Oton Gliha (

Črnomelj Črnomelj (; in older sources also ''Černomelj'', ''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 4.) is a town in southeastern Slovenia. It is the ...

, 21 May 1914 - Zagreb, 19 July 1999) was a Croatian artist, born in

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

. A graduate of the

Academy of fine Arts The following is a list of notable art schools. Accredited non-profit art and design colleges * Adelaide Central School of Art * Alberta College of Art and Design * Art Academy of Cincinnati * Art Center College of Design * The Art Institute ...

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 ...

, Gliha continued his studies in Paris, Vienna and Munich. He is best known for his series of abstract paintings based on the patterns of the drystone walls of coastal Croatia. The first in the series appeared in 1954, and it was a theme he developed for the rest of his life. Gliha held solo exhibitions of his work in Croatia, and abroad. He participated in the Venice Bienniales of 1962 and 1964. Two retrospective exhibitions of his work have been held at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb. Oton Gliha received the Vladimir Nazor Award for lifetime achievement in 1977. He was elected to the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts in 1998. Oton Gliha's paintings are held in public collections around the world, for example New York, São Paulo, Paris and Turin.

Biography

Oton Gliha was born 21 May 1914 in

, then in

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

, today in

. His parents were originally from

Istria Istria ( ; Croatian language, Croatian and Slovene language, Slovene: ; Italian language, Italian and Venetian language, Venetian: ; ; Istro-Romanian language, Istro-Romanian: ; ; ) is the largest peninsula within the Adriatic Sea. Located at th ...

, on the northern part of the Croatian coast. Shortly after his birth, the family moved to

Osijek Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja ...

, where young Oton attended primary school. In 1924, the family moved again, this time to Zagreb. Completing high school in 1933, Gliha enrolled in the

, where he studied under prominent Croatian artists such as

Maksimilijan Vanka Maksimilijan "Maxo" Vanka (May 11, 1889 – February 2, 1963) was a Croatian-American artist. He is best known for the series of murals he completed in 1937 and 1941 at St. Nicholas Croatian Church in Millvale, Pennsylvania. Biography Ear ...

Tomislav Krizman Tomislav Krizman (1882–1955), was a Croatian Painting, painter, graphic artist, costume and set designer, teacher, author and organizer of cultural events. He painted in oil painting, oils and tempera, although he is principally remembered for ...

Ljubo Babić Ljubomir Tito Stjepan Babić (14 June 1890 – 14 May 1974) was a Croatian artist, museum curator and literary critic. As an artist, he worked in a variety of media including oils, tempera, watercolour, drawing, etching, and lithography. He wa ...

. He graduated in 1937, in the class of

Marino Tartaglia Marino Tartaglia (3 August 1894 – 21 April 1984) was a Croatian painter and art teacher, for many years a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts, Zagreb. From 1948 he was a member of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts. He received t ...

. While at the academy, Gliha met and married fellow art student Mila Kumbatović. Her family came from the island of

Krk Krk (; ; ; ; archaic German: ''Vegl'', ; ) is a Croatian island in the northern Adriatic Sea, located near Rijeka in the Bay of Kvarner and part of Primorje-Gorski Kotar county. Krk is tied with Cres as the largest Adriatic island, depending o ...

, where the couple would spend much of their time when not in Zagreb. The images of the island would make a strong impression on Gliha's art. In 1938, Gliha participated in his first exhibition in Zagreb, and in 1954 held his first solo exhibition. That year, the painting Primorje (Coast) introduced the Drystone Walls cycle that would become Gliha's life work. In 1957, a second solo exhibition focused completely on his paintings of the Drystone Walls of Krk. Gliha travelled and exhibited his work abroad, including several visits to Paris, Italy (in 1952 and 1961), USA (in 1958 and 1979). In 1977, Gliha received 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 lifetime achievement in the visual arts. In 1998, he was elected a member of the

Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts The Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts (; , HAZU) is the national academy of Croatia. HAZU was founded under the patronage of the Croatian bishop Josip Juraj Strossmayer under the name Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts (, JAZU) since its ...

. Oton Gliha died 19 June 1999 in Zagreb.

Legacy

Gliha's early work during the 1930s and 40s were landscapes, portraits and still lifes, painted with in conventional, rather neutral colours. His

landscapes A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or human-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the ...

showed the influence of

Paul Cézanne Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter whose work introduced new modes of representation, influenced avant-garde artistic movements of the early 20th century a ...

, and he tended to use thick paint in an

impasto Impasto is a technique used in painting, where paint is laid on an area of the surface thickly, usually thick enough that the brush or painting-knife strokes are visible. Paint can also be mixed right on the canvas. When dry, impasto provides tex ...

style to describe the form in his still life subjects. In the 1950s, lyrical abstraction was taking hold across Europe, with a new abstraction based on natural subjects. In 1954, Oton Gliha painted "Primorje", a coastal landscape that marked the beginning of one of the major series in Croatian art. His subject was the lattice of drystone walls (''gromače''), so common on the island of

, and along the Croatian coast. In Gliha's mind, he connected the patterns of the walls on the landscape with the ancient Croatian glagolitic script from early religious texts and stone inscriptions. Gliha himself described the connection:

