Bogdan Krscic - Graphics

Bogdan Kršić (1932. Sarajevo – 2009. Belgrade), graduated from the Academy of Applied Arts in Belgrade in the class of prof. Mihail S. Petrov, and then continued his studies in Prague with prof. Karel Svolinski. Since 1957, he has exhibited independently (Belgrade, Brno, New York, Prague, Paris…) and at collective exhibitions in the country and abroad (Belgrade, Bucharest, Krakow, Warsaw, Berlin, Barcelona, Paris, Vienna, Minsk, Ankara…). He was a professor at the Faculty of Applied Arts in Belgrade and a member of several art associations (ULUS, ULUPUDS, Graphic Collective, EX LIBRIS Association, Czech Graphic Artists Association HOLLAR). He has won numerous awards and recognitions (selection): The Golden Needle of ULUS, The Big Seal of the Graphic Collective (1963); Graphic Biennale Gold Medal, Buenos Aires (1968); Golden Pen of Belgrade (1968, 1970); October Book Equipment Salon Award (1970); October Award of the City of Belgrade (1975); First International Biennale Award, Ankara (1986); Special Award of the Dry Needle Biennale, Užice (1993); Small Seal of the Graphic Collective (2007). Several books / studies on Kršić's work have been published: Dragan Đorđević, Bogdan Kršić (1968), Vanja Kraut, Bogdan Kršić-grafički listovi (1987), Slobodan Lazarević-Miomir Petrović, Demijurg (1997), Branislava Jevtović, U grotesknom pozorištu Bogdana Kršića (2004).Bogdan Kršić, was a versatile artistic figure who left an indelible mark in the artistic production of the second half of the 20th century and the beginning of the new millennium with his authentic authorial attitude and recognizable visual style. Kršić was a representative of the traditional school of graphic thinking, an erudite artist, who created an extensive and rich oeuvre in printmaking, graphic design, illustration, book design and ex libris, ceramics, scenography, heraldry – all of which come together in Kršić's recognizable poetics dedicated to Man and his destiny eternally repeated.

Educated based on the models and requirements of applied artistic practices, the works of Bogdan Kršić are aesthetically carefully thought-out, as well as spiritually and intellectually rich and nurtured. The entire artistic practice of Kršić is focused on a philosophically intoned observation of Humanity, through the historical perspective of European literary, theatrical and artistic heritage. An excellent connoisseur of humanistic and classical scholarship, Kršić examines the trajectory of history/civilization, the im/possibilities of its chronology, logic and the repetition of certain phenomena. The ironic, enigmatic, grotesque, surreal, oneiric, hallucinatory, apocalyptic, eccentric, parabolic, and the fantastic, are just some of the creative layers that shape the ambience and micro-universe of his works. Close to the spiritual brotherhood of great masters – Goya, Dürer, El Greco, Kahlo, Bosch, Ensor – Kršić formulated unique visual narratives and notes on the rises and falls of Man through unique paraphrases of his famous predecessors; he celebrated the Genius of Man, but he also, in a way both lucid and sarcastic, questioned and relativized Man’s dogmas and shed light on his delusions. An energetic researcher of literary sources - Erasmus of Rotterdam, Sebastian Brant, Kanjoš Macedonović, Benvenuto Celini, Ivan Goran Kovačić, Njegoš, Milan Komnenić - instead of quotations or artistic homages, Kršić led an active creative dialogue with the anthological achievements of literature and their famous authors, examining an ambivalent relationship to History, Culture, Memory.