Croatian Naive Art Gallery To Open in Florida
bmarja...@iprimus.ca
NEW CROATIAN NAIVE ART
GALLERY & MUSEUM COLLECTION
OPENING IN FLORIDA !
THE FIRST GALLERY OF ITS TYPE IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE!
In the year 2000, the Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg , Florida
introduced a 90 day exhibit titled "The Fantastical World of Croatian
Naive Art" to the United States to record crowds and rave reviews. It
was there that I fell in love with Croatian Naive oil on glass
paintings. I can remember touring the exhibit of 100 paintings from 10
famous Croatian Naive artists, stopping in front of one and saying to
my wife Donna that if this particular painting was for sale for $50,000
I would seriously consider buying it! Well, after the exhibit was long
gone from St. Petersburg , I decided to search for paintings to
purchase to begin a small collection for Donna and myself.
Months of Internet searches turned up nothing! I mean nothing. Nothing
in the US ; nothing in Europe; nothing in Croatia ! Nothing, that is,
until I received an email from the Croatian National Museum of Naive
Art telling me that they were having an exhibit similar to the one in
St. Petersburg entitled "The Art of the Hlebine School" that would run
from May 31 to August 29th in 2005.
To make a long story somewhat shorter, I made arrangements to travel to
Croatia along with my son-in-law Tommy Sapp, to attend the grand
opening ceremonies of the exhibit. I also arranged for a
driver/interpreter (soon to become friend Vladimir Medjimorec) to drive
us around Podravina (that small part of the Croatian countryside famous
for these master artists) to visit as many artists as we could and
perhaps purchase the paintings I was seeking for my collection.
Half way into the first day of what was to be a 4 day trip traveling
the countryside looking for artists and after having more than one
masterfully done painting pulled from behind a dresser or from under a
bed, I decided that this story was too important not to be brought to
the United States. I was going to open a gallery as soon as I could to
bring this fantastic art form from these wonderful artists to America!
Bringing this art to the West and promoting this amazing group of
painters (many of whom are Masters of this art form and as talented as
other artists we have all come to know and respect) became a cause for
me. I don't just want to do it. I am compelled to do it! This story
needs to be told.
Once again I was back in Croatia, this time with Donna, for the last
week of the exhibit in August 2005 and together we toured other parts
of the Croatian countryside so that to this date I have met personally
and bought beautiful paintings from at least 50 of this talented group
of Croatian Naive Artists.
This brings me up to the present time where we have found our gallery
location in St. Petersburg, Florida directly across the street from St.
Petersburg 's Fine Arts Museum where I first saw this wonderful art
form. The lease is signed and I patiently await the finishing touches
on the construction of a brand new 30 story condominium tower with
retail space on the ground floor to be called Parkshore Plaza Shops and
scheduled to open in May of 2006. Until then and even after, we have
our presence on the Internet at: http://www.CroatianNaiveArt.com .
Finally, the long term plan (perhaps only a few years away) will be to
purchase museum quality pieces along the way so as to eventually have
what will be called the United States Croatian Naive Art Museum &
Gallery.
Please remember when you visit our web site, you are witnessing
something very special. The paintings you will be viewing are not
production line prints, "artist enhanced" or "embellished" lithographs
or serigraphs, giclee prints or photographs. These are unique
originals; one-of-a-kind reverse oil on glass paintings that 99% of the
world's population knows nothing about! We are happy to finally be
bringing this wonderful art form from Croatia to the entire world.
Enjoy!
James A. Nannen
http://www.CroatianNaiveArt.com
barefooted
Bojim se da se ne ozlijede u mahnitom prolasku kroz vrata.