10.02.2016

Exhibition "Pavle Beljanski - Friend of Artists: Olga Bogdanović" opens

The exhibition “Pavle Beljanski – Friend of Artists: Olga Bogdanovic”, organised by Pavle Beljanski Memorial Collection and Odbrana Media Centre, has been opened this evening in the Atrium of the Central Military Club in Belgrade.

The exhibition, which is a kind of retrospective of the work of the Belgrade painter Olga Bogdanovic (1913-1993) was officially opened by painter Cedomir Vasic, and the guests were addressed by the Deputy Director of Odbrana Media Centre, Lieutenant Colonel Zoran Krupez, and Director of the Pavle Beljanski Memorial Collection, Jasna Jovanov, PhD, while the author Ksenija Vasin, accompanied by the curator Mr Milan Kvas introduced the audience to the exhibition. Just before the opening, in the Conference Hall of the Serbian Armed Forces Central Military Club, a press conference was held.

Having welcomed the participants, Lieutenant Krupez reminded of the cultural and artistic mission of the Odbrana Media Centre and the exhibition repertoire of the Central Military Club whose exhibitions in Belgrade and Serbia, through the many art galleries and institutions with which Media Centre cooperates, were seen by more than 80 thousand people so far.

- The fifth exhibition in the series “Pavle Beljanski – Friend of Artists”, which we organise with the Pavle Beljanski Memorial Collection, dedicated to so far less known painter Olga Bogdanovic, is another occasion for getting familiarised with art, which we are as always pleased to accept. Since 2011, we persevere in the desire that our house be home to all art lovers, and the results speaking in favour of our work, such as 20 thousand visitors who saw the exhibition dedicated to Nadezda Petrovic, give us encouragement not to give up that intention – Lieutenant Colonel Krupez said, giving the floor to the Director of the Pavle Beljanski Memorial Collection Jasna Jovanov to introduce the audience to the famous collector's collection.

- We started the exhibition concept of "Pavle Beljanski – Friend of Artists" with the aim to position the collector of the works of art in relation to the artists and put the distance between those who collected the works and those who created them. Pavle Beljanski selected the artwork with a lot of authority, respecting the criteria of high value, while fostering friendly relations with the artists. So we came up to Olga Bogdanovic, who enters the circle of Pavle Beljanski’s primarily as the wife of Milo Milunovic whose masterpiece was included in the collector’s collection – Dr. Jovanov said.

Opening the exhibition, painter Cedomir Vasic said that a word that would best explain this exhibition would be – continuity. First of all, the continuity that exists in collaboration between the Pavle Beljanski Memorial Collection and Odbrana Media Centre, then the continuity that is reflected in the struggle of a family to preserve the memory of a person as Olga Bogdanovic was, the members of which are the most credited that the collection displayed in the Central Military Club survived.

- It is a tradition that obliges, but also allows that the mention and the duration of one person is preserved – he said.
After selecting 34 works of art, painted in oil, pastel and aquarelle, it is for the first time in this exhibition that the opus of Olga Bogdanovic is displayed. Many landscapes from Senjak and coastal areas from later decades, as well as still life are the main motives of the paintings of Olga Bogdanovic. Her paintings mostly belong to the poetics of intimacy, and a diverse palette with characteristic accents of colour conveys to the observer the painter’s feelings and mood. In addition to the varied accompanying programme in the form of creative workshops and thematic interpretation of the exhibition, numerous photographs from family albums that speak about Olga Bogdanovic, her family, the life and fashion in Belgrade in the thirties of the twentieth century, represent an important and colourful part of the exhibition.

Testimonies of the friendship of Olga Bogdanovic, Milo Milunovic and Pavle Beljanski, their best man at the wedding, are kept in Documentation Fund of the Memorial Collection and served as a starting point for research and realisation of this exhibition. Originating from a famous family of artists Bogdanovic from Ruma, Olga Bogdanovic was an active participant in social and cultural developments of the interwar Belgrade, and her appearance and paintings nurtured civic taste on which Beljanski founded his collection.

The art audience of the capital will be able to see the exhibition until 5th March, every day except Sundays at the Grand Gallery of the Central Military Club.