Searching for Blaise: Vlaho Bukovac (1855-1922) and his Northern Patrons
Mercer Art Gallery, Harrogate, 14 January to 19 March 2006
An exhibition at the Mercer Art Gallery sets out to re-discover this Croatian artist for English audiences, and to promote the search for some of his missing masterpieces. Blaise Bukovac was a Croatian painter of grand historical scenes, great Victorian businessmen and Pre-Raphaelite style nudes. A cosmopolitan European, he trained in Paris and worked there and in Belgrade, Prague, Dubrovnik, Zagreb…. Liverpool and Harrogate.
Searching for Blaise: Vlaho Bukovac (1855-1922) and his Northern Patrons
Mercer Art Gallery, Harrogate, 14 January to 19 March 2006
An exhibition at the Mercer Art Gallery sets out to re-discover this Croatian artist for English audiences, and to promote the search for some of his missing masterpieces. Blaise Bukovac was a Croatian painter of grand historical scenes, great Victorian businessmen and Pre-Raphaelite style nudes. A cosmopolitan European, he trained in Paris and worked there and in Belgrade, Prague, Dubrovnik, Zagreb…. Liverpool and Harrogate.
In the late 1880s, Bukovac was ‘discovered' by two rich industrial magnates: Samson Fox of Harrogate and Richard Ledoux of Liverpool. Both Fox and Ledoux were seduced by the charm of Bukovac's Academic style, his naked maidens and his Biblical scenes. They had him paint their family portraits, and assembled lavish collections of his pictures to decorate their splendid homes.
Lady Beresford-Peirse, founder of the International Trust for Croatian Monuments, who is herself Croatian married to a Yorkshireman, has championed Bukovac for many years. It is her ambition to discover the whereabouts of missing Bukovac paintings once owned by Samson Fox. She said, ‘Fox had his own private art gallery at his home Grove House, with a collection of 17 of Bukovac's paintings that was dispersed by sale in 1911. Most of these have disappeared from view, and we hope the exhibition at the Mercer will bring to light some of the missing works of art.'
The show includes over 15 paintings from both public and private collections, including portraits of Bukovac's illustrious patrons, intimate portraits of his own family and studies of female figures. Photographs, documents and a show album of Grove House, Harrogate - emphasise the exhibition's local historical relevance in Harrogate.
This exhibition was previously shown at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool and organised through National Museums Liverpool's Partners in Art scheme, an initiative that promotes the exchange of artworks, ideas and exhibits with galleries and museums across the region and beyond. It is supported by the Cultural section of the Croatian Embassy in London, and the London-based International Trust for Croatian Monuments, which has strong links with cultural bodies inside Croatia. The show will tour to Bonhams, London 23 to 29 March 2006.
For further information, images and photo opportunities, call Jane Sellars, Curator of Art
on 01423 556188.
The Mercer Art Gallery is operated by Harrogate Museums and Arts. Harrogate Museums and Arts is part of the Department of Community Services, Harrogate Borough Council.
The Mercer is open Tues – Sat 10 –5, Sun 2 – 5, closed Mondays except Bank Holidays.
Closed 24, 25 and 26 December and 1 January. Admission free.
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