“Memories – notes about our father J.V”
Writes: Eva Vaništa Lazarevic*
Our father, painter Josip Vaništa
(17.5.1924. Karlovac – 24.3.2018. Zagreb)
Creative and totally visually oriented by definition, our father somehow could not understand, in his earliest ages, the teacher’s simple question: “One month is consisting of how many days?”. He was perceiving the moon as an image. A circle in the sky that changes its appearance behind silver shades and blinking white! Having, thus, received the first rebuke and bad grade, he never forgot the injustice caused by his natural gift.
Anyway, the silver “moon” color seems to have permeated him later through all phases of his paintings: from drawings, through watercolors / aquarelles and especially oils – still life (nature morte) paintings and landscapes; including famous “Silver Line on a White Background,” his masterpiece, according to some critics. A few silver dots by a brush were definitely the final little swing on mostly of his oils on the canvas.
Initials J.V. became along time his own visual symbol, signed on his paintings and entitling his catalogs. Visual identification was spawned itself, naturally, without any marketing project involved.
EARLY BEGINNINGS
Born in Karlovac, Croatia, J.V. spent his life, art education and career in Zagreb, the city to which he truly belonged, with several short study trips to Paris and occasional departures. Alonside the time, he appreciated and was grateful, for a fact that Zagreb as a Metropolis fully embraced him, honoring him with mostly of existing awards for arts.
Karlovac remained a unique symbol of his most important influence, the adored role model of his mother. Mother Ruža interpreted for him the only, true paradigm of a woman-mother.
The embodiment of love and kindliness. She was educated and was expressing herself by Gothic letter, very fond of books and arts.
His personality was thoroughly formed by lasting, uninterrupted, threads for the lush green town of central Croatia: Karlovac. Growing up under the scope of easy going childish activities in a natural beauty of four rivers and walking alleys under the rich greenery. The childhood was cozily linked with especially beautiful environment, caring parents (Mother Ruža and Father Josip, natively from Prague, a merchant) and unencumbered time, for playing outside, and piano lessons.
Another fond symbol-memory he shared with us, the family, would be Austro-Hungarian-type atrium house overlooking Karlovac main walking alley “Promenade” and the park where J.V. spent his childhood. Designed typically for that Era, with a common wooden staircase leading to an intern corridor around patio, from where one entered the “salon-type” apartments all around. As children we were amazed, my sister Ana and me, with, for us so far unknown type of living with all passable rooms in the circle, and always widely open windows overlooking park. Stylish “lordly” furniture, fine paintings on the walls, Persian carpets, and finest China disappeared without traces after the Civil war in Nineties, while some unknown family break into the empty apartment (my grandparents were already dead). Our father decided not to enter the trial for his legitimate legacy. He just let it go, apathetic.
“Promenade”, Main Alley 
Park in Karlovac
In a book “Records”, J.V.’s autobiographical work refers to those, less known to the public; years of his younger life with short and often witty details and memories.
https://dizbi.hazu.hr/a/?pr=i&id=330693
https://www.goodreads.com/hr/book/show/33289400-knjiga-zapisa
Korana river
Although of unique kind and, at first sight for the greater public and especially for critics, distanced; friends & his circle were the most important part in his life, and with those from his earliest childhood he remained extremely close. Slavko Goldstein (author of the book “1941”), writer and historian, Stanko Lasić, writer and architect Joško Hagendorfer called “Kvaka”, which (the last two) spent their lives in Paris – created so called “communion to death”. J. Vaništa avoided mentioning bad memories about the Second World War, having in mind many of his friends and co-pupils sharing same benches were killed or disappeared. The only possible partakers of such rare conversations were his truly compatriots – initial crew mentioned above. The fact his father was from Czech origin, saved J.Vaništa’s life, several times during a war period. Once, he escaped at the last second through the attic window while Fascists entered his room trying if the bed is still warm. But, our father had already escaped over the roofs.
With his multiethnic environment and atmosphere, he explained to us, the kids; Karlovac origin developed forever his own liberal, freedom ideas and kind of sympathy for the bourgeois left, which was also nurtured by the intellectuals with whom he associated for long years, as well as after wars intellectual giants (Picasso, Jean Paul Sartre, Simone de Bouvoir etc.) – his row models for life.
