In Anticipation of Disaster: The Beginnings of Croatian Modernism and the End of the Empire

Abstract

The essay deals with the history of the first steps of modernism in Croatian visual arts in the 1910s – beginnings of the 1920s, which took the form of expressionism. In the aspect of early expressionism, the work of the most significant Croatian painters and graphic artists (L. Babić, M. Trepse and others), as well as sculptors (I. Meštrović), considered in the context of the art of the Balkan region (Serbian and Slovenian artists) as a whole, is observed. A number of theoretical issues are touched upon – the typology of symbolism and impressionism, closely related to Croatian expressionism, as well as the problem of isomorphism of expressionism poetics as an integral part of the avant-garde to the phenomenon of explosion in culture. The research shows that the beginnings of the Croatian modernism, which coincided with the end of the empire, reflect the specifics of the Balkan model of cultural development in the 20th century, based on the convergence of extremes.