biography

Velika Pisanica 1921 - Zagreb 2004

He has been one of the most important Croatian artist of the second post-war period and one of the masters of European Abstraction of the 60s and 70s.

Born in Velika Pisanica, in 1921, Murtic lived in New York in the last years of the 40s. The contact with the American school of Pollock, Kline and DE Kooning had a great influence on his conversion to Abstractism, an artistic season which he followed until the last years of the 70s, characterising his art with a sign of great power and an aggressive use of the colours. His subsequent return to landscapes has been a very natural development, an evolution documented majestically in Michael Gibson's great monograph.

His works are present in the public collections of the world's most important museums: from the Tate Gallery in London to the museum of Modern Art in New York, from the Museè d'Art Moderne in Paris to the Nationalgalerie in Berlin, from the Narodni Galerie in Prague to Kunsthaus in Zurich, not to mention the museums in Boston, Houston, Seul and Wien and in Italy Genova, Torino and Brescia. Murtic has participated in the Biennial Exhibition in Venice in 1958 and in 1964, in Documenta Kassel in 1958, in the Tokyo Biennial Exhibition in 1953 and in 1965, in the Biennial Exhibition in San Paulo in Brasil in 1967.

Anthologic exhibitions of his works have been set up at Zurich's Kunsthalle in 1965, at Milan's Palazzo Reale in 1971, at Zagreb's Museum of Arts and Crafts in 1990 and Ohio's Kennedy Museum of American Art in 1994.

Edo Murtic died in Zagreb on January 2, 2005.

selected one man show

2010
"From the Murti? Donation" - Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb
War, Art Pavillion, Zagreb

2009
Art pavilion Juraj Matija Sporer, Opatija

2005
Art Pavilion in Zagreb

2004
Palazzo Zuccato, Porec, Istra.
Kroatische Malerei des 20. Jahrhunderts - Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Vienna

2003
Civica Galleria d'Arte Contemporanea, Lissone.
Lissone near Milan; Palace Harrach in Vienna
Retrospective Exhibition Modern Gallery, Zagreb

2002
Museu d'Art Contemporani d'Eivissa, Islas Baleares.
Paintings 2001-2001 and Ceramics 2001
Glyptotheque - Sculpture Museum, Zagreb
Novi Manje� Gallery in Moscow

2001
Galerjia Moderna, Zagreb.

2000
Galleria Torbandena, Trieste.
Museo Revoltella, Trieste

1999
Galeria Le Lys, Paris.

1998
"Montraker" - Art Pavilion in Zagreb
Galeria Moderna, Dubrovnik.
Museum of Modern Art Dubrovnik, Dubrovnik

1997
Galeria de l'Assemblea Municipale Kunkera, Novaljia
Galleria Torbandena, Trieste.

1995
Galerija Kula, Split.

1994
Galeria Kennedy, Atens, Ohio
Gallery Cobra, San Francisco
Galleria d'Arte Santi, Jakarta
Galleria Torbandena, Trieste.

