Vojin Bakić was a prominent Yugoslav sculptor of Serbian descent. Educated at the Zagreb Academy of Fine Arts and by Ivan Meštrović and Frano Kršinić, Bakić's early works were dominated by a figurative depiction of female nudity with reduced breasts and closed volumes. After 1945, he moved towards the impressionistic treatment of the surface with expressive transitions of light and shadow without superfluous details, which, according to him, represented the expression of the joy of life, flash, and light, something he shared with his contemporaries who wanted to create a better and more humane world in post-World War II Yugoslavia. He was at first influenced by the socialist realism, but later shifted towards modernism in the late 50s, embracing the challenges of an open form, interior spaces and light reflections, being among the first sculptors in Croatia that followed the program principles of geometric - in his case mostly circular - abstraction and optical research. His best-known works are busts of I. G. Kovačić and S. S. Kranjčević, Bjelovarac, Taurus, Light Forms, and WWII monuments at Petrova Gora, Kamenska, Kragujevac and Dotršćina. Bakić succeeded in realizing the avant-gardism of abstraction with the monumentality and immediacy that were traditionally features of classical figurative sculpture. During his lifetime, Bakić exhibited in over 200 group exhibitions in Yugoslavia, of which 75 were organized abroad. Uninterested in his own promotion, deeply immersed in creation, he had only a handful of solo exhibitions. In 1979, he received the Vladimir Nazor Award for lifetime and achievements in the arts.
Vojin Bakić was a prominent Yugoslav sculptor of Serbian descent. Educated at the Zagreb Academy of Fine Arts and by Ivan Meštrović and Frano Kršinić, Bakić's early works were dominated by a figurative depiction of female nudity with reduced breasts and closed volumes. After 1945, he moved towards the impressionistic treatment of the surface with expressive transitions of light and shadow without superfluous details, which, according to him, represented the expression of the joy of life, flash, and light, something he shared with his contemporaries who wanted to create a better and more humane world in post-World War II Yugoslavia. He was at first influenced by the socialist realism, but later shifted towards modernism in the late 50s, embracing the challenges of an open form, interior spaces and light reflections, being among the first sculptors in Croatia that followed the program principles of geometric - in his case mostly circular - abstraction and optical research. His best-known works are busts of I. G. Kovačić and S. S. Kranjčević, Bjelovarac, Taurus, Light Forms, and WWII monuments at Petrova Gora, Kamenska, Kragujevac and Dotršćina. Bakić succeeded in realizing the avant-gardism of abstraction with the monumentality and immediacy that were traditionally features of classical figurative sculpture. During his lifetime, Bakić exhibited in over 200 group exhibitions in Yugoslavia, of which 75 were organized abroad. Uninterested in his own promotion, deeply immersed in creation, he had only a handful of solo exhibitions. In 1979, he received the Vladimir Nazor Award for lifetime and achievements in the arts.
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