30.08.2011.
Banat Painting in the House of the Armed Forces
Exhibition "Banat Painting Masters from the eighteenth to the twentieth century" was opened today in the Great Gallery of the House of the Armed Forces in Belgrade. The exhibition was organized by the Media Centre "Odbrana" in cooperation with the National Museum of Zrenjanin which celebrates in this way a century of the existence. The guests were greeted by Lt. Col. Slavoljub Markovic, Director of the Media Center "Odbrana" and announced the continuation of successful cooperation with galleries and museums during the autumn exhibition season in the House of the Armed Forces.
Director of the National Museum of Zrenjanin, Bozidar Vorgi? said that the city is mostly known as an industrial city and the city sports, and this is an opportunity to present also its cultural heritage. - The authors of the works displayed represent the top Serbian painters and this exhibition we may call, maybe a little pretentious, great personalities of the Serbian art of painting from Banat. I hope that the Belgrade public in this way will get acquainted with the character and tradition of this part of Serbia – Vorgi? said .
The author of the display is Olivera Skoko, art historian and curator at the National Museum of Zrenjanin. She said that in the Great Gallery of the House of the Armed Forces, only a part of the rich heritage preserved in the Middle Banat institution is represented. - Today, the Zrenjan Museum houses more than 33 thousand items. This collection represents a cross section of everything what had happened on the territory of Banat since the liberation from the Turkish rule, more precisely, from the eighteenth to the second half of the twentieth century - Olivera Skoko said.
The public of the Serbian capital will have the opportunity until 1 October to have a look at the works of great Banat, and also the Serbian art on canvas by Uros Predic, Konstantin Danilo, Djuro Jaksic, Stevan Aleksic, Aleksandar Sekulic, Tivadar Vanjek ... They are part of the art collection of the National Museum of Zrenjanin, which is one of the most important art collections in Vojvodina. Among the 33 presented works there are also rarely exhibited paintings by Peter Schneider and Stojan Trumic. After more than three decades, Belgrade public will be able to see one of the most famous paintings by Stevan Aleksic "Happy Banat people". It shows scenes from a tavern and it was painted a hundred years ago. 
- The painting "Happy Bana?ani" is a dialogue between the two giants of Serbian painting - Steva Aleksic and Uros Predic. Aleksic made a replica of the famous Predi?'s work - "Drunken brothers, their mother moaned". One of the authors is an original genius who created the initial work, and the other made the interpretation. Replica has the same value as the original precisely because it represents a drama between the two images of the Banat people - the writer Rasa Popov uttered in the same breath. Vanja Iliev, the piper, at the opening ceremony, presented the audience sounds of this ancient instrument, which can now be heard less frequently in Serbia. He has performed accompanied with a vocal group of Zrenjanin Centre for elderly people.
At the same time, at the Small Gallery of the House of the Serbian Armed Forces, an exhibition of posters from the exhibition activities of the National Museum of Zrenjanin has been opened. The author of this display is Mileva Šijakovi?, the senior curator of that museum. Opening hours of the Gallery of the House of the Serbian Armed Forces are from 11:00 a.m. to 19:00 p.m., every day except Sunday. Admission is free.
