The polemical question today is “what does it mean to be a woman?” Our aim is not, nor is it possible, to answer that question in a single post. However, what we can do is present one perspective on this fantastic being called “woman.”
In the recently opened Retrospective of artist Petar Jakelić, we have the opportunity to witness the transformation of the artist’s vision of woman throughout decades of work.
In his initial, figurative representations, we clearly recognize the figure of a woman, her face, body, curves, mannerisms…
However, as the decades (and the exhibition) progress, we see increasingly complex depictions of women. Her figure is gradually fragmented. Pastoral depictions from the artist’s native region (Prugovo) intertwine with Woman – meadows, sheep, aprons… but also much more than that.
The woman’s face begins to shatter, showing not that she “is two-faced” but that her identity is intricate. Jakelić emphasizes some women as attractive and sensational, some as mothers and family figures, and some as a contrast to the dominant patriarchal social order.
By merging various life experiences, artistic expressions, motifs, and thoughts, Jakelić develops a unique style in which we sense surrealism and impressionism interspersed with elements of reality. His women, especially those created in later decades, are supernatural beings that dwell beyond our earthly plane.
Jakelić portrays our/his memories as fragments connected by the female figure – that of a girl, a young woman, a mother, a lover, a crone. In their entirety and in details, grounded and surreal. Corporeal, yet at times elevated to the realm of ideal and myth.
Location: Gallery of Fine Arts in Split, Croatia
Time: December 12, 2023 – February 4, 2024.
