Tomislav Krizman

Tomislav Krizman was born 8 July 1882 in Orlovac near Karlovac. He was taught his first lessons in printing and painting by Robert Auer, Bela Čikoš-Sesija, Ferdo Kovačević and Menci Clement Crnčić while still a student at the Zagreb Trade Academy. During those years he published his first prints, sketches, cartoons, drawings and illustrations in Život and Vijenac. After graduating from the Trade Academy (1903), he continued his education in Vienna (1903-1905), at the School of Arts and Crafts under professor Felician Myrbach and at the Academy of Fine Arts (1905-1907) under William Unger, professor of prints and drawings. At the same time, he took a specialist course in Graphische Lehr und Versuchsanstalt. In Vienna he came in touch with Art Nouveau trends, socialising with avant-garde artists and writers and exhibiting at Vienna’s Hagenbund and Secession. After Vienna, his professional training continued in Munich and Paris (1909-1910), followed by his many travels around France, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland and Spain. After the Balkan wars he painted landscapes on his journeys across Macedonia, Kosovo and Serbia.

In 1912 he started working as a vocational teacher at Zagreb’s School of Crafts and became a set designer for the Croatian National Theatre (until 1922). He also opened a private school of drawing, painting and artistic craft at his own studio in Ban Jelačić Square (1910-1913). He became a full professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb in 1922, at the Department of Prints and Drawings, where he taught many generations of graphic artists. Between 1934 and 1936 he worked as a curator and later as the manager of the Modern Gallery.

He employed his driving forces and creative energies to co-found and act as vice-president of the Medulić society (since 1910), to establish and preside over Spring Salon (with Ljubo Babić) since 1916, and to establish Djelo – an artists’ association for the promotion of artistic craft in 1926. Krizman was the main organiser and curator of exhibition pavilions of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes at international exhibitions in Paris in 1925 and Barcelona in 1929, in addition to which he also organised a series of exhibitions of Yugoslav printmakers (Zurich, 1926, and L’viv, 1927).

He expressed his versatile artistic talent, in addition to prints and drawings as the most prominent, in the field of paintings, posters and set designs for opera and drama (Porin, Nikola Šubić Zrinski, Carmen, Tristan and Isolde, Manon, The Marriage of Milos, The Twelfth Night, Boris Godunov, The Magic Flute, Don Pasquale). He published print portfolios Skitzzen und Eindrücke aus Dalmatien, Bosnien, Kroatisch Zagorien und Wien (1907) and Vienna Motifs (1909), etchings from Bosnia and Herzegovina (1910), the large (1917) and small (1918) Macedonia portfolio and two copper engravings portfolio Bosnia and Herzegovina (1936) and Our Adriatic (1937).

Tomislav Krizman also worked in book layout, design and illustration, he made sketches for diplomas, plaques, catalogues and brochures. He published his printmaking knowledge in the book O grafičkim vještinama (Zagreb, Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts, 1952). A full member of the Yugoslav, today Croatian, Academy of Sciences and Arts since 1947.

His works are kept in many private and public collections across Croatia and abroad.

Tomislav Krizman passed away in Zagreb on 24 October 1955.

 

*Self-portrait, 1929.
colour chalk
1105 x 822 mm; cardboard
sign. bottom left corner inside in chalk: Tomislav // Krizman // 929.
inv. no. KG HAZU 5623

Solo exhibitions

1904
Vienna, Artist Studio, Beatrix Gasse 14a (with I. Meštrović)

1906
Sarajevo

1907
Bonn
Zagreb, Etching Exhibition
Vienna, Etching Exhibition

1908
Vienna, Artist Studio, Exhibition of Prints and Paintings

1909
Vienna, Künstlerhaus, Etching Exhibition

1921
Zagreb, Ullrich Salon

1926
Zagreb, Ullrich Salon
Belgrade

1927
Split

1929
Zagreb, Ullrich Salon

1932
Zagreb, Ullrich Salon, Painting Exhibition

1934
Zagreb, Ullrich Salon, Painting Exhibition

1936
Zagreb, Ullrich Salon (with N. Martinoski)

1937
Zagreb, Ullrich Salon (with N. Martinoski)

1943
Zagreb

1948
Zagreb, Ullrich Salon

1954
Zagreb, Institute of Fine Arts, Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts / Department of Prints and Drawings and Modern Gallery / (retrospective exhibition); Ljubljana, Modern Gallery (retrospective exhibition)

