As a part of the program that commemorates the 100th anniversary of Vlaho Bukovac’s death, on Thursday, June 23 lecture by the museum advisor of the Dubrovnik Art Gallery, Ph.D. Rozana Vojvoda entitled Ivanka and Jelica, Bukovac’s “little colleagues”: painting in the shadow of their father’s genius was held at the House Bukovac.
Rozana Vojvoda thematized the rich opus of Bukovac’s daughters, analyzing works and archival material, while presenting an insight into their life and work, almost forgotten today.
Ivanka Bukovac Javorsky (1899 – 1978) and Jelica Bukovac Radosavljević (1897 – 1967) are the daughters of one of our most famous Croatian painters, Vlaho Bukovac, but they are also the first women students at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. Ivanka studied from 1921 to 1928, while Jelica from 1921 to 1924, and after an unexpected interruption finished the Academy in 1939. The fact that Ivanka and Jelica are the daughters of the famous Vlaho Bukovac, a key figure in the development of Croatian modern painting, was a double-edged sword for both painters. On the one hand, they owe him for systematic art instructions from an early age which helped them greatly during their studies, but on the other hand, they cannot get rid of their father's legacy until the end of their lives. They remain attached to academic realism and Plein air completely ignoring contemporary tendencies in 20th-century art. However, both painters possess a distinct artistic talent and have left behind works of undeniable artistic quality.
Once again we thank Rozana Vojvoda for an extremely interesting lecture.
