After the death of Josip Vaništa, a unique personality in Croatian cultural society, in March 2018, (1924 – 2018), his daughters Eva (Vaništa Lazarević) and Ana (Vaništa Košuta) established, in late autumn same year a Foundation Vaništa in order to honor his name and structure through visibility his work /art.
A law office of Silvije Hraste & Partners, Ribnjak 40, Zagreb, Croatia marshals the Foundation. As a recognized lawyer’s office focused on intellectual property they are dealing with important artists in Croatia, their families and heirs. During their watch after similar, internationally oriented foundations, supporting great names of arts and design, a numerous projects were implemented in order to make livable and more visible those valuable legacies of arts.
https://www.hraste-partneri.hr/
The purpose of establishing Vaništa Foundation is not only an attempt to maintain a continuity of Vaništa’s long live work but also to introduce public with his legacy and to assure a legal frame for its recognition through international expositions, projects, media covering or potential auctions and sell.
Čazmanska b.b., Zagreb
Zrinjevac square, Zagreb
Painter Josip Vaništa, aside his arts and letter passion (he was honored by French Legion of Honor for Arts and Letter) was a passionate collector of different types of arts artifacts during all his life. Vaništa collection today consists of 432 pieces of arts. Foundation Josip Vaništa was raised in order to maintain in best possible way valuable and diverse collection daughters inherited.
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First part of entire Vaništa collection, which in heir his two daughters Eva and Ana, consists of his own paintings and artifacts (in total 236 art works of his own legacy of paintings. The very first exhibition occurred in 1952, (with painter Miljenko Stančić) followed by dozens of local and international exhibitions, till his late ages. Vaništa was active during all his long term creative life.
First creative results appeared with an appearance of the today famous group of artists named “Gorgona” in late 50ies, in which he was one of the founder and initiator (with Artists and his friends: Julije Knifer, Đuro Seder, Marijan Jevšovar, Kožarić, Miljenko Horvat, Mića Bašićević Mangelos, Radoslav Putar).
https://hr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grupa_Gorgona
Gorgona group made an important step for arrival of Avanguard Arts at Balkans and South – Eastern Europe, astonishing for the era of rigid Socialism. Today some of “Gorgona’s” pieces of Arts are settled in “MoMa” Gallery in New York and in “Tate” Gallery in London as well as in private galleries all over the world, especially in Paris and Berlin. Painter used to tell that Gorgona was his (with his other colleagues painters, sculptors and critics) experiment, almost himself astonished that 40 years later the Northern Italy’s powerful arts historians and critics renewed and recognized this early and brave, pioneer movement and select it in the center of importance of period of Avanguardia in Europe.
http://arhiva.nacional.hr/clanak/13964/vanista-otkriva-svoje-nepoznate-crteze
After that late global recognition; important calls from world famous galleries like MoMa, Tate, Pompidou and Europeans galleries arrived. Most of artifacts of Gorgona (letters, magazines, photos of first happenings etc.) a painter decided to sell in late Nineties.
Some of them (most important) are exposed today in the Museum of Contemporary Arts in Zagreb where an impressive exposition was organized about his life work http://89.201.163.138/?/hr/21543/ in honor of his name immediately after his death in spring 2018.
Vaništa was recognized from Critics, Media and Historians as one of the finest Croatian painters of his Era. He was awarded with important Croatian Awards for Arts. (in between Viktor Kovačić award).
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After that first, youthful part of Vaništa’s career he decided to express himself through more traditional portraits and peysages / landscapes as well as refine skillful drawings after which is maybe this authentic author most famous. So, the traditional approach to arts came back in his more mature ages. It was an era of the most prominent and famous pieces of arts Vaništa delivered and showed to his public by multiple exhibitions during his life.
(links to Vaništa’s exhibitions, public critic and books about him)
Vaništa’s come back to more traditional approach
70ies to 2018
The family decided not to sell Vaništa’s own paintings in order to keep that part of collection together as a whole for future generations.
Some of Vaništa’s drawings and aquarelles:
Andre Gide
Roosevelt’s Square, Zagreb
Collage Krleža
Paromlinska cesta
Collage Marino Tartaglia
Amsterdam
Miroslav Krleža
Tin Ujević
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Second part of the Vaništa Art’s collection (84 pieces) is a part dated beginning from the early 20ies century till 50-ies, the period of Croatian Expressionism. As a passionate follower and a pupil of Marino Tartaglia, he was amazed with a world of his precedents, famous Croatian painters beginning of 20th Century. (Becić, Crnčić, Detoni, Gecan, Junek, Tompa, Kožarić, Babić, Herman, Mujadžić, etc). Some of them presented his row models, some of them he admired and waited for so passionate to buy their pieces of art. Famous Ljubo Babić’s “Black Flag” (also one of his teacher) was one of the artefact he collected, which is unfortunately not any more in our possesion.
Being in friendly corellation with Magyar today worldwide known painter Victor Vasarely during life in Paris, Vaništa / Vaništa Foundation today is in possession of several of Vasarely’s famous works.
As one of the best “connoisseurs” of history of arts of his time, Josip Vaništa was passionate of studying and examination, always deep into literature from his enormous & most valuable library, visiting Parisian galleries and libraries: his entire time and life was dedicated to creativity: art combined with writing and studying.
In his mature ages Vaništa became Curator and in charge for Strossmayer’g Gallery of old art masters, the most prominent and important Museum in Croatia.
His daily routine presented: early mornings – the most important part where he painted while not active as an University professor at Faculty of Architecture; in the afternoons, and his famous after lunch short nap; he entered to his “second part of the day” to his world of drawing and writing for which he did not need cold & north day light. Firstly, from his young age, he writes essays about arts, design, literature, and philosophy. Obligatory, he shared and underlined for his wife Rozsi, our mother, the most important quotes from his admired literature (French literature was his 1st choice). Josip Vaništa, talented for writing same way as for painting, published some of his own publications & books, created in the form of very short sentences, mostly awarded and widely recognized in the world of literature.
One of the most impressive exhibition of his collection named /“Poputbina” Croat./ “The legacy” – was organized in Museum of Glyphotecha in Zagreb, in 2007.
https://www.culturenet.hr/default.aspx?id=15458
After few rejected proposals to enter Academia in Nineties, Josip Vaništa was finally honored as a member of Croatian Academia of Science and Arts, which he deserved long before.
Some of selected work of Vaništa’s private collection:
Omer Mujadžić
Ljubo Babić
Viktor Vasarely
Leo Junek
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Third part (120 mostly drawings) consists of a legacy of famous Milan Steiner, Croatian painter of Israeli roots; born in Sisak, Croatia; the participant of Impressionism movement. Through Milan Steiner’s brother, after his death, all those paintings of an unfortunate painter who died young; were donated to Josip Vaništa’s watch and ownerships. There is an interesting explanation / an essay about the history of Milan Steiner’s legacy written by Vaništa’s daughter Eva (the architect and writer) after the stories of her father here.
