Tošo Dabac facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Tošo Dabac
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Tošo Dabac in 1951
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| Born |
Teodor Eugen Marija Dabac
18 May 1907 Nova Rača, Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia, Austria-Hungary
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| Died | 9 May 1970 (aged 62) Zagreb, SR Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia
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| Nationality | Yugoslav / Croatian |
| Known for | Photography |
Tošo Dabac (born May 18, 1907 – died May 9, 1970) was a very famous Croatian photographer. Even though his photos were shown and won awards all over the world, Dabac spent almost his whole working life in Zagreb. He worked on many different projects, but he is most known for his amazing black-and-white pictures of everyday life in Zagreb during the time of the Great Depression.
Contents
Tošo Dabac's Life and Career
Early Life and First Photos
Tošo Dabac was born in a small town called Nova Rača in central Croatia. After finishing primary school, his family moved to Samobor. He later went to a special high school in Zagreb and then started studying law at the University of Zagreb.
In the late 1920s, Dabac worked for film companies. He was a translator and helped with press for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in Southeast Europe. Even though he studied law, he left school in 1927 to become an editor for a magazine called Metro Megafon.
His oldest photo that we still have today is a wide picture of Samobor, taken on March 7, 1925. His work was first shown to the public at a small exhibition in Ivanec in 1932. In the same year, Dabac started working as a professional photojournalist, taking pictures for newspapers and magazines.
Becoming a Famous Photographer
Just one year after his first exhibition, Dabac's photos were chosen for a big international photo show in Prague in 1933. His work was shown alongside famous photographers like László Moholy-Nagy. In the same year, his pictures were also displayed at the Philadelphia International Salon of Photography in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Here, his photos were shown with works by other legends like Henri Cartier-Bresson.
Dabac also worked as a photographer for different news agencies from other countries. Between 1933 and 1937, he created a series of photos that were first called Misery. Later, they were renamed Street People (Croatian: Ljudi s ulice). These pictures showed the everyday life of people on the streets of Zagreb. This series made him famous for capturing the true spirit of the city.
In 1937, Dabac opened his own photo studio. That year, his street photography was chosen for a big show at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. His photo called Road to the Guillotine (Croatian: Put na giljotinu) won an award there. Later, his work was shown at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art alongside photos by Ansel Adams and Man Ray. Another one of his photos, Philosopher of Life (Croatian: Filozof života), won a prize at the Boston Camera Club.
In 1940, Tošo Dabac moved his studio to 17 Ilica street. This studio became his workplace for the rest of his life. It also became a popular meeting place for many important thinkers and artists in Zagreb. That year, one of his photos was even on the cover of a German photography magazine.
After World War II
After World War II, Dabac joined the Croatian Association of Visual Artists. In 1945, he spent a month taking photos around Istria and wrote a diary about how the region looked after the war. In 1946, he continued to photograph beautiful natural places and old cultural sites along the Dalmatian coast, from Istria all the way to Dubrovnik.
In the years that followed, Dabac often contributed to Jugoslavija magazine. He also took many pictures of old medieval sculptures and paintings, tourist spots, and summer houses in Dubrovnik. He was hired to be the photographer for many exhibitions and trade fairs where Yugoslav companies showed their products in cities like Toronto, Chicago, Moscow, and Brussels. In 1952, his photos were shown at an international exhibition in Lucerne, Switzerland, with works by other famous photographers like Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Frank.
Later Life and Awards
In 1960, Dabac's work was part of a very important international exhibition called Das menschliche Antlitz Europas (The Human Face of Europe). His photos were shown alongside those of Robert Capa. In 1966, he received the Vladimir Nazor Award. This is a very high award given by the Croatian Ministry of Culture for great achievements in visual arts. He won it for his photos of the stećak tombstones, which are old medieval gravestones. Later that year, he won a lifetime achievement award from the Yugoslav Photographic Union. In 1967, Dabac started teaching and mentoring another photographer named Marija Braut.
Dabac worked for many international publishing companies, and his photos were used in encyclopedias both in Croatia and other countries. He also helped create many books of photographs about cities and regions across Croatia and Yugoslavia. He was a member of several important photography groups around the world.
Tošo Dabac's Legacy
Tošo Dabac passed away on May 9, 1970, in Zagreb. He was buried at Mirogoj Cemetery.
In 1975, the Zagreb Photographic Club created an annual award named after him. This award is given to Croatian photographers who achieve great things in photography.
Today, almost 200,000 of Tošo Dabac's original photo negatives are kept safe in the Tošo Dabac Archive. This archive is located in his old studio. In 2006, the City of Zagreb bought the archive, and now it is managed by the Museum of Contemporary Art.
Selected Exhibitions
Group Exhibitions
- 1933 – "Second Philadelphia International Salon of Photography", Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, USA
- 1937 – "Fourth International Salon", American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA
- 1937 – "Invitational Salon of International Photography", San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, USA
- 1952 – "Welt Ausstellung der Photographie", Lucerne, Switzerland
- 1960 – "International Salon of Photography Das menschliche Antlitz Europas", Munich, West Germany
Solo Exhibitions
- 1962 – "Salon of Photography", Belgrade, Yugoslavia
- 1968 – "Tošo Dabac Retrospective", Museum of Arts and Crafts, Zagreb, Yugoslavia
- 1969 – "The Art of the Stećak", Art Pavilion, Zagreb, Yugoslavia
- 2002 – "The Photographer Tošo Dabac", Klovićevi dvori Gallery, Zagreb, Croatia
See also
- Street photography
