Artist Monographs
This section of the Spomenik Database Digital Library contains a collection of books which are monograph compilations of the work of various artists, designers and architects who worked towards the creation of many of the monuments and memorials which are spread across the former Yugoslavia.
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Dušan Džamonja: skulpture - crteži - projekti, 1961-1975 [1976]
This book, which is written in Croatian, Serbian and English, is a catalog and history of many sculptural works by Strumica-born artist Dušan Džamonja that were created between the years 1961 and 1975. This publication, which is filled with dozens of high quality images of his work, examines the entirety of his sculptural legacy, even showing dozens of images of conceptual and preliminary drawings that he made. While the book gives a good visual review of his sculptural works, the book also contains many chapters which relate Džamonja's personal story and the road in which he traveled to develop his personal sculptural style. In addition, the book not only examines the pure sculptural work of Džamonja, but it also briefly touches on his memorial works as well. Unfortunately, the book does not contain many photos of his better known memorial works. [🌐Online Viewing: 133 pages, 29Mb PDF file, courtesy of the Hronorlogija izlaganja skulpture u Srbiji]
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Vojin Bakić (Igor Zidić) [2017]
This book, which is written in Croatian, Italian and English, is a catalog and history of many sculptural works by Croatian-born artist Vojin Bakić. This Adris Gallery publication, which is filled with dozens of modern images of his work, examines the entirety of his sculptural legacy, from his earliest sculptures to the ones made in during the final years of his life. While the book gives a good visual review of his sculptural works, the book also contains many chapters which relate Bakić personal story and the road in which he traveled to develop his personal sculptural style. In addition, the book not only examines the pure sculptural work of Bakić, but it also briefly touches on his memorial works as well. Unfortunately, the book does not contain many photos of his better known memorial works. [🔽Download: 50 pages, 4Mb PDF file, courtesy of the Adris Gallery in Zagreb]
Vojin Bakić (WHW & Ana Bakić) [2008]
This book, which is written in English, is a catalog from a 2008 show at the Grazer Kunstverein gallery in Graz, Austria of the monumental work of Croatian-born artist Vojin Bakić. The show and the book were curated by Bakić's grandaughter Ana, as well as the Croatian collective WHW (What, How & for Whom). This publication contains a significant amount of history and photography of Bakić's various memorial sculptural works from during the Yugoslav-era, while also providing an impressive amount of background information about his approach to art and sculpture. In addition, the book contains a detailed timeline of Bakić's entire artistic career. [🔽Download: 68 pages, 23 Mb PDF file, courtesy of Monoskop]
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Momčilo Krković - Skulptura (Ilija Krković) [2010]
This book is a monograph of the collected work of Serbian artist Momčilo Krković. Over his lifetime, Krković created a massive amounts of not only memorial works across Yugoslavia, but also huge numbers of purely artistic and sculptural works as well. This book explores Krković's art in great detail, recounting his life story and photos of a majority of his artistic endeavors, but the book also gives a meticulous timeline of life as well as laying out a complete catalog of all of his works and commissions. Some of the most fascinating photos within the book are seeing models of the unrealized concept proposals that Krković put forward in a number of major design competitions for large monument projects. In addition, this publication also explores Krković's religiously themed work which he created in the post-Yugoslav era. This book is written is the Serbian language. [🔽Download: 169 pages, 17.8Mb PDF file, courtesy of Krkovic.com]
Borko Lazeski (Sonja Abadzieva Dimitrova) [1979]
This book is a monograph of the collected work of Prilep, Macedonia artist Borko Lazeski. As one of the most prolific and renowned artists of the region of Macedonia, Lazeski created some of the most pivotal and important memorial and artistic works in Yugoslavia during his lifetime. He is most known for the massive 100m long mural he painted at the Skopje Central Train Station in 1950, which was among the largest murals in all of Yugoslavia. It was however destroyed in the Skopje Earthquake of 1963. This book, presented in the English and Macedonian languages, covers the vast majority of his major works. [🔽Download, 129 pages, 22Mb PDF file, courtesy of Zaum.mk]
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Ana Bešlić - Emancipacija Form (Suzana Vuksanović) [2015]
