The “Barbaric” Art of Early Twentieth-Century Yugoslavia as Slavic Modernism

Abstract The early twentieth century spawned a cultural phenomenon that could be called “Slavic modernism.” It is not a style but rather an attitude and interest that was shared across different styles. “Slavic modernism” has two main features: It probes, explores, and creates an anthropological profile of the Slavic, and it roots much of the Slavic identity in the region’s medieval past. Its distinct medievalism often draws on Byzantine art forms, as well as on the representation of Slavic medieval saints. Acontext in which “Slavic modernism” can be found is the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. This article analyzes works by Ivan Meštrović and the avant-garde movement Zenitism. Aesthetically, Meštrović and the Zenitist artists have little in common. Meštrović’s sculptures and architecture are based on a Secessionist visual language, whereas Zenitists engaged mostly with Cubism and Constructivism. As this article aims to show, however, they share a deep investment in their South Slavic identity, which is approached from an anthropological point of view and reinforced by references to the so-called Golden Age of the Middle Ages.