Mića Popović

Mića Popović
Mića Popović

This great painter of the second half of the 20th century was born in Loznica on 12 June 1923, to the parents Toma and Dana. When Mića was four, the Popović family moved to Belgrade, where he finished primary and grammar school. After the WW2, in 1946, he enrolled the Academy of Fine Arts as a student in the class of Nedeljko Gvozdenović, but later that same year he moved to the class of Ivan Tabaković. In the spring of the next year, the students of Tabakovic’s class formed the famous Zadar Group. They were expelled from the Academy for abandoning classes in the autumn. Later, all of them were accepted back except Mića Popović who continued as a freelance painter.

In 1950, he opened his famous solo exhibition containing 160 paintings and a catalogue with his text on modern art. After this exhibition, he went to Paris with his wife, Vera Božičković Popović. Then they travelled across the Mediterranean. After their return to Belgrade in 1952, he organised an exhibition entitled The Village of Nepričava in the Museum of Vuk and Dositej. During those years, he was occupied with theory of art and in 1954 he published his first book related to this topic – Clashes and Harmonies. The exhibition Fog to the Bones was organised in the Art Pavilion in Kalemegdan Park, and afterwards there were many other exhibitions in the country and abroad.

In the late ‘50s, he painted his first paintings of his Informalism period which were exhibited for the first time in the Museum of Applied Arts in Belgrade in 1960. He regularly exhibited his work on the October Saloon, and in 1965 he joined the art group Lada. In the ‘60s, besides exhibitions, there were many awards for his works. During that time he was occupied with theatre and directing. He directed his first full-length motion picture The Man from the Oak Forest in 1963. Two years later in Atelje 212 theatre, he directed a play Viktor or Children in Power. Then he made films such as Roj, Kameni despot i jedina mogućnost narodne pesme, Hasanaginica, Delije, and Burduš.

When it comes to painting, he returned to figuration, but in a different way. He organised a solo exhibition Scene Painting in the Museum of Modern Art in 1971. Then he travelled again, this time to China, Thailand, India, and Iran. Exhibitions came one after another, but his great solo exhibition in the Cultural Centre of Belgrade in 1974 was banned just before its opening.

In the year 1980, he went to America with his family and they travelled the whole continent. At the State University of New York, Albany, he taught drawing and painting as a guest professor. In the meanwhile, he became a regular member of SANU (the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts).

Besides numerous awards and recognitions, he was also proclaimed to be the first honorary citizen of Loznica in 1989, when his Commemorative exhibition was opened. He died in Belgrade on 22 December, 1996.

Vera Božičković Popović

Vera Božičković Popović
Vera Božičković Popović

This prominent painter of the second half of the 20th century was born in Brčko in 1920. She finished grammar school in Belgrade and enrolled the Academy of Fine Arts in 1946. The next year, together with her class mates, she went to Zadar as a member of the Zadar Group. After this event, she continued her studies, unlike Mića, and she finished the Academy in the class of Professor Marko Čelebonović in 1949. She married Mića Popović the same year and together they went to Paris, and afterwards, other study tours occurred.

Providing him with complete support and help in all life situations, she also did her own painting, where she achieved great success, especially in the technique of Informalism. She exhibited her work both individually and with other painters on all large exhibitions of Yugoslav modern art in the country and abroad.

Besides painting, she also did drawings as a separate discipline, tapestry, and theatre and film costume. She died in Belgrade in March, 2002.

Address

Jovana Cvijića 15, Loznica

Map

Hours

from 7 to 15 hours every working day
/ for visitors from 8 until 3 p.m.

Contact

centarkultureloznica@gmail.com

015 881-151 / 015 882-718