GRAOVAC Nikola
GRAOVAC Nikola
(Vebci near Gospić, 1907 – Topola, 2000).
At the age of 12, he became a migrant worker, moving from place to place in order to find a job. He used to work on roads and in forests, ports, factories, shops. He learned painting in Belgrade from the painter Jovan Bijelić (1932-1937). During the 1930's, when he lived and worked in Belgrade, he was intensively painting and taking part in the activities of art groups. He exhibited together with several groups: Četvorica ('The Four') in 1933, Trojica ('The Three') in 1937, Oblik ('Shape') in 1938, Desetorica ('The Ten') in 1940. His first one-man show (1935) was announced as a cultural event of the season. After World War II, he worked for several years as a teacher of drawing in Kosovo (Prizren), then moved to Novi Sad where he stayed together with his wife Radmila until 1965. Thereafter, he moved to Belgrade. He regularly exhibited at the spring and autumn exhibitions of artists in Belgrade, at ULUS and SLUJ exhibitions, October Salon, exhibitions organized by art colonies (in the towns of Ečka, Počitelj). He also exhibited at many national and international group exhibitions (Lyon, Tunis, Beirut, Pennsylvania…).
He held more than 30 one-man shows in our country (retrospective in Belgrade, 1980) and abroad (Prague, 1957).
Awards: "Đurica Đorđević" (1937), Politika Prize (1937), ULUS (1965) and October Prize of the City of Novi Sad (1964).
| 8. Days turned into weeks, months. An exitless labyrinth of canals and river branches. He would apathetically taste the water; it was always salty. Constantly, rapid waves and easy flow alternatde. Black water. Hills made of metal; from their peaks, wind carried frozen breath to him. Once, a ship collided with a floating big tail of a monstrous river creature. Its womb was open; a hole agape, large enough to swallow the City. |
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