Ana Vidjen facts for kids

Ana Vidjen (born 24 October 1931) is a famous sculptor from Yugoslavia, Croatia, and Serbia. She creates amazing art using materials like stone, wood, and bronze. Her work includes both smaller sculptures for galleries and huge, monumental pieces. She also creates drawings, paintings, and ceramics.

Ana Vidjen studied sculpture and earned her master's degree in 1962. She was encouraged by important artists and writers. With her husband, Nikola Milunovic, she even created a large monument for victims of Nazi terror in Belgrade, Serbia. Their son, Mihael Milunović, is also a painter.

Early Life and Art School

Ana Vidjen was born in a small town called Pločice in Croatia. This was part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia at the time. Her father worked for the railway, and her mother was a housewife and artist. Ana grew up in Cavtat with her sister and two brothers. She loved playing outdoors, exploring woods, and collecting shells and stones.

After World War II, when she was 15, her family encouraged her to go to a special art high school. This was the Umjetnička Škola in Herceg Novi, Montenegro. She studied sculpture there. In 1954, she moved to Belgrade to attend the Academy of Fine Arts. Today, this school is part of the University of Arts in Belgrade. She earned her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Fine Arts in 1961.

Studying in Athens and Early Career

After finishing her studies, Ana Vidjen received a special scholarship. This allowed her to continue her master's studies in Athens, Greece. She went to the Academy of Fine Arts there. She was very interested in ancient Cycladic art and Archaic Greek sculptures. In Athens, she met many artists, writers, and musicians.

One of her closest friends was Eleni Vakalo, a famous art critic and poet. Eleni wrote a lot about Ana's artwork. The Yugoslav Ambassador to Greece also admired Ana's art. He helped her meet important people in Athens.

When she returned to Yugoslavia, she married Nikola Milunović. He was also a sculptor. His father, Milo Milunović, was a very important painter. Milo founded the University of Arts in Belgrade in 1937. Ana and Nikola lived in Belgrade and worked on many art projects together. They even helped with large mosaic projects for Nikola's father.

In 1963, Ana Vidjen was invited to a special event. The British Ambassador in Yugoslavia held a reception for Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. The President of Yugoslavia, Josip Broz Tito, was also there. After meeting the Queen, one of Ana's sculptures was chosen for the Royal Collection at Buckingham Palace in London!

In 1966, Ana showed new drawings in an exhibition called "Fantastica" in Brussels. She was part of an art movement called Medijala in Yugoslavia. This movement influenced her drawings and sculptures. In 1967, her work was shown in the International Sculpture Exhibition in The Hague. She was also chosen for an exhibition called "Four Yugoslav Sculptors" in Amsterdam. That same year, she created a marble sculpture called "Dry Age." You can still see it in the sculpture park in Arandjelovac, Serbia. Other important sculptures from this time include the huge "Shell" and the Monument to Victims of the Banjica Concentration Camp in Belgrade, created in 1969.

Later Works and Achievements

In 1975, Ana Vidjen created "Flourishing Form." This sculpture was bought for the collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade. Her marble sculpture "The Fruit" (1980) is now in the sculpture park in Danilovgrad, Montenegro.

During this time, Ana Vidjen won many important art awards. She received the Union of Fine Artists of Serbia prize in 1974. She also won the Winter Salon prize in 1983 in Herceg Novi. She won first prize for her design of a monument to Petar I Petrović-Njegoš. She later created a large, three-dimensional portrait of this 18th-century ruler of Montenegro. This sculpture is in Danilovgrad, Montenegro.

Ana Vidjen often took part in the Prilep Marble Sculpture Symposium. Here, she created several large sculptures that are now in the sculpture park. She won the Grand Prix twice at the Biennial of Miniature Art in Gornji Milanovac. She also won the Production Prize at the 1992 October Salon in Belgrade.

She also attended the International Symposium TERRA in Kikinda many times. There, she made many large sculptures out of terracotta. Some of these are now part of the Symposium's permanent collection.

One of her last big solo exhibitions was in 2005. It took place at the ULUS Gallery in Belgrade. She showed large terracotta sculptures and big drawings.

Ana Vidjen still lives and works in Belgrade, Serbia.

Solo Exhibitions

• 1962 Athens, Greece
• 1965 Belgrade, Serbia
• 1967 Amsterdam and Den Hague
• 1972 Belgrade, Serbia
• 1982 Podgorica, Montenegro
• 1987 Dubrovnik, Croatia
• 1990 Paris, France
• 2003 Kikinda, Serbia
• 2005 Galerija Ulus, Belgrade, Serbia

Prizes

• 1st Prize Young Creatives of Montenegro 1953
• Special Prize of Biennale of Yugoslav Sculpture 1973
• ULUS prize on Spring Exhibition of Union of Serbian Artists, Belgrade 1974
• 1st Prize of Winter Salon, Herceg Novi, 1983
• 1st Prize for Petar I Petrović Monument, Danilovgrad 1983
• 1st Prize for Open Air Sculpture «Prostor» 1984
• 1st Prize on International Biennale of Miniature Art, Gornji Milanovac 1990 and 1992
• Production Prize, October Salon, Belgrade, 1992

Outdoor Sculptures

• Sculpture Park, Aranđelovac, Serbia
• Sculpture in park of EI Factory, Belgrade
• Sculpture Park, Vrnjačka Banja, Serbia
• Sculpture Park, Prilep, Macedonia
• Sculpture Park, Danilovgrad, Montenegro
• Monument of Petar I Petrovic, Danilovgrad, Montenegro
• Sculpture Park Terra, Kikinda, Serbia

Collections

• Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade
• Contemporary Art Museum of Macedonia, Skopje
• National Museum of Montenegro, Cetinje
• Museum of Yugoslavia formerly Museum of Revolution, Belgrade
• Ministry of Culture, Podgorica, Montenegro

Sources

• Blic Newspaper, 19 July 2005 Skulpture i crteži Ane Viđen