The Collection of Contemporary Ceramic Art of the National Museum in Aranđelovac was created through the activities of the International Festival “World of Ceramics”, within the multimedia manifestation of a complex concept — the (Yugoslav) Art Review “Marble and Sounds.” The collection contains over 700 works. Over the decades-long duration of the symposium (from 1974 until today), more than three hundred artists from all continents have participated.
Unlike other collections of contemporary ceramic art, which were most often formed and renewed through purchases, this Collection was systematically expanded each year by selecting works at the end of each symposium session. Such a practice enabled not only the presentation of technological innovations and the highest achievements of artistic expression in clay, but also a representative insight into the general state of the Yugoslav and Serbian art scene over five decades. The international character of the symposium contributed to positioning this Collection among the most significant related collections on the international level.
In 2011, the National Museum in Aranđelovac received an invaluable gift — more than one hundred items (prints, drawings, and personal belongings) that had belonged to the Serbian and Yugoslav artist Mihailo S. Petrov. The donors, Mr. Vladimir Janković and his son Strahinja, enabled the National Museum in Aranđelovac to enrich the Art Collection, which until then had consisted of only a modest number of works.
The collection is composed mostly of prints, followed by drawings, among which those made with felt-tip pens are particularly interesting. However, what gives the collection its unique value are the artist’s personal items — graphic tools, personal notes, cameras, a video camera, photographs, gramophone records, and more.
Since the founding of the National Museum in Aranđelovac, the Art Collection had hardly existed, as it consisted of only a few works of art. From 2016 onward, the Museum began expanding its holdings through acquisitions and the establishment of the Art Colony in Orašac. Among the many artists represented are works by: Anđelka Bojović, Perica Donkov, Vesna Knežević, Nikola Vukosavljević, Vera Stevanović, Radomir Knežević, Igor Stepančić, Mariela Cvjetić, Ljiljana Šunjevarić, Marija Dragojlović, Kosta Bogdanović, Bojan Bem, Rado Kundacina, and others.
Within the Art Collection there is also the Collection of Local Artists, established in 2016. Among the many names are artists such as Aleksandar Đonović, Stanka Todorović, Slavko Mitić, Miodrag Zubac, Ana Đorđević, Anđelina Tucaković, Tijana Gogić, and others.
Since 2018, the Art Collection of the National Museum in Aranđelovac has also included the icons of Živko Pavlović from 1851, which once formed the iconostasis of the Church of St. Archangel Gabriel (better known as the Bukovička Church) in Aranđelovac.
Senior Curator Tanja Vićentić, Art Historian
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