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<!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=EDGE"/> <meta charset="utf-8"/> <meta name="Generator" content="Xara HTML filter v.9.0.0.23"/> <meta name="XAR Files" content="index_htm_files/xr_files.txt"/> <title>Albanian Painting | Robert Elsie</title> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /> <meta name="description" content="Introduction to Classical Albanian Painting"/> <link rel="stylesheet" href="index_htm_files/xr_fonts.css"/> <script></script> <script>document.documentElement.className="xr_bgh3";</script> <link rel="stylesheet" href="index_htm_files/xr_main.css"/> <link rel="stylesheet" href="index_htm_files/custom_styles.css"/> <link rel="stylesheet" href="index_htm_files/xr_text.css"/> <script src="index_htm_files/roe.js"></script> <script src="index_htm_files/replaceMobileFonts.js"></script> <link rel="stylesheet" href="index_htm_files/ani.css"/> <style> #xr_xr {top:0px;} </style> <style type="text/css"> html, body { background-image: url(hg.jpg); background-attachment: fixed; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-position: center 50px; background-color: #FFFAED; } </style > </head> <body class="xr_bgb3"> <div class="xr_ap" id="xr_xr" style="width: 920px; height: 3139px; left:50%; margin-left: -460px; text-align: left; top:0px;"> <script>var xr_xr=document.getElementById("xr_xr")</script> <div id="xr_td" class="xr_td"> <div class="xr_ap xr_xri_" style="width: 920px; height: 3139px;"> <span class="xr_ar" style="left:185px;top:350px;width:735px;height:2789px; background-color: #FFFFFF;"></span> <span class="xr_ar" style="left:0px;top:350px;width:171px;height:2789px; background-color: #FFFFFF;"></span> <span class="xr_ar" style="left:0px;top:461px;width:171px;height:67px; background-color: #BD1F1C;"></span> <div class="xr_group"> <img class="xr_ap" src="index_htm_files/2821.jpg" alt="" title="" style="left:0px;top:50px;width:920px;height:300px;"/> </div> <div class="xr_group"> <div class="xr_txt xr_s0" style="position: absolute; left:460px; top:27px; width:604px; height:10px;"> <span class="xr_tc xr_s0" style="left: -333.61px; top: -14.26px; width: 667px;">| <a href="http://www.elsie.de" onclick="return(xr_nn());" onmousemove="xr_mo(this,0)" >Robert Elsie</a> | <a href="http://www.albanianart.net/" onclick="return(xr_nn());" onmousemove="xr_mo(this,0)" >AL Art</a> | <a href="http://www.albanianhistory.net/" onclick="return(xr_nn());" onmousemove="xr_mo(this,0)" >AL History</a> | <a href="http://www.albanianlanguage.net/" onclick="return(xr_nn());" onmousemove="xr_mo(this,0)" >AL Language</a> | <a href="http://www.albanianliterature.net/" onclick="return(xr_nn());" onmousemove="xr_mo(this,0)" >AL Literature</a> | <a href="http://www.albanianphotography.net/" onclick="return(xr_nn());" onmousemove="xr_mo(this,0)" >AL Photography</a> | <a href="http://www.elsie.de/en/contact.html" onclick="return(xr_nn());" onmousemove="xr_mo(this,0)" >Contact</a> |</span> </div> </div> <img class="xr_ap" src="index_htm_files/1794.png" alt="" title="" style="left:0px;top:3060px;width:920px;height:2px;"/> <div class="xr_txt xr_s1" style="position: absolute; left:235px; top:415px; width:635px; height:10px;"> <h2 class="xr_tl x--195-156berschrift_2 xr_s2" style="top: -33.59px;margin:0;">Introduction to</h2> <h2 class="xr_tl x--195-156berschrift_2 xr_s2" style="top: 9.58px;margin:0;">Classical Albanian Painting</h2> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s3" style="left: 20px; top: 52.75px;"><span class="Normaler_Text xr_s4" style=""><a href="painting1_de.htm" onclick="return(xr_nn());" onmousemove="xr_mo(this,0)" > Deutsch </a></span><span class="Normaler_Text xr_s5" style=""> </span><span class="Normaler_Text xr_s6" style="">| </span><span class="Normaler_Text xr_s5" style=""> </span></span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s3" style="left: 147.37px; top: 52.75px;"><span class="Normaler_Text xr_s4" style=""> </span><span class="Normaler_Text xr_s4" style=""><a href="painting1_al.htm" onclick="return(xr_nn());" onmousemove="xr_mo(this,0)" >Shqip</a></span></span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 745.6px;">An Albanian school of painting first arose in the early decades of the twentieth </span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 774.74px;">century with the works of Kolë Idromeno (1860-1939) of Shkodra, Spiro Xega </span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 803.88px;">(1876-1953) of Korça, and of Andrea Kushi (1884-1959) and Simon Rrota (1887-</span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 833.02px;">1961) of Shkodra. Among other well-known classical painters of the twentieth </span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 862.16px;">century are: Vangjush Mio (1891-1957), Abdurrahim Buza (1905-1986), Zef </span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 