In August 1970, already established fine artists Bosko Keranovic, Enver Krupic, Zdravko Vajagic headed to the beautiful source of the river Krusnica.
Together with them, amateur artists wanted to contribute to the beginning of the story of the association of artists who transfer the natural beauty of the Bosnian Krupa region to the canvas with brushes and paints.
The story that began then has been going on for 52 years.
In the pre-war period, the Colony was organized by the Art Workers’ Club, and then by the Association of Fine Artists “Krusnica”. The initiators of this cultural event were already joined by numerous other artists from the former Yugoslavia, such as Zuka Dzumhur, Ivan Kalcin, Vojislav Vujanovic, Dzemaludin Causevic, Stanislav Tajic.
The Art Colony became an event to which artists gladly returned, creating and leaving numerous paintings and sculptures made of bihacite stone.
From the very beginning, in addition to the artistic colony, it also had an educational significance, given that already renowned artists worked with young talents. One of the first artists that joined this story is the Belgrade artist Dragan Novakovic. In the monograph “50 years of the Krusnica Art Colony 1970-2020” states that it was thanks to this colony and its founders that he enrolled in the Art Department at the Belgrade Higher Pedagogical School, and over the years grew in renowned artist, who regularly returns to Bosanska Krupa, Una and Krusnica.
“No segment of my life can be separated from Una, from travertine, the mill, the coast! All this is woven into the life and nerves of Dragan Novakovic. From the first days, with the appearance of the late Bosko Karanovic, Enver Krupic, Zuka Dzumhur, the story and the creation of a center that was later called the Krusnica Art Colony, is still within me and it is with me to this day. The Art colony put me in debt for life. I grew up with the colony, with Bosanska Krupa. The responsibility that Bosanska Krupa expects from me, and I made a vow to myself, that I committed myself to the end of my life to be dedicated to working with watercolors, working with motifs from Una and, of course, spending time with my dear Krupljani“, emphasized Novakovic at the exhibition of his work, with which the 51st Art colony was opened.
It is important to point out that the Colony did not stop working even during the war period from 1992 to 1995, thanks to local artists Osman Hajdarevic, Stanislav Tajic, Edi Saric, Alaga Isakovic, Admir Mujkic and Ibrahim Bajic. The artists gathered every year to hold this cultural event, despite some difficult conditions. Their wish was for the Colony, after the war period, to revive and return to the level it had been organized in the period from the 70s to the 90s.
“Work at that time, of course, was not possible due to the war, so colleagues collected paintings by local artists, and exhibitions were held regularly. We worked as best we could. The work of the colony was reactivated in 1996. Artists from Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region were invited, and the colony once again was active“, states the painter Ibrahim Bajric, recalling that time.
Year after year, more and more previous participants returned to the Colony, and this event also attracted numerous new names from the world of fine art.
“Today, guests at the Art colony are artists from all former Yugoslav countries, and artists from Europe also participate in the Colony. One of the most successful in the post-war period was last year’s 52nd Art colony “Krusnica”, in which 25 artists from the entire region participated. It is important to point out that there were painters with many years of artistic experience, such as Dragan Novakovic, a watercolor master, Boris Cistopoljski, Sonja Spiroska and numerous other renowned artists. Amateur painters are also welcome in the Colony, as well as young people for whom the Art Summer School is organized, during which 50 works were created last year. Painters at the Colony worked in several techniques, acrylic on canvas, oil on canvas, drawings, combined techniques. The works, of which there were 46 in total, are certainly dominated by landscapes, motifs from the river Una and Bosanska Krupa, but there was no lack of figurative painting or abstract painting, which Branko Mrdak very successfully demonstrated through his works in the cycle “Origin”, says Ismet Erdic, director of the Center for Culture, Education and Information in Bosanska Krupa, the institution under whose jurisdiction is currently the organization of this manifestation.
