June 25, 2009

One of the most famous Serbian painters of the 20th century, Olja Ivanjicki, died on June 24, 2009, in Belgrade, at the age of 78. She was the winner of numerous national and international awards, one of the founders of the Mediala movement and an author of 87 independent art exhibitions. More from Slavka Sunajko.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, a young and beautiful artist, Olja Ivanjicki, dressed in black and white pop art motifs, captivated people wherever she appeared. She was equally interesting half a century later, although many people considered her style too eccentric.

Olja Ivanjicki was regarded by her admirers as one of the most important persons in the Serbian art. Her house and atelier are situated on Kosancicev venac, a Bohemian part of downtown Belgrade, commanding a wonderful view of the place where the river Sava flows into The Danube.

Her art was avantgarde in the same way. She often painted, on large format canvasses, celebrities of the world jet set, extraordinary nature, strange landscapes of other galaxies, angels, astronauts, Leonardo Da Vinci, Velasquez and other great people that fascinated her.

She was modest and glamorous at the same time. The Yugoslav public proclaimed her best painter in Yugoslavia in the 20th century. She recently drew a sketch for a new bridge, to be built in Belgrade. She named the bridge THE GATE OF TIME. It was to become a ligthning house for entering a new era. She was also a very successful fashion designer. In 2003, she took part in an Internet competition for the new World Trade Centre in New York, to be built on the site of the old one, torn down in the terrorist attack of September 11. Her name was inscribed by NASA into a time capsule, laid on the ground of the planet Mars. She also established a foundation of her own, hoping that one day it would become a museum, similar to the one built by Salvador Dali in Figueras in Spain.

She was also a writer, with published books of poetry, essays, correspondence etc. She was twice awarded the title of INTERNATIONAL WOMAN OF THE YEAR by the Cambridge and American Biographical Institutes. She was ranked among the 2,000 leading world intellectuals, among the outstanding 20th century individuals and among the living legends for year 2001. Her paintings are housed in numerous museums and galleries worldwide. She exhibited her works in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and in many other prestigious museums. She was also supportive to young artists in Serbia.
She was born in Pančevo in 1931. Her parents were expelled from Russia after the October revolution. She graduated from the Academy of Arts in Belgrade. After postgraduate studies, in 1962, she won the Ford Foundation’s scholarship for study in the USA and in 1978 she took part in a Fullbright Foundation programme.