1995
Zagreb, Art Pavilion, Tomislav Krizman (retrospective exhibition)

2006
Đakovo, Bishop J. J. Strossmayer Memorial Museum, Tomislav Krizman – M. K. Crnčić

2007
Zagreb, Department of Prints and Drawings of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Tomislav Krizman / from the holdings

2008
Zagreb, Ulrich Gallery, Tomislav Krizman

2015
Sisak, Striegl Gallery, Tomislav Krizman

Group exhibitions (selection)

1901
Sušak, Varaždin, Karlovac, Osijek, VII Exhibition of the Croatian Artists Association

1902
Zagreb, Art Pavilion, Art Society Exhibition

1903
Zagreb, Art Pavilion, Art Society Exhibition
Prague, Rudolfinum, X Manes Society Exhibition

1904
Vienna, XI Hagenbund Society Exhibition
Belgrade, Great School, I Yugoslav Exhibition of Art

1905
Zagreb, Art Pavilion, Art Society Anniversary Exhibition
Vienna, XVII Hagenbund Society Exhibition

1906
Sofia, Prince’s Riding School, II Exhibition of Lada Alliance Yugoslav Artists

1907
Belgrade, People’s Museum, Yugoslav Colony Exhibition

1908
Zagreb, Art Pavilion, III Lada Alliance Yugoslav Exhibition of Art

1909
Zagreb, Art Pavilion, Croatian Art Society Exhibition
Paris, Paris Salon Exhibition
Paris, VII Autumn Salon Exhibition

1909/1910
Ljubljana, R. Jakopič Pavilion, Croatian Art Society Medulić

1910
Zagreb, Art Pavilion, Medulić Society Exhibition / In Spite of Unheroic Times

1911
Vienna, Künstlerhaus, Visual Artists’ Anniversary Exhibition
Rim, Padiglione delle belle Arti del Regno di Serbia, Esposizione di Roma (international exhibition)
Osijek, National Artists’ Works
Zagreb, Krizman Studio, Artistic Craft Exhibition

1912
Zagreb, II Exhibition of International Prints and Drawings
Zagreb, Ullrich Salon, Exhibition of Prints and Drawings
Beograd, IV Lade Yugoslav Art Exhibition

1912/1913
Zagreb, Art Exhibition

1914
Saint Louis, Art Museum, An Exhibition of Architectural, Sculptural and Decorative Design

1915
Zagreb, Artistic Craft Exhibition

1916
Zagreb, Ullrich Salon, I Spring Salon

1917
Zagreb, Ullrich Salon, IV Spring Salon
Osijek, Urania Cinema, V Spring Salon

1918
Rijeka, Art Exhibition (Lada and Spring Salon)
Zagreb, Ullrich Salon, Auction for People’s Gift to conte Ivo Vojnović
Ljubljana, XV Art Exhibition

1919
Paris, Exhibition of Yugoslav Artists
Zagreb, Ullrich Salon, VI Spring Salon

1919/1920
Zagreb, School of Crafts, VII Spring Salon

1920
Zagreb, Art Pavilion, IX Spring Salon

1920/1921
Geneva, International Exhibition of Modern Art

1921
Zagreb, Art Pavilion, XII Spring Salon

1922
Belgrade, II Belgrade High School, XIV Spring Salon
Zagreb, Ullrich Salon, XV Spring Salon

1923
Zagreb, Art Pavilion, XVII Spring Salon
Zagreb, Art Pavilion, XVIII Spring Salon
Vinkovci, Ullrich Salon Exhibition

1925
Paris, Grand Palais, International Exhibition of Applied Art

1926
Zürich, Kunsthaus, Yugoslav Prints, Drawings and Sculpture
St. Gallen, Exhibition of Yugoslav Prints and Drawings

1927
Florence, II International Art Exhibition
Zagreb, Art Pavilion, Djelo Society Exhibition
Leipzig, International Book Exhibition

