Ivan Kožarić (10 June 1921,

Petrinja Petrinja () is a town in central Croatia near Sisak in the historic region of Banija, Banovina. It is administratively located in Sisak-Moslavina County. On December 29, 2020, the town was 2020 Petrinja earthquake, hit by a strong earthquake wit ...

– 15 November 2020,

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

) was a Croatian artist who worked primarily with sculpture but also in a wide variety of media, including permanent and temporary sculptures, assemblages, proclamations, photographs, paintings, and installations. He lived and worked in

, Croatia. His works are characterized by a sense of mischief, spontaneity and by his nonchalant approach to life. He was one of the founding members of the

Gorgona Group The Gorgona Group (named after the mythological creature Gorgon), was a Croatian avant-garde art group which consisted of artists and art historians. The group, made up of Dimitrije Bašičević-Mangelos, Miljenko Horvat, Marijan Jevšovar, J ...

, whose active members between 1959 and 1966 were Miljenko Horvat,

Julije Knifer Julije Knifer (23 April 1924 – 7 December 2004) was a Croatian abstract painter and a founding member of the 1960s Croatian art collective known as the Gorgona Group. The central motif of Knifer's art is the exploration of Meander (art), meander ...

, Marijan Jevšovar, Dimitrije Bašičević (who also works under the name Mangelos), Matko Meštrović, Radoslav Putar,

Đuro Seder Đuro Seder (29 November 1927 – 2 May 2022) was a Croatian painter. He lived and worked in Zagreb. Career At the beginning of his career he worked as an illustrator, image editor, and designer at various magazines. He was one of the founding me ...

and Josip Vaništa. During his period in Gorgona, his sculptures reduced in form, which would become the main characteristic of his later sculptural project consisting of numerous sculptures entitled The ''Feeling of Wholeness''.Beroš, Nada ''Highlights: Collection in Motion'' p. 178 (Muzej Suvremene Umjetnosti, Zagreb 2010) He had many solo exhibitions, both in Croatia and internationally. Some of the exhibitions were held at the Museum of Modern Art in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

(2002) and at the

Art Pavilion in Zagreb The Art pavilion in Zagreb () is an art gallery in Zagreb, Croatia. The pavilion is located on the Lenuci Horseshoe, Donji grad(Zagreb), Lower town area of the city, south of Nikola Šubić Zrinski Square, on the northern side of the King Tomislav ...

(2005–2006). He participated in many international group shows, including the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

(1976), the São Paulo Biennale (1979), and

documenta Documenta (often stylized documenta) is an Art exhibition, exhibition of contemporary art which takes place every five years in Kassel, Germany. Documenta was founded by artist, teacher and curator Arnold Bode in 1955 as part of the Bundesgarte ...

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in North Hesse, northern Hesse, in Central Germany (geography), central Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel (region), Kassel and the d ...

(2002). The

Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb The Museum of Contemporary Art (, often abbreviated to MSU) is a contemporary art art museum, museum located on Dubrovnik Avenue in Zagreb, Croatia. It is the biggest and most modern museum in the country. Vesna Meštrić is current director of MS ...

bought his entire studio for display in the gallery in 2007. Commissioned by the

Filip Trade Collection The Filip Trade Collection (Croatian: ''Zbirka Filip Trade'') is a large private collection of contemporary Croatian art. The collection is a subsidiary of Filip Trade, a distribution company with its offices located in the capital city of Croatia, ...

, he made ''Ascent'', a slender sculpture more than 13 meters high (2002). He was the author of many public sculptures, including ''Landed Sun'' in Zagreb (1971), ''A. G. Matoš'' in Zagreb (1978), and ''Tree'' in

Bochum Bochum (, ; ; ; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a population of 372,348 (April 2023), it is the sixth-largest city (after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg) in North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous German federa ...

(1979–1980). He received numerous awards, including the

Vladimir Nazor Award The Vladimir Nazor Award () is a Croatian prize for arts and culture established in 1959, and awarded every year by the country's Ministry of Culture. Named after the writer Vladimir Nazor (1876–1949), the prize is awarded to Croatian artists ...

for Life Achievement (1997).Ministry of Culture Website
link to the recipients of the Vladimir Nazor Life Achievement Award. File:Kožarić - Prizemljeno sunce.jpg, 'Prizemljeno sunce'('The Grounded Sun', 1971) in downtown

, Bogovićeva street. Since 2004, it is a part of the installation

Nine Views ''Nine Views'' () is an ambiental installation art, installation in Zagreb, Croatia which, together with the sculpture ''Prizemljeno Sunce'' (''The Grounded Sun''), comprises a scale Solar System model, model of the Solar System. ''Prizemljeno S ...

. File:A.G. Matos (Zagreb).jpg,

Antun Gustav Matoš Antun Gustav Matoš (; 13 June 1873 – 17 March 1914) was a Croatian poet, short story writer, journalist, essayist and travelogue writer. He is considered the champion of Croatian modernist literature, opening Croatia to the currents of E ...

statue on Strossmayер walkway in

File:Ivan Kozaric Hodac Korzo Rijeka 090610 2.jpg, Walker statue on

Rijeka Rijeka (; Fiume ( �fjuːme in Italian and in Fiuman dialect, Fiuman Venetian) is the principal seaport and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, third-largest city in Croatia. It is located in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County on Kvarner Ba ...

main street Korso

Published works on Ivan Kožarić

* Maračić, Antun & Turković, Evelina, ''Studio Kožarić'' (Ideaimago, Zagreb, 1995). * Župan, Ivica, ''Cheerful Sisyphus'' (Biblioteka Duchamp, Naklada MD, Zagreb, 1996). * Koščević, Želimir, ''Kožarić'' (Naklada Naprijed d.d. Zagreb, 1996). * Denegri, Jerko, ''Ivan Kožarić'' (Matica Hrvatska Sisak,

Sisak Sisak (; also known by other alternative names) is a city in central Croatia, spanning the confluence of the Kupa, Sava and Odra rivers, southeast of the Croatian capital Zagreb, and is usually considered to be where the Posavina (Sava basin ...

, 2006.). * Denegri, Jerko & Maroević, Tonko, ''Ivan Kožarić'' (exh. catalogue, Art Pavilion in Zagreb, Zagreb, 2006).

Notes and references

External links

Ivan Kožarić at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb

Ivan Kožarić at the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kozaric, Ivan Croatian sculptors Croatian contemporary artists 1921 births 2020 deaths Vladimir Nazor Award winners People from Petrinja Members of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts Academy of Fine Arts, University of Zagreb alumni Yugoslav sculptors