Ana Vidjen (born 24 October 1931) is a Yugoslav, Croatian and Serbian sculptor. She obtained her MA in sculpture in 1962 at Athens School of Fine Arts, and was encouraged in her chosen field by the Greek feminist poet and writer Eleni Vakalo as well as the painter Milo Milunovic, who founded the Academy of Fine Arts in 1937 (now part of University of Arts in Belgrade). Her work includes sculptures in stone, wood and bronze (both gallery and monumental size), drawings, paintings and ceramics.
Vidjen was born in Pločice, a small town in KonavliDubrovnikcountryside in Croatia then Kingdom of Yugoslavia, to Ivan Vidjen and Ana Kovačević. Her father was a supervisor on tracing and laying down the south-east railways of Austria-Hungary, prior to World War I. When Ana, the youngest child, was born, her father was a railway station master of Pločice train station, and her mother was a housewife and artist. She grew up in Cavtat together with her sister and her two brothers. She spent most of her childhood time playing in woods, and in the nature, collecting shells and stones. After the liberation post-World War II, her family encouraged her to apply to the famous Art High School – Umjetnička Škola in Herceg Novi, Montenegro at age 15. After completing her studies in the sculpture class of professors Vojislav Vojo Stanić and prof. Poček, she enrolled in 1954 at the Academy of Fine Arts (today University of Arts in Belgrade) and moved to Belgrade. She received a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in Fine Arts from the institution in 1961.
Period 1962–1974
After graduating, Vidjen received a Yugoslav State Scholarship to pursue her MA studies in Athens, Greece, on Academy of Fine Arts in class of professors Michael Tombros and George Zongolopoulos. She was fascinated with Cycladic art sculptures and Archaic Greek forms, and in the artistic and intellectual circles of Athens of that time she met many artists, writers, and composers. One of her closest friends was the famous feminist art critic, poet and writer Eleni Vakalo. Vakalo wrote several major texts about Vidjen's work and published articles in "Ta Nea" newspaper. The Ambassador of Yugoslavia to Greece, Peko Dapčević, was fond of Vidjen's art and introduced her to people in Athenian high society circles.
On her return to Yugoslavia she married Nikola Milunović, sculptor, son of prominent Yugoslav painter Milo Milunović, founder of University of Arts in Belgrade in 1937 under the regency of Prince Paul of Yugoslavia. The couple settled in the Belgrade neighbourhood of Dedinje in Milunović family villa in Tolstojeva street Nr.9. They started working together on many projects, as well as the realisation of large-scale mosaic projects of her father-in-law, Milo Milunovic.
In 1966 she exhibited new drawings in the show "Fantastica" in Brussels. An informal artistic movement, Medijala, arose in Yugoslav artistic circles in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and Vidjen embraced the movement for her figurative works, both drawings and sculptures. In 1967, she appeared in the International Sculpture Exhibition in den Hague and was selected for the exhibition "Four Yugoslav Sculptors" in Galerie D'Ent in Amsterdam. That year, she also realised the marble sculpture "Dry Age," which is on permanent display in the sculpture park in Arandjelovac, Serbia. Other sculptures from this period include the monumental-size "Shell," as well as the Monument to Victims of Banjica Concentration Camp in Belgrade in 1969.
Period 1974–2019
Her "Flourishing Form", realised in 1975, was purchased for the collection of Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade. "The Fruit" (1980), realised in marble, is now part of the sculpture park in Danilovgrad, Montenegro.
During this period, Vidjen won several major national art prizes, such as the Union of Fine Artists of Serbia prize in 1974, the Winter Salon prize in 1983 in Herceg Novi, and 1st prize for the Monument of Petar I Petrović-Njegoš. She later realised a three-dimensional, monumental portrait of this XVIII century ruler of Montenegro. This sculpture is located in Danilovgrad in Montenegro.
Vidjen participated several times in Prilep Marble Sculpture Symposium, where she left a number of monumental-sized sculptures in the sculpture park. Twice, she won the Grand Prix of Biennial of Miniature Art in Gornji Milanovac, as well as Production Prize at the 1992 October Salon in Belgrade.
She also attended the International Symposium TERRA in Kikinda several times, where she produced a large number of large scale-sculptures in terracota, some of which are now part of the Symposium's permanent collection.
One of her last bigger solo exhibitions took place in the ULUS (Union of Fine Artists of Serbia) Gallery in Belgrade in 2005, where large terracota sculptures were shown along with large drawings. She lives and works in Belgrade, Serbia.
Dušan Džamonja was a Yugoslav sculptor of Serbian ancestry.
Mihael Milunović is a Serbian and French painter. His work encompasses a wide range of artistic disciplines, from painting, drawing and photography through large-scale sculptures, installations, to sound, video and objects. His main interests focus on social and political issues. By decontextualizing everyday objects, symbols or situations, Milunović provokes unease in the observer, a blend of alienation and curiosity.
Sreten Stojanović was a Serbian sculptor and art critic. His artistic individuality was best observed in portraits made of various materials.
Petar Lubarda ; 27 July 1907 – 13 February 1974) was a Serbian painter born in Ljubotinj Cetinje.
Milo Milunović was a distinguished Yugoslav and Montenegrin painter. He dabbled in both Impressionism and Cubism.
Đorđe Andrejević-Kun was a Serbian painter and academic. He designed the coat of arms of the City of Belgrade and reputedly designed the coat of arms of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Yugoslav orders and medals.
Jovan Soldatović was a Serbian and Yugoslav sculptor, internationally recognized for hundreds of sculptures and memorials. He was one of the most prominent modern Serbian sculptors, a leading artistic personality in contemporary Novi Sad and a member of the Prostor 8 art group from Belgrade.
Risto Stijović was a Yugoslav and Serbian sculptor, considered to be one of the most original artists of his time.
Matija Vuković was a Serbian sculptor.
The Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts is a national academy and the most prominent academic institution in Serbia, founded in 1841 as Society of Serbian Letters.
Veljko Milatović was a Montenegrin Communist partisan, politician, statesman serving once as the Speaker and twice as President.
Nikola Pešić is a Serbian sculptor and painter.
Mario Maskareli was a painter from modern-day Montenegro.
Miloš Vušković was a Montenegrin painter, illustrator, caricaturist and professor of visual arts, member of CANU and ULUCG.
Simonida Rajčević is a Serbian painter and artist. She has had more than 20 individual and 50 group exhibitions.
Dragan Malešević Tapi was a Serbian painter. Although by vocation an economist, he is generally considered one of the leading painters of Serbian hyperrealism style.
Jovanka Stanojević is a Serbian painter.
Ilija Šoškić is Montenegrin-Yugoslavian-Italian visual artist and art theorist. He was one of the pioneers of the new art forms in Yugoslavia in the 1960s. His art belongs to the conceptual tradition and covers performance art, video and installation art. Before turning to art, Šoškić was an athlete. He is the Montenegro record holder in hammer throw set in 1962.
Natalija Cvetković was a Serbian war artist.
Nebojša Mitrić was a Serbian and Yugoslav sculptor, painter, engraver and medalist.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