891.3px;">Kolombi (1907-1949), Sadik Kaceli (1914-2000), Nexhmedin Zajmi (1916-1991) </span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 920.44px;">and Guri Madhi (1921-1988). Young students in Shkodra were probably the first </span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 949.57px;">to exhibit their drawings to the public, but it was Vangjush Mio who in Korça in </span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 978.71px;">1920 held what might be regarded as the first personal art exhibition in </span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 1007.85px;">Albania. Mio went on to show his works again in Korça in 1926 and in Tirana in </span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 1036.99px;">1928, thus becoming the most successful early Albanian painter. It was then in </span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 1066.13px;">May 1931 that the first national art exhibition opened its doors at the Café </span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 1095.27px;">Kursal in Tirana, in which most major painters and sculptors took part. This </span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 1124.41px;">exhibition proved to be a great success. That same month, a Friends of Art </span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 1153.55px;">Society (<span class="Normaler_Text xr_s10" style="">Shoqnia Miqt’ e Artit</span>) was formed with a view to creating a national </span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 1182.68px;">gallery (<span class="Normaler_Text xr_s10" style="">pinakoteka kombëtare</span>). An art school (<span class="Normaler_Text xr_s10" style="">shkolla e vizatimit</span>), managed </span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 1211.82px;">initially by Andrea Kushi and then formally by Italian artist Mario Ridola, was </span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 1240.96px;">founded in Tirana in January 1932 which gave needed impetus to younger </span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 1270.1px;">painters. Further major exhibitions were held in June 1942 and, under the </span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 1299.24px;">nascent communist regime, in April 1945. Albanian painting, though modest in </span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 1328.38px;">its achievements by European standards, could rely upon a solid tradition by </span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 1357.52px;">this time.</span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 1415.79px;">The communist takeover at the end of the Second World War caused great </span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 1444.93px;">upheaval in Albanian painting in the coming years, as it did in virtually all </span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 1474.07px;">other spheres of activity. Some earlier painters withdrew from public life. </span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 1503.21px;">Others tried to adapt to the new circumstances by producing works of the </span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 1532.35px;">‘socialist art’, but it is generally agreed that few works in the following thirty </span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 1561.49px;">years had any sustained aesthetic value. Particularly difficult for Albanian </span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 1590.63px;">artists was the decade of political turmoil from the cultural revolution of 1966-</span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 1619.76px;">1967 to about 1975, when many painters were imprisoned or interned and </span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 1648.9px;">many works destroyed. A zenith of painting in the socialist tradition was </span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 1678.04px;">reached in the late 1970s and 1980s when revolutionary and nationalist fervour </span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 1707.18px;">managed to inspire many artists to experiment cautiously in new directions. </span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 1736.32px;">Though the works of this period were virtually all in the service of propaganda, </span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 1765.46px;">many of them still have an aesthetic appeal. It was also in the socialist period </span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 1794.6px;">that new institutions for the promotion of the arts were created. The Jordan </span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 1823.73px;">Misja Academy was founded in Tirana in 1945 and similar schools followed in </span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 1852.87px;">other towns. In September 1960, a Superior Institute of Figurative Art (<span class="Normaler_Text xr_s10" style="">Instituti i </span></span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s9" style="top: 1882.01px;"><span class="Normaler_Text xr_s10" style="">Lartë i Arteve Figurative</span><span class="Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="">) was created in Tirana that in 1991 became part of the </span></span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 1911.15px;">Academy of Sciences.