"All at once, I saw the image of that landscape from Krk, criss-crossed by drystone walls as an old tablet with
Glagolitic The Glagolitic script ( , , ''glagolitsa'') is the oldest known Slavic alphabet. It is generally agreed that it was created in the 9th century for the purpose of translating liturgical texts into Old Church Slavonic by Saints Cyril and Methodi ...
script carved upon it. This association may seem strange, funny even, but for me at that moment it was fate. It helped me unravel all the excitement that I used to carry within myself, observing that strange geometry, architecture and sculpture that man had unconsciously created in his struggle with stone. By making most of the earth free of stone, man used the same stone to put it back into captivity, by fencing it off by drystone walls. When I stand within them I feel, I don't know why, very happy and filled by some silent festive joy. I feel the presence of a multitude of people and can hear their voices. Time seems to come to a standstill, reality becomes unreal. The faraway past seems to be the present; the present and future seem like the past: I experience an intense feeling of the presence of eternity. This spiritual state gives me power and stamina."

Gliha's excitement about his subject led him to interpret the motif in endlessly creative ways for the rest of his life. The shapes, rhythms and textures are caught in a variety of artistic styles and techniques, each one creating an individual mood from joyous to sad and reflective. By the 1960s and 70s, Gliha was using the motif to investigate the depth of the picture's space, the effect of light on the ethereal quality of the atmosphere and colour accents upon the plasticity of the form. His style by then had reached its full maturity. Gliha's motif became a constant in his art, and is immediately identifiable in all its variations. That is the indicator of all great painters when they have reached the peak of their life's work. Oton Gliha's art can be seen in public collections around the world. The

Guggenheim Museum The Guggenheim Museums are a group of museums in different parts of the world established (or proposed to be established) by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. Museums in this group include: * The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, Ne ...

in New York bought one of his paintings as early as 1958. Gliha held solo exhibitions in leading modern art galleries in

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

, 1960;

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

, 1961 and

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

in 1964. He participated at the 31st and 32nd

Biennale In the art world, a biennale ( , ; ), is a large-scale international contemporary art exhibition. The term was popularised by the Venice Biennale, which was first held in 1895, but the concept of such a large scale, and intentionally internationa ...

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

and he also painted his dry stone walls as large compositions for public venues. For example, the frescos in the Federal Executive Council in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

, 1962, the

mosaic A mosaic () is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/Mortar (masonry), mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and ...

in the lounge of Krk airport, 1970, and the festive curtain of the National Theatre in

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 ...

, 1981. Since Gliha's death in 1999, two books have been published about his work. In 2002, a comprehensive monograph was released by Masmedia in Zagreb, containing an almost complete photographic record of his work. A second publication in 2011 by the Academy of Fine Arts, University of Zagreb assesses the importance of Gliha's work within Croatian Contemporary art. In 2003, Croatian Post, Inc issued a stamp with Gliha's "Gromače 5-71" (''Drystone Wall 5-71''), 1971, as part of their Croatian Modern Art series. Oton's relatives, Vilko Gliha Selan (1912-1979) was also a well known Croatian painter and illustrator, an
Christina Gliha
is following in the family footsteps as a commercial illustrator.

Works

* Špiritijera (Spirit heater), 1939 * Primorski pejzaž (Coastal landscape), 1946 * Ljubice (Violets), 1952 * Smokve (Figs), 1953 * Krčki pejzaž - Omišalj (Krk Landscape - Omišalj), 1954 * Portret žene (Portrait of a woman), 1954 * Gromače (Dry Stone Walls) cycle, 1954-1999

Exhibitions

Recent exhibitions of his work include:

Solo exhibitions

Gliha held solo exhibitions of his work in Zagreb, Rijeka, Belgrade, Ohrid, Sarajevo, Turin, São Paulo, Milan, and Genoa. He also participated at the 31st and 32nd Venice Biennial in 1962 and 1964. * 2003 Oton Gliha - Krk Drystone Walls and the Croatian Glagolithic Script, Adris Gallery, Rovinj * 1974 Oton Gliha - Paintings and Drawings, Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb * 1964 Oton Gliha, Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb

Group exhibitions

* 2009 Alternative Landscapes of the 1950s to 1960s - From Nature to Vision, Art Pavilion, Zagreb * 2008 From the Holdings of the Museum, Museum of Modern Art, Dubrovnik * 2006 Croatian Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Skopje

Public collections

Oton Gliha's work can be found in the following public collections Brazil * Museum of Modern Art, Rio de Janeiro Croatia *

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 ...

* Gallery of Fine Arts, Split * Museum of Modern Art, Dubrovnik * Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Rijeka * Rovinj Heritage Museum, Rovinj *

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, ...

France * Centre Pompidou - National Museum of Modern Art, Paris Italy * Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art, Turin Macedonia * Museum of Contemporary Art, Skopje Serbia * Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade United States of America * Picker Art Gallery at Colgate University, Hamilton, NY * Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY

References

Bibliography

* Oton Gliha. Author: Zdenko Tonković; Photographs:Goran Vranić; Publisher: Masmedia, Zagreb. 2002.

* Gromače by Oton Gliha. Text: Jure Kaštelan, Vladimir Marković, Zdenko Tonković; Photography: Krešimir Tadić. Published by SNL, Zagreb, 1983

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gliha, Oton 1914 births 1999 deaths 20th-century Croatian painters Modern painters Academy of Fine Arts, University of Zagreb alumni Vladimir Nazor Award winners Yugoslav painters