A SCHEDULLE FULFILLED
Karlovac as his native, mostly Zagreb as a residential focal point and even Paris as some kind of a “soul reference” – are trinity cities that marked the painter’s long life dedicated to art. He used to say to the public, in the third part of his life: I am old and I am leaving… even though we, my mother, sister and me knew he neither really intended nor aimed to. J.V. enjoyed life, and lived it on his own. He had, actually, tremendous energy and strength, absolutely stronger than anyone we had ever met, and he watched it carefully, not wasting on unnecessary things. That third life’s part lasted for full 3 decades. Thanks to longevity, J.V. managed, despite fears that he would not, to fulfill all the ambitions, missions, books, exhibitions, plans he had created.
Our father was a meticulous strategist when it came to his own choices. However, his artsy self orientation did not allow him to bother about follow up after his life departure.
Still, J.V. bought and designed, his simple /only grassy/ grave without borders, with an old shabby wooden cross, at the village cemetery near Zagreb, to the displeasure of all the family, while being still in his middle ages. At that time he designed with a colleague from his faculty (arch. Ante Vulin) Miroslav Krleža’s grave on Mirogoj. (A famous Croatian writer)
During his life, but especially preparing for his death monument the wanted to be “left alone” (in) the middle of the landscape… without broader knowledge about the place of his grave, at the edge of the small village cemetery with a clear view overlooking the fields he was drawing all his life. Van Gogh’s modest grassy grave in Anvers sur Oise which he visited often; was his ultimate ideal of afterlife monument. What he planned, he implemented, even that last and final idea.
https://fraktura.hr/blog/josip-vanista-zivimo-da-bismo-umrli.html
Only the closest knew: as strong and very clear in intentions and determined in decisions, he was the initiator and absolute leader of each group, naturally witty and funny in his basic nature. To a small and constant circle of friends and family he was natural and immediate, into his initial character; but he enjoyed showing his other artsy side: a proud spirited cynic and also as a master of performance in more public life. By implementing in real life some extravagant rules from his famous group “Gorgona” from fifties. They (the crew of Gorgona) were masters and pioneers of first happenings, performances, at first glance incomprehensible intern communication and informal magazines…. principally events never happened before in Croatia and South-Eastern Europe.
Museum of Contemporary Arts, Zagreb,
Curator Nada Beroš
He emphasized his natural peculiarity, his uniqueness, with the appearance of a mysterious “invisible man” with an extremely quiet voice, even below the tone of intelligibility. We all strained to hear him, thus J.V. received a maximum attention and absolute silence from attentive listeners. He loved the secrecy and both of these at first glance opposite faces: complete unobtrusiveness and a natural ascetic spirit reconnected from one side the rigid and from the others a hint of laughter – dramaturgical masks.
Distance was his way in order to stay out of reach, not to be trapped by bigger audience. Seeking for free decisions, without boundaries.
Never the less, our father had such an appearance – in spite of the real modesty – that nobody could ever miss his entrance. Indeed, while he was speaking under the voice in some circle, everybody around him listened very carefully. Nobody dared to say a word. He was charismatic, full of secret and rare knowledge, and sometimes while in the mood, ready to joke and to make some funny observations. The audience was always ready to absorb. Silently.
Ješa Denegri about Josip Vaništa and Gorgona, 2013.
http://www.seecult.org/vest/denegri-o-vanisti-i-gorgoni
Two essences characteristics: silence and whiteness, as a motive and obsession with symbols and regulations of Japanese Zen Buddhism – were J.V.’s strongest choice. Observing his first drawings ascetically supported by a ruler, we can psychologically penetrate somewhat into the personality, although many layers had to be unfolded.
A lot of famous critics who favored his work wrote very inspiring texts, books and essays on the subject of his personality, above all: Igor Zidić, Tonko Maroević, Branka Stipančić, Stanko Lasić, Ješa Denegri, Nada Beroš, later Miljenko Jergović etc.
Other friends like Georgije Paro, with whom J.V. worked on the scenography of exceptional performances at the Croatian National Theater like Ibsen’s “When we the dead arise”, Slavko Goldstein, mentioned before who remained till the end one of his last friends, Zdenko Tonković – his truly companion, Rade Leposavić – his refine follower, Nada Beroš, who organized a huge homage exposition at the Museum of Contemporary Arts in Zagreb as an Hommage to our Father.
He openly avoided intrusiveness, possible conflicts and rude behavior, and with the passing of years, he received at his home and atelier only friends and acquaintances who fit into his refinement and who could possibly intellectually match him. He was exclusive when it came to the people around him. Noble and generous when it came to all the people with needs in his immediate but also wider circle, and the family he cared for. Gallerists, collectors, customers visited the Atelier in Križanićeva 11; he was not happy about it. He could barely handle it and was reluctant to trade. He donated many paintings, especially to the doctors who cared for his dear ones, and to friends and colleagues out of gratitude…. later, these gifts were often offered, out of their price, on the market.