The colony is held in July, and as part of this event, citizens have the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the work of individual artists, thanks to individual exhibitions. Thus, last year’s opening was marked by an exhibition of works of art by Boris Cistopoljski, an academic painter who has been a regular participant since 1999.
Support for the organization of the colony is provided every year by the local community, i.e. the City of Bosanska Krupa, the Ministry of Education of the Una-Sana Canton, as well as the Foundation for Musical, Performing and Visual Arts Sarajevo.
“The Association of visual artists “Krusnica” is no longer active, and the premises at the Krusnica hot spring that belonged to the Association and where artists gathered for decades were taken over by Elektroprivreda, so that the Cultural Center, with the support of patrons, hosts artists from the entire region and Europe every year, and at the same time takes care of the Colony’s fund“, says Erdic.
According to the records of the Bosanska Krupa City Gallery, it currently consists of 965 works of art that are kept in the Center for Culture, Education and Information and represent a great artistic wealth. Unfortunately, Erdic points out, a large number of paintings were stolen during the war and never returned. Later, it was partially supplemented thanks to the participants who, in addition to new works created during the gathering, also donated works from their own galleries to the colony.
Admirers of fine art have the opportunity to get acquainted with this artistic treasure at collective exhibitions, organized in numerous cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ibrahim Bajric states, adding that the exhibition held in Sarajevo’s “Mak” Gallery in 2020 was particularly notable. Part of the works is a gift to individual institutions, which contributed to the maintenance of this traditional art manifestation, but also to BiH cultural institutions, such as the Art Gallery of BiH, the National Museum of BiH, the Museum of Una-Sana Canton, etc.
The monograph “50 years of the Krusnica Art Colony 1970 – 2020”, published the work of the Colony, its founders, and the artists who for a long period of five decades socialized and created on the shores of the two beauties of Krajina, about their works that they selflessly donated to the colony and Bosanska Krupa. It was published by the Center for Culture, Education and Information Bosanska Krupa.
“The monograph, created as a result of the studious collection, archiving and presentation of art material, is divided into several parts. The first part is textual with a review written by art critic Vojislav Vujanovic. The second part is photographs from the colonies, preserved and archived thanks to Salih Suljanovic, who was also long-term organizer of the Art colony. The third part contains 111 reproductions of works of art, while the fourth part is dedicated to the biographies of artists and participants. Unfortunately, part of the documentation was stolen in the period from 1992 to 1995, so some data on the first 20 years of work are missing,” says Erdic.
The city on the Una and Krusnica rivers, which is rightly called the base of BiH art, because it is a hometown of famous BiH painters Lazar Drljaca, Kosta Hakman, Enver Krupic, Bosko Karanovic, will continue to host numerous artists every summer. According to director Erdic, preparations for this year’s 53rd Art Colony began in May, and the organizers believe that a large number of artists from BiH, the region and European countries will participate. Artists who participate in the Art colony will adopt part of the natural beauty of Bosanska Krupa, and especially the magical river Una, and immortalize them in their works of art.
And how could they not return when that very river, river Una, as the art critic Vojislav Vujanovic states, “speaks in a hundredfold language, the width of its flow, its cascades and its beech trees, its wide parting, building a true mosaic of river islets, ades, fascinating in its shape and its spatial accentuation. Una does not allow spiritual waning and does not allow the artist to distance himself/herself too much from it in visual representation“.
5rd Art colony is near, socializing and work of artists on the banks of rivers, as well as new works with which the fund will be supplemented. According to director Erdic, after many years of effort, it should be placed in a more adequate place with a larger exhibition space, and so that numerous tourists, who visit Bosanska Krupa more and more often, have the opportunity to enjoy the works of art created in the Colony during the past five decades.
Author: Nermina Zulić
Photo: archive of the Art Colony “Krusnica”
This article was written thanks to the generous support of the American people through the “Local Works” program of the United States Agency for International Development in Bosnia and Herzegovina (USAID). The contents of the publication are under the exclusive liability of its author and “Network for Building Peace”. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of the USAID or the US Government.
