Ivan Picelj
Composition LYX
Artist
Ivan Picelj
(1924, Okučani - 2011, Zagreb), Croatian
Original Title
Composition LYX
Date1957
Mediumoil on canvas
Dimensions80 × 59,5 cm
Classificationspaintings
Credit LineKunsthalle Praha
DescriptionIvan Picelj was a prominent Croatian artist whose practice spanned painting, sculpture, design, and graphic design. He emerged onto the art scene with works in the vein of geometric abstraction, which the Croatian art scene viewed as emblematic of independent artistic freedom since the 1950s. In 1957, Picelj began producing screen prints, creating portfolios which marked his departure from classical painting but maintained the communicative potential of his work. His screen-printed compositions combine letters and numbers, drawing on the same color palette and formal language as his previous work. The main difference lies in their relation to questions of originality and duplicability. Picelj does not ascribe color any symbolic or representational meaning, instead adopting a logic reminiscent of suprematist art, focusing on the spatial and textural dimensions of the work. In the early 1960s, he definitively abandoned painting in favor of creating spatial reliefs via computer-generated prints and designs, incorporating new materials as well as experimenting with the variability of geometric language. Prints became the primary medium of Picelj’s art, a manifestation of a new practice. His embrace of these alternative graphic techniques builds upon the avantgarde philosophy of the Bauhaus, which emphasized both the importance of art as a space of experimentation and the necessity of its dissemination among a wider audience, thus countering its exclusivity. This approach is also reflected by Picelj’s engagement in collective artistic collaborations. His later prints reference works of the geometric avantgarde, creating variations on their imagery to develop the aesthetic and conceptual legacies of artists such as Malevich, Mondrian, and Rodchenko.
Composition LYX (1957) is one of Picelj’s neoconstructivist paintings dating from the 1950s. The canvas is a direct continuation of works from his time in the Croatian neo-avantgarde art group EXAT 51 (1951-1956), created during his phase of transition from painting to screen printing. In this piece, Picelj emphasizes the surface of the canvas and focuses on experimentation with color and texture, despite intentionally avoiding any traces of a distinctive artistic style. An eye-catching feature of this composition, comprising a black shape on a blue background, is the contrast between regular and irregular lines, which reference the freedom and variability of geometric language.
Ivan Picelj (1924, Okučani – 2001, Zagreb) studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb from 1943 to 1946. He cofounded the neo-avantgarde art group EXAT 51 (abbr. of Eksperimentalni atelje / Experimental atelier), active from 1950 to 1956. The group’s championing of geometric abstraction and the synthesis of all forms of visual art was influenced by Russian constructivism as well as the De Stijl and Bauhaus movements. Picelj himself developed a modular style, creating paintings and sculptures based on a geometric grid. Later, he almost exclusively focused on graphic design. In 1952, he exhibited his work at the 7th Salon of New Realists in Paris, and in 1959 began collaborating with the Dennis René Gallery in Paris, one of the foremost galleries focusing on abstract and geometric art. Together with EXAT 51, he organized the first Zagreb Triennale in 1955. The following year, he founded an industrial design studio. From 1961 to 1967, he was a member of Nove Tendencije (New Tendencies), the first Yugoslav art group reacting to contemporary trends in international art such as conceptualism, kineticism, environment art, and computer art. Picelj designed several international pavilions of Yugoslav art. In 1962, he founded the book series A. His works have been regularly featured in international exhibitions of constructivist art in the USA, Germany, Norway, and France. Picelj died in 2001 in Zagreb. In Prague, his work was first shown in 1972 at the Contemporary Yugoslav Painting exhibition at the National Gallery in Prague.
Composition LYX (1957) is one of Picelj’s neoconstructivist paintings dating from the 1950s. The canvas is a direct continuation of works from his time in the Croatian neo-avantgarde art group EXAT 51 (1951-1956), created during his phase of transition from painting to screen printing. In this piece, Picelj emphasizes the surface of the canvas and focuses on experimentation with color and texture, despite intentionally avoiding any traces of a distinctive artistic style. An eye-catching feature of this composition, comprising a black shape on a blue background, is the contrast between regular and irregular lines, which reference the freedom and variability of geometric language.
Ivan Picelj (1924, Okučani – 2001, Zagreb) studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb from 1943 to 1946. He cofounded the neo-avantgarde art group EXAT 51 (abbr. of Eksperimentalni atelje / Experimental atelier), active from 1950 to 1956. The group’s championing of geometric abstraction and the synthesis of all forms of visual art was influenced by Russian constructivism as well as the De Stijl and Bauhaus movements. Picelj himself developed a modular style, creating paintings and sculptures based on a geometric grid. Later, he almost exclusively focused on graphic design. In 1952, he exhibited his work at the 7th Salon of New Realists in Paris, and in 1959 began collaborating with the Dennis René Gallery in Paris, one of the foremost galleries focusing on abstract and geometric art. Together with EXAT 51, he organized the first Zagreb Triennale in 1955. The following year, he founded an industrial design studio. From 1961 to 1967, he was a member of Nove Tendencije (New Tendencies), the first Yugoslav art group reacting to contemporary trends in international art such as conceptualism, kineticism, environment art, and computer art. Picelj designed several international pavilions of Yugoslav art. In 1962, he founded the book series A. His works have been regularly featured in international exhibitions of constructivist art in the USA, Germany, Norway, and France. Picelj died in 2001 in Zagreb. In Prague, his work was first shown in 1972 at the Contemporary Yugoslav Painting exhibition at the National Gallery in Prague.
