The Art of the Collective – Case Zemlja

AVAILABLE ONLY IN CROATIAN.

PUBLISHER: [BLOK] – Lokalna baza za osvježavanje kulture

EDITORS: Ana Kutleša, Ivana Hanaček, Vesna Vuković

AUTHORS OF TEXTS: Ivana Hanaček, Vida Knežević, Ana Kutleša, Nikola Vukobratović, Vesna Vuković

DESIGN: Nina Bačun and Roberta Bratović (OAZA)

PROOFREADING: Nikola Ptić

REVIEWERS: Petar Prelog, PhD, and Stefan Gužvica

YEAR: 2019

From Petar Prelog’s review of the book:

"'The Art of the Collective – Case Zemlja' provides deep insight into certain parts of the social context of the Zemlja Artists’ Association, and is a valuable contribution to understanding this important interwar art group. The texts on the workers’ and socialist movements in Croatia, and on the issues of peasantry and nations, represent a relevant historical framework, while those which deal with Zemlja’s socially engaged activities analyse and interpret the issues that had a decisive influence on the characteristics of its goals. The widespread economic crisis in the capitalist society at the time, the dictatorship of King Alexander I Karađorđević, the connection between Zemlja’s protagonists and the illegal Communist Party, the difficult living conditions of neglected classes in the city and in the countryside, the ‘conflict on the literary Left’ - these are all issues which the authors of this book rightly consider to be crucial for the writing of Zemlja’s history. They also outline the possibilities of new interpretations of certain conceptual premises and characteristics of Zemlja’s work, from Krleža and Cesarec’s role in shaping Zemlja’s ideological aspects, to the issue of its avant-garde position in interwar art. All of this testifies to the fact that this book – published nine decades after Zemlja’s inception – is a relevant addition to the relatively large and significant corpus of studies on Zemlja, and that it has created new possibilities for interpreting this important phenomenon in Croatian modern art."

THE PUBLICATION WAS ISSUED AS PART OF THE MICROPOLITICS PROGRAM "THE MYTH OF THE UNIVERSAL SPECTATOR: A LOOK BACKWARD". THE MICROPOLITICS PROGRAM IS FINANCIALLY SUPPORTED BY THE MINISTRY OF CULTURE OF THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA AND THE CITY OF ZAGREB OFFICE FOR EDUCATION, CULTURE AND SPORT.