Ivan Picelj facts for kids

Ivan Picelj (born July 28, 1924, died February 22, 2011) was a famous Croatian artist. He was known for his paintings, sculptures, and graphic designs. He created art in a style called geometric abstraction. This means his art used simple shapes and bright, basic colors.

Who Was Ivan Picelj?

Ivan Picelj was born in Okučani, a town in what was then Yugoslavia. He later moved to Zagreb, Croatia, where he passed away. He became a very important artist in Croatia and around the world. He was a painter, a sculptor, and a graphic designer. This means he made art on canvas, created three-dimensional artworks, and designed things like posters and books.

His Artistic Style

Picelj developed a special way of making art. He used geometric abstraction. This style focuses on shapes like squares, circles, and triangles. He often used only primary colors, like red, blue, and yellow. He also liked to repeat a basic shape many times in a grid. This created interesting patterns and designs.

Picelj started making sculptures and reliefs in 1957. He used materials like wood and metal for these artworks. His sculptures also often featured repeated geometric units.

Working with Other Artists

Ivan Picelj was a founding member of an art group called EXAT 51. This group was active from 1950 to 1956. It included architects and painters who wanted to explore new ideas in art. Some of the other members were Vjenceslav Richter and Aleksandar Srnec.

He also helped start the New Tendencies movement. This was an international art movement that focused on kinetic art and optical art. Kinetic art moves, and optical art creates illusions for your eyes. Picelj showed his work at the New Tendencies exhibitions in Zagreb from 1961 to 1967.

Picelj spent a lot of time in Paris, France. There, he worked with a famous art gallery called Denise René.

Graphic Design Work

From the mid-1960s, Picelj also became very involved in graphic design. He designed many posters and books. He published several collections of his graphic works. These collections were like special art books filled with his designs. Some of his famous graphic maps include 8 seriographies (1957) and Oeuvre programmeé (1966).

He also helped organize the first industrial design exhibition in Zagreb in 1955. He even helped design the special buildings, called pavilions, for Yugoslavia at big international exhibitions.

Exhibitions and Awards

Ivan Picelj's art was shown in many places. He had solo exhibitions, which means only his art was on display, starting in 1952. He also participated in many group shows. Some important exhibitions include the Venice Biennale, which is a very famous art show, in 1969 and 1972. His work was also part of "A Century of Avant-garde Art in Middle and Eastern Europe" in Bonn, Germany.

His artworks are now in many important museums around the world. These include the Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb in Croatia and the Museum of Modern Art, New York in the United States. Many of his pieces are also in private art collections.

In 1994, Ivan Picelj received the Vladimir Nazor Award. This is a very important award in Croatia for "Life Achievement" in the arts. It recognized his long and successful career as an artist.