This book is a monograph of the collected work of Vojvodina artist Ana Bešlić. Not only was Bešlić one of the most significant female modern artists during the Yugoslav era, she also is considered "one of the most important representatives of modern sculpture in Yugoslavia and Serbia". She created not only monuments and memorial sculptural works, but also non-memorial sculptural works all across Yugoslavia. Her modest public sculptural work titled 'Wings', located at Palić Park in Subotica, Serbia, is among the first public modernist sculptures in Yugoslavia. This book, which is presented in both the Serbian and English languages, explores her sculptural work from about 1954 to 2001. [🔽Download: 96 pages, 1.7Mb PDF file, courtesy of Muzej savremene umetnosti Vojvodine]
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Dimo Todorovski (Bogdan Musović) [1980]
This book is a monograph of the collected work of Macedonian sculptor Dimo Todorovski. Standing as one of the most notable and accomplished sculptors in the Macedonian region during the Yugoslav-era, Todorovski created not only a significant amount of sculptural works, but also famous monumental works as well. By far his most famous work is that of the Mečkin Kamen monument near Kruševo, which today operates as one of the "national symbols" of the country. This book, which is in both the English and Macedonian languages, contains a number of well-detailed large format images of Todorovski's most famous works, as well as a lengthy introduction about his life and development as an artist. [🔽Download: 136 pages, 23 Mb PDF file, courtesy of Zaum]
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Šime Vulas (Igor Zidić) [2013]
This book is a monograph of the sculptural works of Croatian sculptor Šime Vulas. Born on the Croatian coast, Vulas was long connected to the Adriatic, creating some of his most significant works along this zone. Throughout his career, one most prevailing themes of the work of Vulas is 'the totem', as a symbol of 'tradition', with many of his sculptures exhibiting the recurring motif of repeatedly stacked geometric shapes. Much of the concentration of this publication is sculptures which are from that era. This book, which is written in three segments in English, Italian and Croatian, contains several well-detailed large-format images of Vulas' most famous sculptural works, as well as a lengthy and detailed biography about his life and development as an artist. Sadly, very little attention is given in this monography towards displaying photographs of his monumental works. [🔽Download: 52 pages, 1.4 Mb PDF file, courtesy of the Adris Gallery in Zagreb]
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Janez Lenassi - Monografija (Aleš Lenassi) [1999]
This book, written by Lenassi's son Aleš, is a monograph of the collected work of Slovene sculptor Janez Lenassi. Among one of Slovenia's most accomplished and well known sculptors of the Yugoslav-era, Lenassi is responsible for a huge corpus of sculptural work, as well as having been the creator of several significant NOB monuments, most notably the Freedom Monument at Ilirska Bistrica in Slovenia. This book, which is presented in the English, Slovenian and Italian languages, offers insight into Lenassi's life and artistic approach, as well and a huge range of photos of his life's sculptural accomplishments. [🌐Online Viewing: 282 pages, courtesy of JanezLenassi.si]
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Gligor Čemerski (Boris Petkovski) [1987]
This book is a monograph about the life and work of Macedonian artist Gligor Čemerski. Written in the languages Macedonian, French, English and Serbo-Croatian, this book covers many of the artistic and monumental works of Čemerski, who was the author of some very influential monumental works in the Macedonian region. It contains an especially impressive detailed photoset of rare Yugoslav-era images of his most famous work, the Monument to Freedom at Kočani. In addition, this publication has an expansive biography on Čemerski and his approaches to artistic creation. [🔽Download: 163 pages, 66 Mb PDF file, courtesy of Zaum]
Nandor Glid (Irena Subotić) [2012]
This book is a monograph about the life and work of Subotica born sculptor Nandor Glid. Written in both Serbian and English, this book gives a lengthy biography about the early life, personal history and artistic evolution of Glid, while also examining his many memorial and sculptural works that he created during his long artsitic career. These works of his include those found not only in the former Yugoslavia, but the memorial works he created across Europe as well. The book contains many impressive images of his work (both contemporary and historic) while also exploring their meaning and symbolism. [🌐Online Viewing: 250 pages, courtesy of Academia.edu]
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Marijan Kocković (Vesna Mažuran Subotić) [2013]
This book is a monograph about the life and work of Dubrovnik sculptor Marijan Kocković [profile page]. Written in Croatian, this publication explores the life and career of this highly prolific artist, who not only created almost two dozen monuments across Yugoslavia during his 45 year career, but he also was the author of hundreds of sculptures, tapestries and many other artistic works. This book includes photos of many of Kocković's most well-known sculptural works, while also containing a very thorough biography and description of his artistic style. In addition, the book contains a valuable listing of all his artistic accomplishments. [🌐Online Viewing: 96 pages, courtesy of gliptoteka.mdc.hr@yumpu]