In a moment of weakness and reflection about its importance for his career – he sold “Gorgona”’s works to a collector, dissatisfied at one point with his youthful days and strides.
As all artists, he was hesitating till the last second, estimated his work for long time, from different angles, several times repainted the same oil on canvas. Throwing away, deeply reconsidering past phase, collecting back the same picture if not destroyed. Our mother tried to save most of the throw sketches and pictures, but mostly of time, our father succeeded in his intention.
The almost entire collection of his painting and the paintings he collected all his life of other painters, were put at one place in 2007. It consisted of his own paintings from different periods; from Croatian Expressionists, mostly of them Vaništa’s own teachers and row models and that of Impressionist Milan Steiner. (about Milan Steiner collection – under BLOG on this site).
Most of the Collection was presented at the exhibition “The Legacy” (“Poputbina Josipa Vanište”) at Gliptoteka HAZU, thanks to her Director Vesna Mažuran Subotić, in 2007 and that exposition had a big impact on cultural environment.
“Vaniština Poputbina”, About his Collection – Gliptoteka HAZU, 2007.
https://www.culturenet.hr/default.aspx?id=15458
Unfortunately, the collection has been reduced today for a number of reasons. Some of the paintings were sold, it seems to the family, without her knowledge, by people who were intentionally surrounded him in his later ages. He believed naively, deeply confident in people for their immanent good intentions. Unfortunately, there were few well-wishers around our father. It seems that the flatterers obtained the best and lucrative business, subduing the Ego of the artist and the lack of objectivity of already old person.
However, in his younger ages Vaništa did not obey the obligatory forms. He gave himself the right, a kind of artistic freedom with which he justified himself, to leave whenever he wanted, to be in a space only to the one that suits him with atmosphere, appearance and peace. He refused interviews (except for a few in his older ages) and rest withdrawn from the media as much as possible. He left, for example, the famous exhibition in “Sebastian” gallery in Belgrade just before the opening, in the early eighties; for some reasons of divergence known only to the artist.
As an University Professor, however, (Faculty of Architecture, Department for drawing) he enjoyed being widely esteemed, and as a painter recognized in the media immediately after his first exhibition with a close friend & painter Miljenko Stančić, in 1952. Among the critics, who were in turn benevolent throughout his career, the wider audience and ordinary citizens, not even involved in art, appreciated him. The openings of J.V. exhibitions have always been crowded, as important social events – vernissages of art’s lovers. Not all painters are lucky enough to miss the usual “expected hard Artsy life”; and who experienced a recognition for his lifetime. J. Vaništa was intimately satisfied to enjoy the obvious comprehension, for decades.
Never the less, as a dedicated professor of the faculty which students appreciated; he constantly advised me when I became a professor myself: “Avoid councils and meetings with other professors, it does not bring any good. They are burdened by frequent misunderstandings and different interests. ” Although he was urged to stay in college after retirement, he stayed only few years; explaining he needs time for painting. However, the impressibility of my father as a professor was about his “unusual” knowledge of design saw through the eyes of a painter, which he spread out. Different from all others, in crowded classes on the third floor at the end of the corridor, at the Department for drawings, the students received precious guidelines, which definitively marked a long row of generations – his admirers.
QUIET PORTS
He loved the “European Circle”, and traveled to well-kept places where he felt good. There weren’t too many of them.
In early fifties, Istria and Rovinj were his second home in the earliest days of his marriage with Rozsi, natively Hungarian from Voyvodina. Adorable teacher of English and French at the 1st Gymnasium in Zagreb. Our devoted mother. They joked about the dilapidated interior of the truck from which they inserted the back seats on which they slept in a Rovinj’s house, abandoned by Italians. Out of that same modesty, he refused the mentioned stone house, which was offered to him by the City of Rovinj, in order to revive their city with an art colony.
The famous “Evening Despair”, one of the most beautiful drawings by the J.V., dates from that period (a scene from the square in front of the Basilica of St. Euphemia.)
O knjizi J.V. “Skizzenbuch”
https://mvinfo.hr/clanak/josip-vanista-skizzenbuch-1932-2010
our mother Rozsi, Sister Ana and me
Our father loved Venice, which we visited every summer during the 1970ies s and early 1980ies. Our mother, my sister and me waited planned summer time the whole year around. It was in real sense a “cultural visit / tourism”. From the Guggenheim Museum, through the Doge’s Palace, the churches where our father explained us all the details and the galleries that switched the exhibits often in those years of prosperity. As a reward after cultural ascension we were allowed for swimming at Lido Island. “Calle delle Rasse” street next to the Doge’s Palace became “our”, with a modest hotel “Il Trovatore” to which we returned every year. The smells of shrimp and fish specialties that are sold outdoors from early mornings, we still feel today, as well as the taste of the finest tramezzini sandwiches. Our mother got one “a la Chanel costume” every summer in the finest store in Venice, and we, the kids got the best notebooks and pencil cases, on which we were proud at school. It was out true family tradition.