</span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 1969.43px;">In Kosovo, it was only really after the Second World War that strong impetus </span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 1998.57px;">was given to the arts, when the country was part of socialist Yugoslavia. The </span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 2027.71px;">seeds of visual art were sown by the School of Art in Peja, founded in 1949. The </span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 2056.84px;">best students of this school went on to study at academies of fine arts in </span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 2085.98px;">Belgrade, Zagreb, Ljubljana and, later, Sarajevo. In the 1960s, a fine arts </span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 2115.12px;">department was founded at the teachers’ college in Gjakova and, in 1974, an </span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 2144.26px;">Academy of Fine Arts was established in Prishtina. Painting was initially very </span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 2173.4px;">much an academic tradition, with most painters being professors with their </span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 2202.54px;">own studios. Painting, sculpture, design and the graphic arts flourished in the </span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 2231.68px;">1980s, but with the gradual political and economic disintegration of Kosovo in </span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 2260.81px;">the 1990s and with the “cleansing” of Albanians from institutions and galleries </span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 2289.95px;">under Serb rule, many Albanian artists fled abroad to Italy, Germany and </span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 2319.09px;">France, etc. It has only been since the Kosovo War of 1998-1999 that individual </span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 2348.23px;">artists have been able to enjoy success in Kosovo itself.</span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 2406.51px;">Since the fall of the dictatorship(s), Albanian artists are now able to give free </span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 2435.65px;">rein to their creative impulses, both at home and abroad, though they have, </span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 2464.79px;">compared to the communist period, been deprived of institutional support. The </span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 2493.92px;">largest collection of Albanian art is that of the National Gallery in Tirana, with </span> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s4" style="top: 2523.06px;">minor collections in Korça, Shkodra and Prishtina.</span> </div> <div class="xr_group"> <img class="xr_ap" src="index_htm_files/2831.jpg" alt="" title="" style="left:235px;top:488px;width:20px;height:14px;"/> </div> <img class="xr_ap" src="index_htm_files/2544.png" alt="Robert Elsie Albanian Art" title="" style="left:315px;top:209px;width:295px;height:118px;"/> <div class="xr_group"> <img class="xr_ap" src="index_htm_files/2825.jpg" alt="" title="" style="left:362px;top:488px;width:20px;height:13px;"/> </div> <div class="xr_txt x--195-156berschrift_3 xr_s1" style="position: absolute; left:13px; top:448px; width:87px; height:10px;"> <h3 class="xr_tl x--195-156berschrift_3 xr_s12" style="top: -25.2px;margin:0;"><a href="http://www.albanianart.net/" onclick="return(xr_nn());" onmousemove="xr_mo(this,0)" >AL Art</a></h3> <h3 class="xr_tl x--195-156berschrift_3 xr_s14" style="top: 19.18px;margin:0;"><a href="javascript:;" onclick="return(xr_nn());" onmousemove="xr_mo(this,0)" ><span class="x--195-156berschrift_3 xr_s14" style="">Albanian</span></a></h3> <h3 class="xr_tl x--195-156berschrift_3 xr_s14" style="top: 46.16px;margin:0;">Painting</h3> <h3 class="xr_tl x--195-156berschrift_3 xr_s13" style="top: 85.15px;margin:0;"><a href="painting2.htm" onclick="return(xr_nn());" onmousemove="xr_mo(this,0)" >European</a></h3> <h3 class="xr_tl x--195-156berschrift_3 xr_s13" style="top: 112.13px;margin:0;"><a href="painting2.htm" onclick="return(xr_nn());" onmousemove="xr_mo(this,0)" >Painting</a></h3> <h3 class="xr_tl x--195-156berschrift_3 xr_s13" style="top: 151.11px;margin:0;"><a