PRIORITY
The Croatian Museum of Tourism, in collaboration with the Infeld Collection from Vienna presents the exhibition “POP ART – INFELD COLLECTION” at the Juraj Šporer Art Pavilion in Opatija. This extremely valuable exhibition features forty two original works from ten of the most prominent American and European Pop Art representatives, offering an insight into the diverse approaches, artistic visions, and techniques of the movement that shaped the art scene and popular culture of the 20th century.
Featured authors and key works
Andy Warhol: The most significant representative of the movement is represented by the famous portraits of Marilyn Monroe and Mao Zedong and the iconic depiction of Mick Jagger on the album cover of The Rolling Stones’ LOVE YOU LIVE — works that have become symbols of numerous generations, deeply rooted in the collective consciousness. Along with recognizable excursions into visual and musical pop-culture (such as covers for Diana Ross and Querelle), his creativity is characterized by a fascination with the human phenomenon, self-promotion and the secrecy of his private life. Knowing many of the stars personally, Warhol portrays them in an intimate and immediate way.
Steve Kaufman: Andy Warhol’s former assistant at The Factory studio. Like his teacher, he starts his work from photographs, which he processes and adjusts compositionally before making the screen print, and then builds up painting with intense layers of color. Kaufman’s screen print created in 2002 based on a photo portrait of collector Peter Infeld on the occasion of his 60th birthday was chosen for the visual exhibition.
Mel Ramos: American pop art master known for figurative works and erotic acts. In his depictions of advertising products and the female body (such as the famous California Venus that appears in all phases of his work, and works such as Martini Girl from 1995), Ramos manages to overcome the cold association of women and goods and create an atmosphere of closeness, cheerfulness and warmth.
Kiki Kogelnik: Famous Austrian artist who creates in the USA alongside world-famous colleagues. Her works are playful and colorfully rich, but also strongly politically engaged and feminist-oriented. Her characters reveal the dual nature of pop art – they are connected to the European art tradition and the ideal of beauty, but at the same time they are exposed to the distorting view of the media.
Roy Lichtenstein: An artist who introduces motifs of so-called “low art” into the museum space, drawing inspiration from comics, but also from abstract expressionism and the museum masterpieces of Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse.
James Rizzi: Recognizable for his unique and playful three-dimensional visual expression, the exhibition is represented by the work Blue Bird from 1999.
Keith Haring, Allen Jones, Richard Lindner and James Rosenquist: The exhibition also brings the works of these influential authors who, with their specific drawing, sculptural approach, graphics and exploration of urban life, make an invaluable contribution to the development of the American and European pop art scene.
About the Infeld Collection
The exhibited works form an exceptionally valuable and carefully curated part of the renowned Viennese Infeld Collection, one of the largest private art collections in Austria. The collection was initiated in the mid-1960s by Peter Infeld (1942–2009)—an Austrian manufacturer of musical strings (Thomastik-Infeld GmbH), collector, and patron of the arts—together with his mother, Margaretha Infeld (1904–1994). Today, Zdenka Infeld continues to develop the collection with equal dedication and in keeping with the entrepreneurial tradition.
In addition to pop art, the focus of the Infeld Collection consists of works of the Viennese school of fantastic realism, Croatian naive art, Buddhist meditative paintings from Tibet (Thangka) and art bruta, along with an extensive collection of musical instruments and gramophone records. In order to make works of art available to the general public, Peter Infeld opened representative cultural centers in Halbturn (Gradišće, Austria) and Dobrinje on the island of Krk (Croatia), where more than 120 exhibitions have been held so far.
About the exhibiton and ticket prices
The exhibition will be taking place from August 1 to September 27 at the Juraj Šporer Art Pavilion in Opatija. Exhibition concept and curators are Dr. Yordanka Weiss (Curator of the Infeld Collection) and Dr. Nataša Ivančević. For the exhibiton layout Lada Sega and Petra Klanjac Majkić take all credits. Ranko Puž is responsible for the technical installation, and Wanda design created the visual identity of the exhibiton with her design and graphic preparation.
The tickets prices for adults are €8.00, for school and university students €6.00, for Opatija residents there is a 50% discount so the tickets are €4.00. For groups of more than 10 people the tickets are €6.00 per person and a family ticket is €18.00.
Every Thursday in August at 7:00 PM there are guided tours of the exhibition. The tours taking place on August 13 and August 27 will be led by Melinda Kostelac, an academic printmaker and full professor at the Academy of Applied Arts in Rijeka. Professor Kostelac will guide visitors through the exhibition, discussing printmaking techniques used to create new icons of visual culture and contemporary art.
