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Art Nouveau in Croatia

History, as they say, is a boring little so-and-so. The name of the game is repetition throughout many walks of life, and art movements are more vulnerable to the closing of the circle than most. Just to mention those fashioned in the latter half of the twentieth century, how many of the ‘great’ movements fundamentally involve tearing up the form book, ripping the status quo apart and piecing it back together like a spastic version of Frankenstein’s monster, but twice as likely to upset your grand-dad: rock ‘n’ roll; punk; hip-hop and rave culture all have these elements at their core.  All of which sort of makes Art-Nouveau the original punk, (and therefore possibly William Morris, from whose ‘arts and craft movement’ many claim a strong influence was taken, must be Malcolm McClaren?) Between the two decades either side of the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, most objects came in for disrespectful treatment from those determined to throw away the staid old form and start anew. Architecture in particular was dealt shocking blows from such scallywags as Gaudí in Spain, whilst Alphonse Mucha produced florid posters and illustrations and Toulouse-Lautrec doodled in France.  The timing of the Art-Nouveau movement was no co-incidence. The Fin de siécle was a period of huge disruption across Europe. The industrial revolution was transforming society; the urbanisation that it brought was changing lifestyles; and political upheaval was rife across the continent. All of which, according to the artists world, demanded a new international style. Thus the works of the movement tend to reflect the positioning of the old with the new: many artists, designers, and architects were excited by new technologies and lifestyles, while others retreated into the past, embracing the spirit world, fantasy, and myth.  Secessionist Croatia (secesija) is not perhaps the clearest of terms; given a lack of recognition for Croatian examples of the Art Nouveau movement one could be tricked into assuming this expression refers to actions in the last decade of the twentieth century rather than the nineteenth. In particular, given the neighbourhood, this land of stone cottages and medieval towns suffers in comparison with nearby centres of excellence in the discipline such as Austria: where the movement was called ‘Sezession’ and Italy; there known as "Stile Liberty" after the famous British shop Liberty.  At the turn of the century her Austrian masters hugely influenced Croatia and thus it is no surprise that the local movement took its cue, both in name and style from that particular avenue. Objects and artists were imported, influencing styles around a capital that was being rebuilt after the massive earthquake of 1880. In this period Zagreb saw the founding of the University, the establishment of the Academy of Science and the Arts, as well as the Museum of Arts and Crafts,  the National Theatre and the National Gallery; all of which boosted not only artistic endeavour but added contemporary flavours to the townscape since the government needed to fund showcase buildings for these national institutions.  For our purposes however, the most important building of the time was a little late in coming, as The National and University Library took up its imposing occupancy on Marulićev trg. Smothered both inside and out by the frescos of contemporary artists such as Bukovac, Iveković, and Tisov, this huge book depository is the finest example of Secessionist architecture in the city. It’s construction was overseen by Rudolf Lisinski, a Croatian architect trained in Germany. His other notable buildings in Zagreb are a residential building for priests in Palmotićeva (1910); and the Shell House at Gajeva 5 (1932). He was also responsible for the development of Dolac and Kaptol areas.
Another prominent site of secessionist architecture in Croatia is to the far east of the country in the city of Osijek. The major centre of the Slavonian region, not far from the meeting of the Drava and Danube rivers, experienced its high point around the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Extensive areas of the town are built in Art Nouveau style, designed by local architects that trained in Vienna, Budapest and Germany and imported the zeitgeist of secessionist Central Europe to craft their hometown. 

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