1993
Fine Arts Pavillion, Opatija
Galerija Forum, Zagreb.

1992
Fidesarte, Mestre
Galerie Würtzer, Houston.

1991
Galerie Hermanns, Munich
Galleria Torbandena, Trieste
Galleria Kara, Genova.

1990
Contemporary Art Museum, Zagreb.

1989
Gallery Duson, Seul.

1988
Modern Art Gallery, Ljubljana.

1987
Modern Art Gallery, Titograd.

1986
Modern Art Gallery, Rijeka
Galerie Feldmann, Bern.

1985
Galleria Agla, Firenze.

1981
Internacional Arte Gallery, Paris
Fine Art Pavillion, Zagreb
Art Chicago, Chicago
Modern Art Gallery, Ljubljana.

1979
Modern Art Gallery, Maribor.

1978
Galerija Forum, Zagreb.

1977
Galleria 4M, Firenze.

1976
National Museum, Beograd
Contemporary Art Hall, Beograd
Galleria del Pontaccio, Milano.

1975
Galleria del Pontaccio, Milano
Galleria Bergamini, Milano.

1972
Galleria Pace, Milano
Galleria Pace 2, Torino
Jacques Baruch Gallery, Chicago.

1971
Palazzo Reale, Milano.

1966
Gallery of Fine Arts, Split (Galerija Umjetnina), Split
Modern Art Gallery, Rijeka
Galerie Anne Abels, Cologne.

1965
Osborn Gallery, New York
Galerie Suzanne Bollag, Zurich
Contemporary Art Pavillion, Düsseldorf .

1964
Modern Art Museum, Skoplje
Contemporary Art Museum, Beograd.

1963
Raymond Creuze, Paris
Galleria Bergamini, Milano.

1962
Contemporary Art Museum, Zagreb.

1960
Galleria La Medusa, Roma
Petita Galerija, Ljubljana.

1957
Galerie Würthle, Wien.

1956
Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna, Roma.

1955
Fine Art Palace, Brussels.

1952
Pittsbourgh / Los Angeles / New York.

1946
Umelecka Beseda, Praga.

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selected art fair and group show

2009
From Hartung to Warhol. International presence in the collection Cozzani.
Works from the collections of CAMeC - CAMeC - Centro de Arte Moderna e Contemporanea della Spezia, La Spezia.

2008
From the holdings of the museum - Museum of Modern Art Dubrovnik, Dubrovnik

2007
Avangardne tendencije u Hrvatskoj - Galerija Klovievi dvori, Zagreb
Sammlung Politeo - Art Center Berlin Friedrichstrasse, Berlin

2006
Croatian Collection - Museum of Contemporary Art Skopje, Skopje2004
AVANGUARDIE STORICHE E ASTRAZIONE - Important works on paper of the twentieth century - Galleria Torbandena, Trieste
ARCO 04, Galleria Torbandena, Madrid

2003
New Year Art Fair - Galerija Zona, Zagreb
ARCO 03, Galleria Torbandena, Madrid

2002
ARCO 02, Galleria Torbandena, Madrid

1999
Biennale di Pittura, Zagreb
Biennale di Pittura, Ljubljana
ARCO 99, Galleria Torbandena, Madrid
Grands et Jeunes d`Aujourd Hui 1958-1998
Museum of Modern Art Dubrovnik, Dubrovnik

1995
Naturalismo ed astrazione, Civico Museo Revoltella, Trieste

1994
Many Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles

1993
XX Internacional Biennal of Ljubljana, Ljubljana

1990
Art Basel, Basel

1989
18th International Biennial of Graphic Arts - Ljubljana

1988
Triennal of Modern Art, Beograd

1986
New tendencies in contemporary art, Sarajevo

1981
Centre Pompidou, Paris
FIAC, Paris

1980
International Art Gallery, Paris

1976
Pintura Contemporanea Croata, Mexico City

1975
IX Internacional Biennal, Kyoto

1971
Yugoslavian Painting, Gran Palace, Paris

1970
VI exposition of Yugoslavian Painting, Zagreb

1967
Internacional Biennal, Sao Paulo
International exposition of Abstract Painting, Pittsbourgh

1965
III Biennal of Tokyo, Tokyo

1964
XXXII Biennale di Venezia, Venezia

1963
XIII Premio Lissone, Lissone

1962
Arte Contemporanea Yugoslava, Roma
25 artisti contemporanei yugoslavi, Venezia

1961
Contemporary Yugoslavian Painting and Sculpture, Brighton
Contemporary Yugoslavian Painting and Sculpture, Coventry
I Biennal of Fine Arts, Beograd

1960
New Yugoslavian Painting, Boston
Colletiva di artisti yugoslavi, Milano

1958
Documenta Kassel
XXIX Biennale di Venezia, Venezia

1957
Palazzo della Permanente, Milano

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public collections

Tate Gallery, London
Modern Art Museum, New York
Modern Art Museum, Boston
Modern Art Museum, Los Angeles
Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice
Museo d'arte contemporanea di Genova
Museo d'arte contemporanea di Torino
Modern Art Museum, Seul
National Gallery, Berlin
Modern Art Gallery, Osijek
Historian Museum of Croatia, Zagreb
Kunsthaus, Zurich
Modern Art Gallery, Zagreb
Modern Art Gallery, Rijeka
Metropolitan Contemporay Art Gallery, Zagreb
Contemporary Art Museum, Beograd
XX Century Museum, Beograd

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