Dusko Vijatov

60s - during the studies of art academy.jpg

Title

Dusko Vijatov

Type

person

Birth Date

1936

Birthplace

Zrenjanin, a town in Banat, Yugoslavia (now Serbia).

Death Date

2006

Occupation

Painter

Biographical Text

Dusko Vijatov was born in 1936 in Zrenjanin, Republic of Serbia. He completed primary and secondary school - First Serbian Grammar School (Prva visa srpska gimnazija) - in his hometown. Early on he showed an inclination for painting, with his first significant appearance in 1954 as an eighth-grade pupil at a group exhibition at the festival of art in Zrenjanin.

Following that, he went to Belgrade, where he was admitted to the Academy of Fine Arts. He studied painting with professors Ivan Lucev, Zoran Petrovic, Ljubica Cuca Sokic, graduating in 1961. His first appearance in Belgrade was a group exhibition of paintings by graduate students of the 1960/61 class at the Academy. The same year he was admitted to the Association of Fine Artists of Serbia (ULUS), as well as to the Association of Fine Artists of Yugoslavia. In 1962, he became a member of the Art Colony Ecka.

Vijatov spent two years in post-graduate studies in the class of Prof. Nedeljko Gvozdenovic, a member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SANU) and received his master's degree in 1963. Such a prominent group of artists, professors and academics had a considerable influence on his formation as a painter.

His emerging work was of abstracted imagery, a style of art informel where the artist engaged with the materials in expressive and gestural form. From 1970, his work developed towards a more expressionist style of work. He primarily painted in oil, but also worked in pencil, aquarelle and pastel.

Vijatov exhibited on numerous occasions in group and solo exhibitions in the period from 1962 to 2005, both in Serbia and abroad.

He held solo exhibitions at the Art Gallery of ULUS, Art Gallery of the Cultural Centre, National University “Bozidar Adzija”, and other galleries in Belgrade, as well as at the Contemporary Gallery in Zrenjanin. For a number of years he exhibited at the October Salon and ULUS group exhibitions.

International solo exhibitions included Belgium – Kessel (Gallery M. Bernaerts), and Lier (Gallery Vleeshuis), and Germany - Wuppertal (Galerie Palette Rӧderhaus), Hagen (Galerie Goldschmied Dӧrner), and Hofgeismar (Galerie am Markt).

He also participated in international group exhibitions in the Exhibition Center in Skoplje, Macedonia and Modern Gallery in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

His paintings have been acquired by the Contemporary Gallery in Zrenjanin, Gallery of the City of Belgrade, Museum of the City of Belgrade, National University “Bozidar Adzija”, National Museum in Kikinda.

Internationally, his paintings are found all over the world, in private collections in Serbia, Macedonia, Slovenia, England, the Netherlands, Poland, Canada, United States of America, Australia, China and Japan.

For a number of years Vijatov was involved in the work of art colonies in Ecka, Subotica, Borova Glava on Zlatibor, Kovilj near Ivanjica, Grabovo near Cicevac. He participated in many humanitarian exhibitions - on the occasion of the earthquake in Banja Luka, relief to the children without parents, children with developmental disabilities, for the children with impaired sight, on the occasion of the UNESCO anniversary in Slovenj Gradec. The last big charity auction was “For Our Temple - Serbian Painters to the Temple of Saint Sava” in the National Museum of Belgrade.

Vijatov passed away in 2006 in Belgrade. He was painting and creating until the very end.


Entry authored by Aleksandar Vijatov (son), August 2018

Geolocation

Citation

“Dusko Vijatov,” Tyler Collection of Romanian and Modern Art: University of Tasmania, accessed March 29, 2024, https://tylercollection.omeka.net/items/show/2284.