Our, children’s excellence in school was taken for granted. No excuse.
https://www.jutarnji.hr/globus/josip-vanista-tako-mi-je-govorio-miroslav-krleza-4093791
Paris of the fifties remained in my memories after our Father’s stories, as a gloomy symbol of poverty and hard side of life. An inconspicuous small hotel in Rue des Arts, in the Latin Quarter. Our mother who took American post-war gift packages – bananas, which replaced other food in scarcity, only for her husband. To keep him healthy. Thus, never enough fed; she developed a severe pneumonia from which she never really recovered.
Father then, we assume, developed a great general “fear from poverty”. The spiritual life, on the contrary, he fed with the passion of meeting and following existentialists who could be seen in Café Flore or closely on the streets around St. Germain des Pres. Some of them they (mother and father) met in person. Perhaps more than in the painterly sense, it was a period of absorbing French poetry and literature. Parisian, but later also Zagreb bookstores, meeting places of written thoughts were and remain his most important support, refuge and place of peace. Hence, the huge collection of books that then began to be collected formed soon one of the largest private libraries in Croatia. The French library in Preradovićeva street remains his “French literature embassy” for the rest of our father’s life. It seems comforting that the award for his passionate affiliation with French culture – the French Legion of Honor for painting and writing – was awarded in that “French particle” in Preradovićeva, many years later. The confirmation of his literary side was especially important to J.V. Namely, for his own books he received awards and recognitions founded with huge sales.
J.V. received, as well, a strong confirmation that his life and creative mission was recognized by the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, HAZU. Initially rejected in the 1990s although never actively engaged in politics, he finally got his place among the greats. Is meant a lot for him, inspite his informal artsy soul.
One of his dearest work, inspired after Vjekoslav Karas “Woman with lout”
Zvonko Kusić, President of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, about Josip Vaništa:
“Flowers”, from 80ies 
“Nature Mort”, Fruits, from 80ies 
“Winter”, the last oil on canvas 2018, left on his easel
THE HAVEN
His environment, Križaniceva street No.11 in Zagreb:
After hundreds of on going visitors, buyers, collectors, colleagues and critics passing by during long decades; in his late ages J.V. rarely visited other places out of his haven, his shelter – his atelier: a concentration of books, drawings, paintings, memories.
Surely, a rarely fabulous knowledge about arts is a reason why he was elected to be in charge / in lead of the Strossmayer Gallery of Old Masters, as its passionate Director for many years.
We can say, that Josip Vaništa was given with maybe equal gift for Arts, Letter but Music as well. He played piano very successfully, had perfect music education and listen a classical music all the time during and outside his creativity hours.
Atelier in Križanićeva 11, where he created from his young ages, and in which I was born at ‘61, was full of books on art in one part, and fine literature, philosophy, and poetry in another. This place was Vaništa’s house No.1, the house of personality, freedom, and Artsy spirit of disobedience.
And to me, as a memory – the smell of turpentine, the same one I mentioned in my first book, is an essential association about childhood. In the winter of ’61/62, my crib was on the place of an antique table, in the corner; on picture under this line. As a 3-month-old baby I got my first pneumonia.
According the stories, the place was crowded mostly of time for at least one decade. All the artists from “Gorgona circle” but others as well, hung out in this “cult” room, which remained more or less (only within details) the same in appearance – for a long period of entire seventy creative years.
GORGONA: Josip Vaništa, Julije Knifer, Ivan Kožarić, Đuro Seder, Matko Meštrović, Marijan Jevšovar called Ješo, Radoslav Putar, Dimitrije Bašičević – Mangelos, Miljenko Horvat
They adressed each other as «Mister President» in order to show they are all equally involved.
As a couriosity, Gorgona group was keeping, for example, a big shoe box in a Library at the City center; a saleslady lacking her one eye (the reason for a name Gorgona) was receiving and giving amount of needed money to the members of the group. The one who owned the most at the moment kept giving money and rest of the group just kept taking some. So the money circulated in between them in favor to keep them all take cared off. And to show in practice a meaning of Artsy solidarity and friendship.
*FROM THE BOOK:
EVA VANIŠTA LAZAREVIĆ: MEMORIES ON MY FATHER J.V.
in publication process