1928
London, Paris, Berlin, International Exhibition

1929
Barcelona, Yugoslav Pavilion, International Exhibition

1930
London, Exhibition of Yugoslav Sculpture and Painting

1932
Zagreb, Artists for Artists
Osijek, Exhibition of Zagreb’s Artists

1933
Saarbrücken, State Museum, Exhibition of Yugoslavia’s Graphic and Folk Art
Metz, Salle de la Mutualité, Yugoslav Exhibition of Prints and Drawings
Warsaw, I International Exhibition of Prints and Drawings

1934
Zagreb, Art Pavilion, I Exhibition of Zagreb’s Artists

1935
Zagreb, Art Pavilion, II Exhibition of Zagreb’s Artists
Osijek, Overview of National Art
Belgrade, II Spring Exhibition of Yugoslav Artists

1936
Zagreb, Art Pavilion, Exhibition of Zagreb’s Artists

1937
Sušak, Painting Exhibition

1938
Zagreb, Half a Century of Croatian Art

1940
Zagreb, I Annual Exhibition of Croatian Artists

1941
Zagreb, Art Pavilion, I Exhibition of Croatian Artists in Independent State of Croatia

1942
Zagreb, Art Pavilion, II Exhibition of Croatian Artists in Independent State of Croatia

1943
Berlin, Preussische Akademie der Künste, Exhibition of Croatian Art
Vienna, Künstlerhaus, Exhibition of Croatian Art
Bratislava, Slavenski polnohospodárske múseum, Exhibition of Croatian Art

1944
Zagreb, Art Pavilion, IV Exhibition of Croatian Artists in Independent State of Croatia

1946
Zagreb, Art Pavilion, I Exhibition of the Association of Croatian Fine Artists

1946 – 1948
Belgrade, Zagreb, Ljubljana, Moscow, Leningrad, Prague, Warsaw, Bratislava, Painting and Sculpture of the People of Yugoslavia in the XIX and XX Century

1948
Zagreb, Art Pavilion, IV Exhibition of the Association of Croatian Fine Artists

1949
Zagreb, Art Pavilion, V Exhibition of the Association of Croatian Fine Artists

1950
Zagreb, Art Pavilion, VI Exhibition of the Association of Croatian Fine Artists

1951
Rijeka, Exhibition of the Association of Croatian Fine Artists
Zagreb, Art Notes / Exhibition Association of Croatian Fine Artists – Fine Artists Collective
Ljubljana, Contemporary Croatian Prints and Drawings
Opatija, Association of Croatian Fine Artists
Zagreb, Paintings, Sculptures, Prints and Drawings

1952
Zagreb, II Exhibition / Sketches and Studies
Zagreb, Croatian National Theatre, Exhibition of Stage Costume Designs
Zagreb, VII Exhibition of the Association of Croatian Fine Artists
Opatija, Exhibition of Coastal Motifs
Zagreb, Exhibition of the Association of Croatian Fine Artists at IKOM

1955
Zagreb, First Exhibition of the City Gallery of Contemporary Art
Rovinj, Museum Collection premises, Ceramics in Croatia (org. Museum of Arts and Crafts, Zagreb)

1958
Osijek, Landscapes and Genre Motifs from the Painting Gallery Holdings

1960
Varaždin, Painting Gallery, Exhibition of Prints and Drawings
Skopje, Art Gallery, Macedonian Landscape
Dubrovnik, Art Gallery, Exhibition of Sketches and Prints from Kosta Strajnić’s Collection

1961
Zagreb, Art Pavilion, 60 Years of Painting and Sculpture in Croatia

1962
Zagreb, Croatian Artists Association Medulić 1908-1916

1965
Belgrade, Museum of Contemporary Art, Yugoslav Prints and Drawings of the 20 ^th Century

1968
Zagreb, Gallery of Contemporary Art, Acquisitions 6

1971
Paris, Grand Palais, Art in Yugoslavia through Centuries

1973
Belgrade, Museum of Contemporary Art, Beginnings of Yugoslav Modern Painting 1900-1920

1974
Zagreb, Modern Gallery, Croatian Fine Art 1945-1955 / Tendentious Realism
Zagreb, Department of Prints and Drawings of the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts, Poster in Croatia until 1941

1975
Mainz, Gutenberg Museum, Plakat und Buchgestaltung der Sezession in Kroatien

1977
Zagreb, Art Pavilion, Eroticism in Croatian Paintings, Prints and Drawings
Osijek, Gallery of Fine Arts, Zagreb, Karas Gallery, Self-portrait in Recent Croatian Painting

