22.12.2010.

The opening of the exhibition of Sava Sumanovic works in SAF Central Military Club

The exhibition of the works of the Serbian renowned painter Sava Sumanovic was opened in the Great gallery of the Central Military Club in Belgrade this evening. On that occasion the minister said that it is a great honor for the Central Military Club to be chosen to host this exhibition ten years after the previous exhibition of this great Serbian painter.

- We will be ending this year with two very important cultural events, namely the exhibition of Sava Sumanovic and on Saturday we will be organizing a concert of the military symphony orchestra “Stanislav Binicki”. It is very difficult to find proper words to speak about Sava Sumanovic, because his work and the death he met certainly rank him as one of the most illustrious Serbs in the history of our people.

Last year the Ministry of defense and the Public Relations Department really had their hands full, since over a year ago this same gallery was filled with works of art of Cile Marinkovic, the first exhibition to have opened the restored and renovated Central Military Club. Then this was followed by a line of cultural events, these being as Sutanovac singled out, the concert “Our children singing” with children of the members of the SAF and MoD as performers and two CDs of the art ensemble “Stanislav Binicki, the first in cooperation with Merima Njegomir who sang old Serbian folk songs and the other one with Serbian reels (kolo) and military marches.

The Minister stressed that the most important job and accomplishment of the PRD is the promotional campaign for SAF it launched under the title “Be a professional “ which was also awarded as the best non-commercial media campaign for this year.

There was also an exhibition of an Iraqi artist this year in SAF Military Club , and we expect too also host the days of the Algerian culture. The Serbian Armed Forces have a strong connection with the culture in Serbia therefore we are committed to showing that we do invest a lot of time and energy to promote our culture home and abroad as Minister stressed.

The director of the “Sava Sumanovic” Gallery of Paintings, Vesna Burojevic acquainted the present with the work of this gallery from Sid, as well as with the exhibition the Gallery presented in SAF Club this evening.

“The exhibition “A road to painting” is a special exhibition as it reveals the developments and the creative course Sava Sumanovic had taken. All works were created in the last 15 years of his life. We can only hope that the artist himself would not hold it against us if he knew that we were here showing his works to the public, which he himself reluctantly and therefore rarely exhibited. I thank our dear hosts who have invested great energy and effort to present our gallery in this exclusive venue, and I especially extend my thanks and gratitude to Minister Sutanovac who initiated the whole idea, as Vesna Burojevic said.

The director of “Odbrana” media center LT. COL. Slavoljub Markovic stressed that the opening of the exhibition of paintings of Sava Sumanovic in the art gallery of the SAF Military Club only confirms the center’s commitment and determination to continue hosting other representative exhibitions in cooperation with other famous museums, galleries and legacies of our masters of art.
- This exhibition is also our way of pointing the public’s attention to the fact that Odbrana media center has a rather rich fund of works of art including over 1500 paintings, sculptures, drawings and graphics. In this year’s Museum nights we revealed to the public only a small part of these treasure, as LTCOL Markovic pointed out. In his words, the Minister of defense Dragan Sutanovac was the key initiator of this great cultural event during his visit to Sid and the Gallery of Sava Sumanovic paintings. All the funds collected by selling the catalogs are intended for the restoration of one off two artist’s paintings in the possession of Media Center Odbrana. I believe that one oil painting with floral motifs will finally be rescored to its full beauty and splendor.

The exhibits reveals to the public eye Sava Sumanovic in intimate atmosphere of the place where his works were created, unveiling his creative path, from preparation to the work of art in the final stages. The exhibition includes 74 paintings and sketches which form 35 pairs, 33 of which are canvas oils, and 41 are drafts of the painting in various techniques. The techniques are pastel, aquarelle, quash, oil on cardboard, pencil, ink, and temperas. The paintings and drafts were created in the period 1927 to 1942 and the theme represent a sort of a deviation from his standard interests-27 landscapes out of 35 paintings.

Saca Sumanovic is one of the most prominent painters of the Serbian XX c art. He was born on 22 January 1896 in Vinkovci, Croatia, where his father worked as a forestry engineer, and at the age of four he moved to Sid. During his studies in Zemun Grammar School, Sava began to show interest in art, and in Zagreb in 1918 he graduated from the Art College for art and entrepreneurship, when he start to have his first works exhibited. Sava insists on atmosphere and skillfully uses shades and fine coats of color. Besides painting he also did illustrations, graphics and scene work.

The exhibition was organized by the Ministry of defense and the art gallery of Sava Sumanovic paintings from Sid, and it will be opened by 29 January 2011.