Ljubo Babić

In 1940 he became a full professor at the Academy of Fine Arts Zagreb. He held exhibitions at home and abroad and published many articles on art history and critiques of contemporary art events. He wrote and illustrated many books, worked on designs for posters, interiors and decorative arts objects.

Ljubo Babić studied at Academy of Fine Arts, Munich. The recorded working language is Croatian. The field of work recorded is oil painting. Menci Clement Crnčić is recorded as an influence. Work by Ljubo Babić is recorded in the collections of Glynn Vivian Art Gallery. Distinctions recorded are Vladimir Nazor Award.

• Name — Ljubo Babić • Born — 14 June 1890 • Birthplace — Jastrebarsko, Croatia-Slavonia, Austria-Hungary • Died — 14 May 1974 • Place of death — Zagreb, SR Croatia, Yugoslavia • Known for — oil painting, watercolour, graphic arts, theatrical set design, art history, author, curator • Training — Academy of Fine Arts, Munich • Movement — Modern Art

Ljubomir Tito Stjepan Babić was born in Jastrebarsko on 14 June 1890, the son of Judge Antun Babić and Milka (née Kovačić), and nephew of the author Ljubo Babić (better known as Ksaver Šandor Gjalski). The Babić family had been raised to the nobility in 1716 by Charles VI Habsburg. The Babić family seat was Gredice near Zabok, which had been purchased by Babić's grandfather. Following his father's work transfers, young Ljubo attended elementary school in Slatina, Glina and Jastrebarsko. He attended high school in Bjelovar, with the final two years in the Donji Grad gymnasium in Zagreb. During that time, he attended private art school with Menci Clement Crnčić and Bela Čikoš Sesija, and took classes at the School of Arts and Crafts. After completing high school in 1908, at his father's encouragement he enrolled in the Faculty of Law at Zagreb University, but soon abandoned his studies for painting. Thanks to a scholarship from Count Teodor Pejačević Babić was able to attend the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich where he studied painting with Angelo Jank (1910–11), and Franz von Stuck (1911–13). In Munich, he completed a course of artistic anatomy at the Medical School while also studying set design at the Künstlertheater. In 1913-14 he went on to complete his art studies in Paris, returning to his homeland at the beginning of the First World War. He exhibited his artworks as a part of Kingdom of Serbia's pavilion at International Exhibition of Art of 1911. There he opened a "modern painting school" in his studio, but soon afterwards accepted a teaching position at the School of Arts, (now the Academy of Fine Arts) where he became a full professor in 1940, working there for 45 years until he retired in 1961. During the 1930s, he visited other schools and institutes around Europe in order to learn from their experience and improve teaching at the Zagreb academy. In 1932, he graduated in art history from the Faculty of Philosophy, Zagreb University. In addition to his painting and teaching careers, Ljubo Babić was the first curator of the Modern Gallery in Zagreb (1919) whose inaugural exhibition featured the previously unknown works of Josip Račić. He organized exhibitions of modern French and German Art in Zagreb, and an exhibition of medieval art from Yugoslavia in Paris in 1950. For many years he was the director of The Strossmayer Gallery of Old Masters (from 1947) responsible for organizing many important exhibitions. Babić was one of the organizers of the Croatian Spring Salon (1916), the Independent group of Croatian artists (1923), the Group of Three (1929), Group of Four (1928), the group of Croatian artists (1936) and Croatian artists (1939). Ljubo Babić was elected as a Member of Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts in 1928, becoming a full member in 1950. He died in Zagreb on 14 May 1974.