1978/1979
Nova Gradiška, Kerdić Gallery, Exhibition of Artworks Owned by Citizens and Companies

1979
Split, Art Gallery, Dalmatian Motifs in Paintings from the Gallery Holdings from Vlaho BukovAc to This Day
Osijek, Gallery of Fine Arts, Forest and Art
Slavonski Brod, Museum of Brodsko Posavlje, Selection from the 19 ^th and 20 ^th Century Artwork Collection

1980
Koprivnica, Koprivnica Gallery, Croatian Painting 1900-1970 from the Collection of Doctor Franjo Kajfež;
Zagreb, Art Pavilion, Expressionism and Croatian Painting

1981
Dubrovnik, Dubrovnik Art Gallery, Croatian Veduta Painters from Bukovac to This Day

1981/1982
Osijek, Gallery of Fine Arts, Character – Figure in Recent Croatian Painting

1982
Zagreb, Likum Gallery, Famous Painters’ Unknown Paintings
Belgrade, Museum of Contemporary Art, Yugoslav Prints and Drawings 1900-1940

1986
Zagreb, Strossmayer Gallery of Old Masters, Painters and Sculptors / Members of Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts Department of Fine Arts
Zagreb, Museum Space, Ahead of the Museum of Contemporary Art / 30 Years of the Gallery of Contemporary Art

1990
Široki Brijeg, Franciscan Monastery Museum, Franciscan Gallery / Catalogue of the Široki Brijeg Franciscan Gallery

1991
Zagreb, Museum of Arts and Crafts, International Graphic Design and Visual Communications Exhibition
Zagreb, Art Pavilion, Stjepan Radić. Celebrating 120 ^th Anniversary of Stjepan Radić (org. Croatian History Museum)
Zagreb, Department of Prints and Drawings of the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts, Croatian Theatre Poster / Posters of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb
Arezzo, Basilica Inferiore di San Francesco, Tesori Nazionali della Croatia, Capolavori dei Musei di Zagabria

1992
Rijeka, Modern Gallery, Croatian Modernism / Exhibition of Works from the Holdings, 1881-1943

1993
Zagreb, Art Pavilion, From Babić to Vidović
Torino, Museo di Antichità, Arte e Cultura in Croatia / Dalle Collezioni del Museo Archeologico e del Museo d’Arte ed Arti Decorative di Zagabria

1994
Zagreb, Department of Prints and Drawings of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Zagreb in the Eyes of Print Artists. Celebrating Zagreb’s 900 ^th Birthday
Crikvenica, Naš dom Department Store Exhibition Space, Biblical and Christian Motifs in Croatian Painting and Printmaking / From the Collection of Doctor Josip Kovačić
Zagreb, Museum Space, Zagreb I Love You So Much / Zagreb Vistas in Works of Croatian Artists
Zagreb, Museum of Arts and Crafts, Photography in Croatia 1848-1951

1995
Slavonski Brod, Museum of Brodsko Posavlje, Great Croatian 20 ^th Century Graphic Artists
Čakovec, Čakovec Cultural Centre Exhibition Space, Biblical and Christian Motifs in Croatian Painting and Printmaking / From the Collection of Doctor Josip Kovačić

1996
Zagreb, Croatian Fine Artists House, 125 Outstanding Works by Croatian Artists
Rijeka, Small Salon, Modern Gallery Acquisitions
Zagreb, Ulrich Gallery, From Bukovac to Krušlin

1997
Požega, City Museum, Metropolitana in Požega
Split, Ethnographic Museum, Art About People
Zagreb, Ulrich Gallery, Landscape in Early Croatian Prints and Drawings
Đurđevac, Old Town Fort, Donation of I. Lacković-Croata

1997/1998
Zagreb, Klovićevi dvori, Century of Croatian Design
Zagreb, Croatian Fine Artists House, Academy of Fine Arts 1907-1997

1998
Pregrada, Bežanec Manor Gallery, Croatian Drawing – Rabuzin Collection
Zagreb, Forum Gallery, Boka Kotorska in Croatian Painting
Osijek, Gallery of Fine Arts, Three Centuries of Art
Zagreb, Ulrich Gallery, City in Early Croatian Prints and Drawings

