From National Representation to Self-Organised Exhibiting: Artists from the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes at the 1926 Sesquicentennial International Exposition in Philadelphia

Abstract

On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the declaration of the independence of the United States of America in 1926, the Sesquicentennial International Exposition was organised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1925, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes had been invited to take part in the exhibition. The invitation was followed by a series of difficulties in organising the presentation, dispute over the involvement of Tomislav Krizman in the preparation of the Yugoslav pavilion and a conflict with the Belgrade artists. In the end, the government abandoned the idea of a national presentation due to financial reasons. Nevertheless, several Yugoslav artists participated in this major international exhibition, thanks to the initiative of the sculptor Ivan Meštrović and with the organisational support of the Yugoslav Circle from New York. Using archival and periodical sources, the paper examines the organisational aspects and circumstances of the participation of Yugoslav artists in the Sesquicentennial International Exposition and the reception of this first joint presentation of Yugoslav art in the USA, in which works of numerous artists from Zagreb, Belgrade and Ljubljana were exhibited. The participation of Yugoslav artists will be considered in two ways: as a rare example of artistic self-organisation in the context of Yugoslav exhibition practices abroad and as an initiative that reveals the complex and dissonant infrastructure of Yugoslav exhibition and cultural policy in the interwar period.

Sesquicentennial International Exposition organizirana je u spomen 150-godišnjice proglašenja nezavisnosti Sjedinjenih Američkih Država i 50-godišnjice Centennial Exposition, a održala se 1926. u Philadelphiji, Pennsylvania. Kraljevina SHS dobila je 1925. poziv za sudjelovanje na izložbi, nakon čega su uslijedili dogovori, ali i niz turbulencija oko organiziranja predstavljanja, angažmana Tomislava Krizmana na uređenju jugoslavenskog paviljona te spora s beogradskim umjetnicima. U konačnici je vlada zbog financijskih razloga odustala od državnog predstavljanja, ali je do sudjelovanja jugoslavenskih umjetnika na toj velikoj međunarodnoj izložbi ipak došlo inicijativom kipara Ivana Meštrovića te uz organizacijsku podršku udruženja Yugoslav Circle iz New Yorka. U izlaganju utemeljenom na arhivskim i periodičkim izvorima bit će riječi o organizacijskim aspektima i okolnostima sudjelovanja jugoslavenskih umjetnika na Sesquicentennial International Exposition, recepciji njihova stvaralaštva te reperkusijama toga prvog skupnog predstavljanja jugoslavenske umjetnosti u Americi, a koje je uključivalo djela brojnih umjetnika iz Zagreba, Beograda i Ljubljane. Učešće jugoslavenskih umjetnika na ovoj izložbi biće razmatrano dvojako: kao redak primer umjetničkog samoorganiziranja u kontekstu jugoslavenskih izložbenih praksi u inostranstvu i kao inicijativa koji reflektira kompleksnu i neusaglašenu infrastrukturu jugoslavenske izložbene i kulturne politike u međuratnom periodu.