• Verdi: Othelo, 1918 • Goethe: Faust, 1921 • Krleža: Golgota, 1922 • Širola-Babić: Sjene, 1923 • Debussy: Peleas i Melisanda, 1923 • Shakespeare: King Richard III, 1923 • Krleža: Vučjak, 1923 • Shakespeare: Na tri kralja…, 1924 • Wedekind: Proljeće se budi, 1924 • Shakespeare: Hamlet, 1929 • Beethoven: Fidelio, 1930 • Büchner: Dantonova smrt, 1937 • Cesarec: Sin domovine, 1940 • Pirandello: Večeras improviziramo, 1941 • Shakespeare: Hamlet (nova verzija, neostvareno), 1941

Babić exhibited from 1910 until his death in 1974 in solo, group and collective shows around the world, including the "Medulić" Munich annual exhibition with other artists of the Vienna (Austria) Secession, the Croatian Spring Salon, Lade exhibitions, Independent Artists, Group of Three, Croatian artists, the XXI Venice Biennale, and in a number of other exhibitions of Croatian and Yugoslav artists. At the Exposition internationale in Paris 1925 and in New York in 1926, he worked in the International Theatre Exhibition.

• 2010/11 Ljubo Babić – Antologija (Anthology) Modern gallery, Zagreb. • 1975/6 Ljubo Babić Retrospektiva, Modern Gallery, Zagreb

Recent exhibitions of Babić's work include: • 2008 From the holdings of the museum - Museum of Modern Art Dubrovnik, Dubrovnik • 2006 Croatian Collection - Museum of Contemporary Art Skopje, Skopje

Ljubo Babić is recorded as art historian, painter and illustrator.

• From Munich Studio (Iz münchenskog atelijera), 1911 • Self-portrait (Autoportret), 1912 • Portrait of A.G. Matoš (Portret A. G. Matoša), 1913 • Black flag (Crna zastava), 1916 • Portrait of Miroslav Krleža (Portret M. Krleže), 1918 • Christ (Krist), around 1918 • Landscape ("Krajolik"), 1918 • Red Flags (Crveni stjegovi) I. i II., 1919 • View from Brestovac (Pogled s Brestovca), 1919 • Crucifixion (Golgota), 1919 • Building ("Izgradnja"), 1919 • Crucifixion ("Raspeće"), 1920 • Spanish cycle (watercolours) (ciklus akvarela S puta po Španjolskoj), 1920 • Funeral ("Pogreb"), 1926 • Croatian peasant (Hrvatski seljak), 1926 • Figs (Smokve), 1928 • Spring flowers (Proljetno cvijeće), 1930 • Smokvice near Viganj (Smokvice kod Vignja), 1930 • Landscape (Pejzaž), 1931 • A road on Koločep (Put na Koločepu), 1932 • Nevenka, 1932 • From Mrežnica ("S Mrežnice), 1932 • My Studio (Moj atelijer), 1933 • Portrait of my wife (Portret supruge), 1934 • Spring Landscape (Proljetni pejzaž), 1936 • Autumn on Čiovo (Jesen na Čiovu), 1936 • Self-portrait (Autoportret), 1937 • Zagorje Landscape (Zagorski pejzaž), 1937 • Homeland (Rodni kraj) (Pred večernjicu), 1938 • Janica, 1938 • Dried Flowers (Suho cvijeće), 1942 • Spring, house and I (Proljeće, kuća i ja), 1953 • From my Garden (Iz mog vrta), 1956 • Orebić, 1964

• Kumičić: Začuđeni svatovi, 1910 • Kučera-Plivelić-Božičević: Novovjeki izumi, 1910 • Nazor: Hrvatski kraljevi, 1912 • Dante: Čistilište, 1912 • Bazala: Povijest filozofije, 1912 • Vidrić: Pjesme, 1914 • Donadini: Lude priče, 1915 • Schneider: Oprema opere, 1916 • Nehajev: Studija o Hamletu, 1917 • Krleža: Pjesme I, Pjesme II, 1918 • Vijavica (časopis), 1919 • Juriš (časopis), 1919 • Plamen (časopis), 1919 • Begović: Dunja u kovčegu, 1921 • Cesarec: Careva kraljevina, 1925 • Shakespeare: Sabrana djela (nedovršeno), 1947–1960 • Ljetopis popa Dukljanina, 1950 • Ariosto: Bijesni Orlando, 1953 • A.G. Matoš: Sabrana djela (nedovršeno), 1953–1955 • Goethe: Faust, 1955