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Miodrag Živković (Dragan Radenović) [2019]
This book is an exhibition catalog for a 2019 show called "Sutjeska" at Gallery '73 in Belgrade, Serbia, which presents the selected works of Belgrade sculptor Miodrag Živković [profile page]. Written in Serbian, this publication looks in great detail at the more than +50 year career of Živković, who created some of the most significant and well-known monumental works of the Yugoslav-era. This book includes photos of many vintage and historical photos of Živković's most well-known sculptural works (and many of his lesser-known works as well), while also containing writings about his work on the Sutjeska monument, as well as on other projects. In addition, the book contains a valuable listing of all his artistic accomplishments. [🔽Download: 64 pages, courtesy of Gallery '73]
Marko Mušič: A Catalog of Selected Projects [2019]
This is an online book which exists as a catalog of the selected works of Slovene architect Marko Mušič [profile page]. Written in both Slovenian and English, this publication gives a near-complete overview of +50 year architectural career of Mušič, who created some of the most significant and well-known architectural and monumental works in Yugoslavia, and has continued to create works into the 21st century. This catalog contains historical images of both Mušič's completed works, as well as his proposed architectural works that were never realized. In addition, the book gives detailed information about their location and when they were conceived. [🌐Online viewing: 16 pages, courtesy of AteljeMarkoMusic.si]
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Edvard Ravnikar: Architect and Teacher (Vodopivec & Žnidaršič) [2010]
This book which is titled "Edvard Ravnikar: Architect and Teacher" examines the lifetime of work of famous Slovene architect Edvard Ravnikar. Published in 2010 by Springer-Wien-New York and edited by Ales Vodopivec & Rok Žnidaršič, this book looks at the history and life's work of this architect, showing dozens or rare photos, drawings, maquettes, concept art, blueprints and other unique artifacts which were produced by Ravnikar. During his life, Ravnikar not only created buildings all across Yugoslavia, but also took part in creating numerous monuments and memorial works as well, which were all largely dedicated to the events of WWII. [🔽Download link: 347 pages, courtesy of Academia.edu]
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Lojze Dolinar (1893-1970) (Gorenjski Muzej) [2017]
This book is a comprehensive monograph of the life works of Slovene sculptor Lojze Dolinar. Written in both Slovene, this 2017 publication, which was put out by the Gorenjski Muzej in Kranj, Slovenia, explores both the sculptural and monumental works produced by Dolinar over his long career, which spanned from from the Kingdom of Yugoslavia era of the 1920s and 30s all the way up to the 1960s. In addition to exploring his sculptural creation, the book also gives an authoritative biography of his life and analysis of his works, while also containing a significant number of historical images, concept art and studio views of his work. [🌐Online viewing: 64 pages, courtesy of Gorenjski Muzeum via Issuu]
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Aleksandar Zarin - Skulpture, 1950-1974 (Savremena Galerija) [1975]
This book is a monograph which catalogs the work of Vojvodina-born academic sculptor Aleksandar Zarin from the period of 1950 to 1974. Written in Serbian, this 1975 publication, which was put out by the Savremena Galerija in Subotica, Serbia, explores both the various sculptural and monumental works which were created by Zarin during this notable period in time of Yugoslavia's artistic flourishing. In addition to exploring his sculptural creation, the book also gives an authoritative biography of his life and analysis of his works, while also containing a significant number of historical images, concept art and studio views of his work. [🔽Download link: 82 pages, courtesy of Hronologija izlaganja skulpture u Srbiji]
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Jovan Soldatović - Skulpture, 1942-1984 (Savremena Galerija) [1985]
This book is a monograph that catalogs the work of Vojvodina-born academic sculptor Jovan Soldatović, who created some of the most significant monuments of the Vojvodina region during the Yugoslav-era. Written in Serbian, the book was published in 1985 by the Contemporary Gallery of Novi Sad. The publication details the sculpture and memorial artwork that Soldatović created during his long career of more than four decades. Also included in this book is a detailed biography and a listing of his works, exhibitions and awards. [🔽Download link: 100 pages, courtesy of Hronologija izlaganja skulpture u Srbiji]
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