1999
Krapina, City Gallery, Collection of Prints and Drawings of the Zagreb Academy of Fine Arts

2000
Zagreb, Ulrich Gallery, Self-portraits of Croatian Modernism

2001
Zagreb, Art Pavilion, Century of Croatian Poster

2001/2002
Đurđevac, Old Town Gallery, Portraits from the Donation of I. Lacković-Croata

2003
Dubrovnik, Art Gallery, Watercolours, Gouaches, Temperas from the Art Gallery Holdings

2003/2004
Zagreb, Museum of Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau in Croatia

2004
Opatija, Juraj Šporer Art Pavilion, Opatija – City Memory
Rijeka, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Selected Prints from the Collection of the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art

2004/2005
Zagreb, Museum of Arts and Crafts, Tuškan Donation

2005
Pecs, Janus Pannonius Museum, Croatian Modernism 1892-1953
Gorizia, Museum of Fashion and Applied Arts, Belle Époque in the Empire
Karlovac, Karas Gallery, 60 Prints from the City Museum Holdings
Sisak, Striegl City Gallery, Eros and Pornos

2006
Zagreb, Galurija Gallery, 50 Years of the Department of Prints

2007
Požega, City Museum, Art Works by Professors and Students of the Academy of Fine Arts

2008
Cres, Arsan Palace, Croatian Prints and Drawings of the 20 ^th Century from the Solis Collection
Zadar, City Lodge, 50 Years of the Art Gallery in Zadar
Vukovar, City Museum, Drawings and Prints from the Bauer Collection
Petrinja, Miroslav Kraljević Gallery, First Petrinja Printmaking Salon

2009
Zagreb, Croatian History Museum, Portraits from the Collection of Prints of the Croatian History Museum

2009/2010
Zagreb, Museum of Arts and Crafts, From Klović and Rembrandt to Warhol and Picelj

2010
Zagreb, Museum of Arts and Crafts, Art Déco and Art in Croatia Between Two Wars

2011
Zagreb, Department of Prints and Drawings of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Pioneers of Croatian Poster
Zagreb, Klovićevi dvori Gallery, Passion and Rebellion
Koprivnica, Koprivnica Gallery, Collection Mijo Kovačić from Gornja Šuma

2012
Rijeka, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, (Un)known and (Un)seen from the Collections of the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art

2012/2013
Zagreb, Klovićevi dvori Gallery, Reflections of Time

2013
Zagreb, Museum of Arts and Crafts, Mimara Museum, Transparent Beauty
Koprivnica, Koprivnica Gallery, Bali Collection

2014
Vienna, Porcia Palace, Great Croatian 20 ^th Century Masters
Samobor, Samobor Museum, Art Nouveau in Samobor

2014/2015
Split, Art Gallery, Collection of Doctor Ivo Tartaglia
Zagreb, Croatian History Museum, Pictures of the Great War
Zagreb, Zagreb City Museum, Echoes from the Battlefield

2016
Zagreb, Museum of Arts and Crafts, The Magnificent Vranyczanys
Zagreb, Klovićevi dvori Gallery, Road to Eternity

2016/2017
Ljubljana, National Gallery, Croatian Modernism 1880-1945. Vugrinec Collection

2017
Zagreb, Art Pavilion, Roglić Collection
Zagreb, Klovićevi dvori Gallery, The Challenge of Modernism: Zagreb – Vienna around 1900
Vienna, Belvedere, The Challenge of Modernism: Vienna and Zagreb around 1900
Dubrovnik, Art Gallery, Picture within Picture in Croatian 20 ^th Century Painting
Zagreb, Mimara Museum, female Character in Ex libris
Zagreb, Art Pavilion, Forest
Karlovac, Vjekoslav Karas Gallery, Self-portrait / Selfie

2018
Čakovec, Međimurje Museum, Čakovec Centre for Culture, BALI 2018 Collection

2019
Zagreb, Art Pavilion, Kurjak Collection

2020
Split, Art Gallery, In the Shadow of Dictatorship 1930-1941
Osijek, Museum of Slavonia, Stories of Remembrance 

2021
Zagreb, National Museum of Modern Art, Bonds – Zagreb’s Academy of Fine Arts and Slovenian Artists Between Two Wars