and ultimately reduces coloration to basic tones. Although he long transferred to canvas portraits, self-portraits, nudes, and landscapes, in the last 20 years of creation, he specialized in intimate interiors and even for pastel technique. Throughout his life, he was also distinguished as a drawer and illustrated book covers and designed banknotes. Akt in white and blue was created using pastel technique, a technique which Mujadžić knew how to show sensuality and softness of form. As a subtle and talented artist in showing nudes, the voluminousness of the female body almost seems three-dimensional. The stroke is free, fast, expressive. The light is emphasized, the colors are warm. The female body is shown in a closed pose, with an averted gaze, which further contributes to the intimacy of the moment. MČ

Dimensions

width 37 cm, height 45 cm

Description

pastel on paper, signed upper right, in pink, "Mujadžić O"

Dating

cca. 1930.

PROVENANCE

Historical collection of Vanja Radauš (1907 - 1975).

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