Art Critique Between Two World Wars in Osijek Daily Newspapers in Croatian (1)

Art criticism in Croatia was fairly undeveloped until early 20th century and marked by a formalist approach, notably practiced in the texts of Isidor Kršnjavi. The need for change became apparent in the advent of Secession, hailed in the writings of Ivo Pilar. A significant contributor to the novelty was poet Antun Branko Šimić, who introduced to the Croatian milieu ideas of German expressionistically tinted art criticism, as did August Cesarec. Osijek, then an important economic center of the Kingdom of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia, became a favorable setting for artists who could make a living from their work. In the post-war years the situation improved and the art scene of the city experienced an awakening. Still, Osijek’s art scene could never quite escape the impression of a provincial community where artists either had no need or no desire to keep pace with contemporary art movements, even though many of them studied and practiced abroad. To an extent, this was certainly due to their dependence on the bourgeois tastes of their patrons. Writing for Osijek magazines like Jug, Hrvatski list and Hrvatska obrana, Osijek’s critics acted as chroniclers to the city’s art scene. Even with the occasional serious critical text, there were plenty cursory exhibition announcements and reports that paid little attention to the artistic impact and quality of the exhibits. Among the important figures of Osijek’s criticism of that period were Gvido Jeny, Iljko Gorenčević, and Lav Vrelović. Unlike artists, art critics tried to approach artworks from the perspective of contemporary artistic trends, which is particularly evident in the writings of Gorenčević and Vrelović. The two critics used their texts to inform Osijek’s public about current exhibitions, while also trying to shape modern artistic taste. The following text attempts to explore and analyze the role of critics and their writing in shaping Osijek’s art scene through texts published in daily newspapers in the Croatian language