CREATIVE WORKSHOPS ACCOMPANYING THE EXHIBITION „KVIZ COLLECTION – LITTLE TREASURY OF CROATIAN PAINTING“

The collection of Dr. Boris and Jelva Kviz is one of the most respected yet lesser-known collections of modern Croatian painting. It consists of 68 works, mostly exceptional achievements from the late 19th century to the first half of the 20th century, including notable pieces such as the “Self-portrait” by Josip Račić from 1906/7, which is also individually protected as a cultural asset, and “Five Senses” by Vlaho Bukovac from 1898, which is also under the protection of the Republic of Croatia. The collection contains several works by Croatian modern artists, spanning from Vlaho Bukovac, Bela Csikos Sesia, Ferdo Kovačević, Menci Clement Crnčić, Emanuel Vidović, Miroslav Kraljević and the Munich Group, Milivoj Uzelac and the Prague Group, to Ljubo Babić, Jerolim Miše, Miljenko Stančić, and others.

1. PAINTING WORKSHOP

26 April 2025, 11:00 – 12:30

Vilko Gecan’s painting, View of Dvorničićeva Street from 1933, was painted from a window and from a height we look at the city, the street and the buildings in the immediate vicinity. It’s a sunny day, and the painting is abundant in light. In front of us in the foreground are treetops, one green and the other with bare branches on which buds are growing. Along the right edge of the painting we see a roof tile and a building with windows. There are no human figures. The color scheme is monochromatic, with shades of warm colors prevailing, brown, beige, terracotta. The painting is one of Gecan’s late works.

Ljubo Babić’s painting, From Orebić, depicts a place on the Pelješac peninsula located under the hill of Sveti Ilija, and was created in 1931. The painting exudes the peace and quiet of the Dalmatian landscape bathed in sun and warmth, all achieved with color. In the foreground, we enter the landscape of a Mediterranean town along a paved street. On the left side of the painting, we are led by a diagonally painted wall above which Mediterranean vegetation grows and a thin and elegant palm tree rises luxuriously. On the right, only palm branches peek out, casting a shadow on the aforementioned cobblestones. In front of us, in the middle of the scene, rises a pinkish-red two-story house with rectangular windows with closed shutters. Behind the house in the background, we see a hill (Sv. Ilija) and blue sky. The painting is devoid of human figures, as if it was created during a short afternoon siesta from the summer heat, when everyone hides from the sun and rests.

TASK: View from my window
Most of you probably traveled somewhere for the Easter holidays and you probably have a lot of photos, interesting views of beautiful landscapes, streets or courtyards, or you have specifically recorded interesting landmarks or maybe just fragments of them. Let your photos or the offered paintings by our artists be your templates for the workshop.

2. PAINTING WORKSHOP

10 May 2025, 11:00 – 12:30

Juraj Plančić’s Red fish from 1930 depicts four fresh rubs on a table laid out on newspaper, paying homage to simple, everyday life. „In all these things I tried to bring in objects as they are, as people see them, without philosophy and without rigid form. All of this lives a free life, without any restraint… Life, as we see it, and the things we use.“ This is certainly Plančić’s highest-quality work in the Kviz collection, but it is also one of the highlights of Plančić’s oeuvre. It was created at the very end of the painter’s artistic journey, in the year of his untimely death in Paris. The painting Red fish belongs to the works in which one feels the memory of a poor, but happpy and loving childhood, nostalgia for one’s homeland, the sea, or as Gamulin writes, „… the fine lyricism of intimate storytelling.“

TASK: Fish on a Platter or Fish on Newspaper

In this exhibition we can see another artwork with a fish motif. Take a good look at the exhibition and determine who the author of the painting is, and find the exact title of the work. In the workshop we will paint fish based on the original work, or fish that we will buy at the Dolac fish market.

3. PAINTING WORKSHOP

17 May 2025, 11:00 – 12:30

Still life by Jerolim Miše from 1930 depicts fruits and flowers. On a white and blue tablecloth spread on a dark table is a bouquet of white and pink chrysanthemums with a red fruit next to them (apple, pomegranate) and two yellow pears placed on two dark blue saucers. The background is dark and devoid of detail. The painting is bursting with color, and the color scheme of the white flowers and yellow fruit gives this ordinary, everyday scene an atmosphere of warmth. The painting was created in 1930, at a time when Miše, along with Becić and Babić, was a member of the Group of Three. During this most important creative period (1930-35), he painted a Cézanne-style balanced compositions of free chromatic relationships.

TASK: Fruits and flowers on my table

Interpretion of the original artwork or painting fruits and flowers bought at Zagreb’s Dolac market.

We also organize workshops for kindergarteners and schoolers every working day except Monday! Previous registration is required at: artionica@gkd.hr

Workshops for adults are still held every Wednesday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Text: Liljana Velkovski
Museum advisor, museum educator, Artionica workshop manager