Marija Tonkovic - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

SUMMARY The aim of this dissertation was to describe in the framework of stylistic and documenta... more SUMMARY

The aim of this dissertation was to describe in the framework of stylistic and documentary development the work of Franjo Mosinger within the Croatian community, particularly during his most creative period between his return from the education in Vienna until his leaving Zagreb. In that period he modernised Croatian photography and made it a part of the European mainstream. With that in mind, it was necessary to get to know the “new photography” at its source, deduct its characteristics and use this to prove Mosinger’s modernity. To appreciate fully the role played by Mosinger in the development of new genres it was necessary to investigate photographic Pictorialism, which he abandoned and work of younger photographers who continued in his wake, as well as the role of illustrated print.

The work is divided into the following chapters: 1. Introduction, 2. The tendency towards the pictorial in photography, 3. Franjo Mosinger, 4. New Objectivity, Bauhaus and Franjo Mosinger, 6. The resonance of New Objectivity and Bauhaus in Croatian print and photography, 6. Beginnings of illustrated print and photography’s new role, 7. Conclusion, 8. Biography and the catalogue of works by Franjo Mosinger, 9. Biographies and catalogues of work by other photographers. Each chapter is subdivided into smaller sections.

The chapter The tendency towards the pictorial in photography is essential for the presentation of the situation and the dominant style as well as the technique of the fine print that was used during Pictorialism so that Mosinger’s starting position towards the ‘pure’ photography could be discerned.

In the following chapter Franjo Mosinger’s life journey is laid out. His growing up beside his father Rudolf, the well regarded photographer and entrepreneur was of the decisive influence. In this chapter Rudolf’s work is examined in detail and the research showed much greater span of interests and creative activity not only in the area of photography, but also in the field of graphic design, publishing and all the way towards film, and even outside of the then state borders. Documentation was found and examined in respect of Franjo’s education in Vienna in the prestigious school Graphisches Lehr – und Versuchsanstalt in the class of Karel Novak, the well established pictorialist of the time where he met many other, later important photographers. His return to Zagreb is then followed and his taking over of the family atelier. Franjo Mosinger gives an artistic dimension to his work demonstrated by the signing of his pieces and frequent exhibitions. He becomes editor of photography in the newly established journal Kulisa, a Croatian version of an European weekly, and in this way he is in touch with the most up to date global trends. In Kulisa Mosinger is in charge of the Foto – amater column explaining the technical questions and giving advice in the section entitled Foto – kritika. Special attention was paid to the exhibition Film und Foto held in Zagreb during 1930, which was of a decisive consequence for modernisation of Croatian photography. This inspired Mosinger to call his exhibition held the following year The New Direction in Photography by Franjo Mosinger. A new light has been thrown on his stay in Belgrade after the crash of Zagreb businesses. His opus has been enriched through finding of photographs in public and private collections. His life after the return to Zagreb has been delineated, as well as dramatic events during and after the war where his poetics of photography is again in conformity with the new reality.

The particular contribution to this dissertation is in the theoretical approach, using available literature in relation to establishment and development of New Objectivity and Bauhaus in the visual arena and particularly their recognition in photography. All key events have been listed, the publications and the authors as well as technological developments. With this aim and with such coverage, this is the first examination of this subject in Croatia.

Through typical examples of Mosinger’s photographs, preserved in the original, or reproduced in print, the characteristics of New Photography have been identified that have been pioneered and applied in Zagreb, corresponding to the possibilities afforded by that environment. His absorption, as well as creative application of poetry in New Objectivity and principles of Bauhaus are shown and the development of his vision in the span from expressionistic to constructivist, from portraits to photomontage and photogram, is followed. His work is contextualised within European models. Practically an unknown area of application of photomontage is discovered and pointed out in his work as well as in work of other Croatian authors, from book layouts to commercial advertising.

In the following chapter the results of research into the resonance of New Objectivity and Bauhaus in the Croatian professional publications and Croatian photography are shown.

In correlation with the exhibitions of the Group of Three (Grupa Trojice) and the Land (Zemlja) the domestic photographic scene is laid out with the social and political background that is also being reflected in the area of amateur photography. The notion of homeland (Heimat) photography was born that established Croatian endogeny mainly through ethnographic motives, which was later customarily referred to as the Zagreb School (Zagrebačka škola).

The shift from the prevailing aesthetics is made up of experiments that have occurred in different political and artistic constellations in Rijeka, which brought about original results and are reflected in photographs that have been taken in Sušak.

Further more, text works that appeared in the wake of Mosinger’s new direction are examined and they belong to the wider area of reach in Weimar poetics. This has been expressed with the particular creativity in the work of Mosinger’s collaborator Đuro Janeković, who together with him belongs to the top of the European photography and who is at the same time building new artistic practices in photography. The research for this dissertation also discovered and elucidated an unknown segment in the work of Tošo Dabac, who was a while later also pulled by the new tendencies.

As a Bauhaus student Ivana Tomljenović Meller has been appropriately reviewed in the history of Croatian photography, and has again been recently current as a subject and therefore not presented in detail in this work. Some of her work has been mentioned in the context of Mosinger’s own work.

Erna Bayer Gozze brings traces of New Objectivity from Vienna from the same school and the same teachers that Mosinger’s studied under.

Milan Dvoržak developed similarly to Mosinger – from Pictorialism to New Image while with Milan Pavić and Elvira Kohn some later reverberations are present.

Development of the modern society required pictorial information and technical advances made it possible. So, a new genre of photo reportage developed as did new professions in print; graphics editor and editor of photography. The chapter The beginnings of illustrated print and new role of photography deals with a short history of this new phenomenon that so far has been hardly researched. The appearance of the illustrated print in Croatia has been shown through the main actors; the journals of Svijet and Kulisa.

The concluding considerations deal with the assessment of Franjo Mosinger’s role in artistic achievements and with significance of the appearance of New Objectivity and Bauhaus in the history of Croatian photography.

At the end, this work brings a biographical oversight and exhaustive list of works by Franjo Mosinger as well as biographies and catalogues of work of the remainder of Croatian photographers that have been examined in the scope of this work. Also attached is the list of sources and literature, as well as the sources of illustrations.

With this work a great gap in the history of the Croatian photography has been filled.