American modern art in Belgrade

American modern art in Belgrade

American modern art debuted in Belgrade fifty years ago when a traveling exhibit, also entitled “Modern Art in the USA,” arrived in Belgrade as a part of its European tour. The exhibit was organized by the Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA) in efforts to expose Europe to the world of Modernism in America.  In addition to providing an introduction to American’s contemporary art scene, the exhibit featured the work of its newest and most radical artists – Abstract Expressionists – including Jackson Pollock, Arshile Gorky, Mark Rothko, Robert Motherwell, Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, Clyfford Still, and Adolph Gottlieb. 

Such a selection of artists had never before been shown in Belgrade, and marked the start of a series of similar exhibits over the next ten years.  Most notably, a second major exhibit of American modern art was organized by the United States Information Agency (1961-1962), this time including the work of Jasper Jones and Robert Rauschenberg.

Postwar Modernism developed in America and Western Europe out of a mix of cultural rebirth and Cold War tensions.  In turn, the movement was marked by both direct and indirect initiatives to define and display American culture in opposition to the Communism of the Eastern Block.  Abstract Expressionism, in particular, was identified as a symbol of American freedom, and exhibited in Europe as a counter weight to the much-feared spread of Communism and Socialism.

As a Socialist state somewhat distanced from the Soviet Union and the Eastern Block, Yugoslavia was unique in its cultural and economic openness to the West.  In turn, the first “Modern Art in the USA” arrived in a wave of American films, jazz concerts, and other traveling exhibitions.

Despite their significance at the time, these American modern art exhibits were quickly forgotten and often omitted from the story of Belgrade’s emerging art scene. 

In turn, “Americans in Belgrade” is an attempt not only to remember those exhibits, but also to further explore American postwar modern art, architecture, design, film, fashion, and music through a series of exhibits, film projections, and lectures.

“Modern Art in the USA” can be viewed through January 13, 2007. 

In addition to the exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art, “Americans in Belgrade” will also host a similar exhibit in the SKC Gallery beginning December 18.  The Museum of Contemporary Art will also host a lecture by Mr. Porter McCray, custodian of MoMA, on the topic, “MoMA and the International Program.”

The Museum of American Art-Belgrade is an educational institution which gathers, preserves, and displays artifacts of the exhibits of modern art held in Belgrade in 1950s and 1960s. 

Branislav Dimitrijević, Mira Otašević, Bojana Andrić, and Mileta Kečina contributed to the realization of this exhibit.