SCULPTURE

Since the very establishment of the Historical Museum of Serbia in 1963, the sculptures were collected within the Visual Art Collection. It was only in 1995 when they were set apart into separate collection. Such act was affected by several factors, all of which have led to the creation of a new collection of sculptures, as it was practiced in art museums. What also corroborated such practice were the specific conditions under which the art objects were kept within the Museum, as well as striking qualities present in all history museums which determined the way of selecting and collecting the works of art. Accordingly, the Museum’s concept of a complex museum imposed the extraordinary criteria, which its collections have to observe and which are limited by historical and national components regarding the subjects they depicted.

The Museum’s Collection of Sculptures represents very interesting group of objects of art, all of which have common function to present, through their creativeness, historical figures, events, different epochs and artistic trends in Serbia during the entire 19^th and 20^th centuries, regardless they were made by ordinary people, naive artists or academic painters.

Queen Nathalie Obrenovic,

Strуbl von Liptуujvбr Alajos (Alois)

The collection was formed primarily to get deeper insight into its condition as well as to set priorities for its protection. Different types of materials of which the objects were made (plaster of Paris,clay, wood, stone, terracotta, porcelain, bronze) request special treatment, particular care and, first of all, preventive protection; this could be achieved only if the objects were separated into distinctive collection.

The collection of sculptures, acquired by purchase or donation both from natural persons and legal entities, involves 411 pieces, most of which were made by about thirty eminent sculptors; the rest were made by unknown artist.

The number of works of the authors represented in the collection varies, and ranges from a single piece to several ones.

Voivode Zivojin Misic on a horseback,

 by Drinka Radovanovic 

The collection includes the works both of domestic and foreign artists. However, as the Museum was established in the period of the former SFRY, it also collected the works made by artists from other Yugoslav republics if their work fitted into its exhibitions. Hence the great variety of eminent authors represented within the collection.

On the other side, although the collection’s concept has not envisaged it to present the development of Serbian sculpture, it happened that it collected the works of all distinguished sculptors, including Djordje Jovanovic, Petar Ubavkic and Toma Rosandic, considered the founder of Serbian sculpture. The three of them are represented by several sculptures, as well as the other representatives of different artistic trends in sculpture. Chronologically, the collection covers the period from 1880 to 1994, while typologically it includes medals, plaques, relifes, busts, posthumous masks, figures and compositions.

Although being late in its development when compared to painting and other branches of art, the Serbian sculpture strove from the time it emerged in Serbian environment, immediately to make up for its delay and to catch up with the environment within which the sculpture had not only a quality but also continuity. Almost similarly, the Historical Museum, as one of the youngest among Belgrade museums, did its best to fill a gap and collect most various types of sculptures, which correspond to the Museum’s concept.

A call to the Armed Uprising in 1941, by Stevan Dukic

Bust of King Peter II Karadjordjevic,

by Dusan Jovanovic Djukin