Vladimir Varlaj

• Name — Vladimir Varlaj • Born — 25 August 1895 • Birthplace — Zagreb, Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia, Austria-Hungary • Died — 15 August 1962 • Place of death — Zagreb, PR Croatia, FPR Yugoslavia • Field — painting, graphics • Training — Zagreb, Prague • Movement — expressionist

Vladimir Varlaj was born 25 August 1895 in Zagreb. After he completed primary school in Zagreb, the family lived for a time in Karlovac, where Vladimir attended high school. In 1911 he continued his education in Zagreb, firstly at the private painting school of Tomislav Krizman, where he met fellow students Vilko Gecan and Milivoj Uzelac. During 1913–14, Varlaj went on to study at the College of Arts and Crafts, at the same time working in the photographic studio of Mikhail Mercep. During the First World War, in 1915 Varlaj was mobilized and his unit sent to the Russian front. By 1917, he returned from the war as an invalid. One year later, he moved to Prague, joining his friends Milivoj Uzelac, Vilko Gecan and Marijan Trepše. He enrolled at the Academy there, but never completed his studies. Returning to Zagreb at the end of the war, Varlaj, Uzelac, Gecan and Trepše became known as the Group of Four, or the Prague Four. They exhibited together at the Spring Salon in Zagreb from 1919, and were well received by audiences and critics. In 1920, Varlaj's work also appeared at an international exhibition in Geneva, and from 1921, he was a member of the Independent Group of Artists (Grupa nezavisnih umjetnika) whose other members were Ljubo Babić, Vladimir Becić, Jozo Kljaković, Frano Kršinić, Ivan Meštrović, Jerolim Miše, Marin Studin and Zlatko Šulentić. In 1934, by then a well-known painter, Varlaj completed his official training by graduating from the Academy of Fine Arts in the class of Marino Tartaglia. In his later years he suffered from ill health, and for over 10 years used a wheelchair. Vladimir Varlaj died on 15 August 1962 in Zagreb.

During his lifetime, held many solo exhibitions as well as participating in the Zagreb Spring Salon with the Group of Four, and with the Group of Independent Artists.

Recent exhibitions of his work include: • 1992-3 Vladimir Varlaj retrospektiva, Art Pavilion Zagreb