Božidar Gagro’s Essays in the Catalogues of “Decade Exhibitions” at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade

Abstract

This paper examines three essays by Croatian art historian Božidar Gagro, published in the catalogues of “Decade Exhibitions” hosted at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade. The first essay (1972) explores the beginnings of Croatian modern painting as a series of critiques directed towards the recent past, marked by individualism and closely related to the prevailing social conditions. The second essay (1975) focuses on Croatian sculpture over a long eight-decade period (1870-1950), discussing its role in modern bourgeois society and identifying several generations of sculptors. In the third essay (1977), Gagro provides a synthesis of Croatian graphic arts during the first half of the 20th century, with a primary focus on its social function. Thus, his approach reveals the influence of a methodological current in art history that perceived artistic production as a clear reflection of its social context. The paper assesses the arthistorical significance of these essays, emphasizing elements of Gagro’s evaluative paradigm that considered European canonical values as an important guiding reference rather than an unattainable goal.