href="http://www.albanianart.net/costumes/index.htm" onclick="return(xr_nn());" onmousemove="xr_mo(this,0)" >Costumes</a></h3> <h3 class="xr_tl x--195-156berschrift_3 xr_s13" style="top: 190.09px;margin:0;"><a href="http://www.albanianart.net/graves/index.htm" onclick="return(xr_nn());" onmousemove="xr_mo(this,0)" >Grave Art</a></h3> </div> <a href="http://www.albanianart.net/painting/buza/" onclick="return(xr_nn());"> <span class="xr_ar" onmousemove="xr_mo(this,0,event)" style="left:235px;top:552px;width:154px;height:154px; background:url('index_htm_files/2833.jpg') 0px 0px no-repeat;"></span> </a> <a href="http://www.albanianart.net/painting/idromeno/" onclick="return(xr_nn());"> <span class="xr_ar" onmousemove="xr_mo(this,0,event)" style="left:394px;top:552px;width:154px;height:154px; background:url('index_htm_files/2835.jpg') 0px 0px no-repeat;"></span> </a> <a href="http://www.albanianart.net/painting/kaceli/" onclick="return(xr_nn());"> <span class="xr_ar" onmousemove="xr_mo(this,0,event)" style="left:553px;top:552px;width:154px;height:154px; background:url('index_htm_files/2837.jpg') 0px 0px no-repeat;"></span> </a> <a href="http://www.albanianart.net/painting/kolombi/" onclick="return(xr_nn());"> <span class="xr_ar" onmousemove="xr_mo(this,0,event)" style="left:712px;top:552px;width:154px;height:154px; background:url('index_htm_files/2839.jpg') 0px 0px no-repeat;"></span> </a> <a href="http://www.albanianart.net/painting/kushi/" onclick="return(xr_nn());"> <span class="xr_ar" onmousemove="xr_mo(this,0,event)" style="left:235px;top:742px;width:154px;height:154px; background:url('index_htm_files/2841.jpg') 0px 0px no-repeat;"></span> </a> <a href="http://www.albanianart.net/painting/madhi/" onclick="return(xr_nn());"> <span class="xr_ar" onmousemove="xr_mo(this,0,event)" style="left:394px;top:742px;width:154px;height:154px; background:url('index_htm_files/2843.jpg') 0px 0px no-repeat;"></span> </a> <a href="http://www.albanianart.net/painting/mio/" onclick="return(xr_nn());"> <span class="xr_ar" onmousemove="xr_mo(this,0,event)" style="left:553px;top:742px;width:154px;height:154px; background:url('index_htm_files/2845.jpg') 0px 0px no-repeat;"></span> </a> <a href="http://www.albanianart.net/painting/rrota/" onclick="return(xr_nn());"> <span class="xr_ar" onmousemove="xr_mo(this,0,event)" style="left:712px;top:742px;width:154px;height:154px; background:url('index_htm_files/2847.jpg') 0px 0px no-repeat;"></span> </a> <span class="xr_ar" style="left:235px;top:931px;width:635px;height:154px; background-color: #FFFFFF;"></span> <a href="http://www.albanianart.net/painting/xega/" onclick="return(xr_nn());"> <span class="xr_ar" onmousemove="xr_mo(this,0,event)" style="left:235px;top:931px;width:154px;height:154px; background:url('index_htm_files/2849.jpg') 0px 0px no-repeat;"></span> </a> <a href="http://www.albanianart.net/painting/zajmi/" onclick="return(xr_nn());"> <span class="xr_ar" onmousemove="xr_mo(this,0,event)" style="left:394px;top:931px;width:154px;height:154px; background:url('index_htm_files/2851.jpg') 0px 0px no-repeat;"></span> </a> <div class="xr_txt Normaler_Text xr_s15" style="position: absolute; left:235px; top:720px; width:112px; height:10px;"> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s15" style="top: -14.7px;"><a href="http://www.albanianart.net/painting/buza/" onclick="return(xr_nn());" onmousemove="xr_mo(this,0)" >Abdurrahim Buza</a></span> </div> <div class="xr_txt Normaler_Text xr_s15" style="position: absolute; left:394px; top:720px; width:93px; height:10px;"> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s15" style="top: -14.7px;"><a href="http://www.albanianart.net/painting/idromeno/" onclick="return(xr_nn());" onmousemove="xr_mo(this,0)" >Kolë Idromeno</a></span> </div> <div class="xr_txt Normaler_Text xr_s15" style="position: absolute; left:553px; top:720px; width:76px; height:10px;"> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s15" style="top: -14.7px;"><a href="http://www.albanianart.net/painting/kaceli/" onclick="return(xr_nn());" onmousemove="xr_mo(this,0)" >Sadik Kaceli</a></span> </div> <div class="xr_txt Normaler_Text xr_s15" style="position: absolute; left:712px; top:720px; width:77px; height:10px;"> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s15" style="top: -14.7px;"><a href="http://www.albanianart.net/painting/kolombi/" onclick="return(xr_nn());" onmousemove="xr_mo(this,0)" >Zef Kolombi</a></span> </div> <div class="xr_txt Normaler_Text xr_s15" style="position: absolute; left:235px; top:910px; width:87px; height:10px;"> <span class="xr_tl Normaler_Text xr_s15" style="top: -14.7px;"><a href="http://www.albanianart.net/painting/kushi/" onclick="return(xr_nn());" onmousemove="xr_mo(this,0)" >Andrea Kushi</a></span> </div> <div class="xr_txt Normaler_Text xr_s15" style="position: absolute; left:553px; top:910px; width:86px; 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