National Gallery of B&H and Municipality of Novi Grad cordially invite you to visit the exhibition Ivo and Luka Šeremet, that is open for visits from Monday, August 24 in the Gallery of Municipality of Novi Grad (Bulevat Meše Selimovića 97).

Ivo Šeremet

(Livno, 1900 – Sarajevo, 1991)

Colour is a crucial element of Ivo Šeremet’s artistic expression and through it he achieves the spontaneous rhythm in his paintings. The brushstrokes of Ivo’s landscapes are energetic and passionate. While painting motifs of still life, he is focused more on details and preciseness (e.g. painting ‘Suit’). This type of artistic approach was influenced by French painting and it’s called coloristic realism, intimism or poetic realism.

As a student of the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow Šeremet began painting en plain air. Plen air painting originated from France, in the period of Impressionism, and it consists of painting motifs in an open space with quick brushstrokes. The goal was to capture the moment and the atmosphere of nature. In Šeremet’s landscape motifs, nature is enriched with liveness, presented through explosion of colours and courageously emphasized contrasts. Ivo most commonly painted city and mountain motifs like: mountain Čvrsnica, the city of Stolac with the medieval fortress, slopes of Prenj mountain around the Boračko Lake, Konjic and mountain Trebević. He paints the human body studiously and uses complementary contrasted colours to evoke shadows, which is one of the characteristics of impressionism that was taught at Krakow Academy.

Besides the important role he played in the history of art in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ivo Šeremet has been active in the public and cultural life of Bosnia and Herzegovina: he was a director of the National Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1951 to 1965; he lobbied on forming the Počitelj art colony and he was a member of the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina since 1973.

Luka Šeremet

(Livno, 1902 – Zagreb, 1932)

In comparison to his brother Ivo, Luka Šeremet manifests his artistic expression through watercolour painting. The technique of watercolour requires skill, patience and precision. The shades of colours ranges from the lightest and most transparent, to darker and thicker layers.

Luka Šeremet has finished his high school education at Sarajevo Realka (Druga gimnazija) and in 1929, he graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb.

In the beginning of XX century, the main ambition of every serious painter from the region was to study at the European academies of fine arts. The life in a European city and a student experience in it, was offering a look into the modernist artist scene. Luka Šeremet had the intention to go to Europe and experience this kind of life there, but sadly his recent death had prevented him in his intentions.

The motifs of his paintings are interiors of taverns, city streets and houses. This reveals that Luka Šeremet was a painter who strived to capture the modern city life. Frames of his paintings are often cut off (e.g. Motif from Konjic) and done in small formats, but they show specific city sites. In his work ‘Self-portrait’ we notice the youthful pride and self-confidence.

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