Josip Seissel
Encyclopedia
Josip Seissel was a Croatian architect and urban planner, who under the pseudonym of Jo Klek was a constructivist
Constructivism (art)
Constructivism was an artistic and architectural philosophy that originated in Russia beginning in 1919, which was a rejection of the idea of autonomous art. The movement was in favour of art as a practice for social purposes. Constructivism had a great effect on modern art movements of the 20th...

 artist, graphical designer and theatrical designer. A member of the influential avante-garde Zenit movement of the 1920s, he is considered to be a pioneer of surrealism
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....

 and abstract art
Abstract art
Abstract art uses a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th century, underpinned by the logic of perspective and an...

 in Croatia.

In 1969, he received the Vladimir Nazor Award
Vladimir Nazor award
The Vladimir Nazor Award is an annual award given by the Croatian Ministry of Culture to Croatian artists for highest achievements in various artistic fields. It was established in 1959 and is named after the notable writer Vladimir Nazor...

 for lifetime achievement in architecture.

Biography

Josip Seissel was born on January 10, 1904 in Krapina
Krapina
Krapina is a town in northern Croatia and the administrative centre of Krapina-Zagorje County with a population of 4,482 and a total municipality population of 12,479...

, then in Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...

, now Croatia.

Under the name Jo Klek, Seissel was a major contributor to the avante-garde Zenit movement between 1922 and 1925. From his youth, Seissel had been interested in the theatre. He began as a self-taught artist creating drawings, temperas, watercolours and theatrical designs for Zenit productions, including set designs, costumes and posters. From 1921 he began using the pseudonyms Jo Klek and Josip Klek for his artwork. In 1922 he was one of the founders of the group Traveler (Traveleri). He represented Zenit at international exhibitions in the 1920s (Belgrade, Bucharest, and Moscow),

Seissel studied at the Technical Faculty in Zagreb under H. Ehrlich, earning a degree in architecture in 1929. He worked at the Department for the Regulation of Zagreb (Odsjeku za regulaciju grada Zagreba), and later became the director of the School of Applied Arts (Obrtne škole). Following the Second World War, he worked at the Ministry of Construction (Ministarstvu građevina), and from 1965 was a professor at the Faculty of Architecture at Zagreb University.

In 1937 he received the Grand Prix and the Order of the Legion of Honor from the French government for designing the Yugoslav pavilion for the World Exhibition in Paris.

In 1962 Seissel became a full member of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts
The Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts is the national academy of Croatia. It was founded in 1866 as the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts , and was known by that name for most of its existence.- History :...

.

In 1969, he received the Vladimir Nazor Award
Vladimir Nazor award
The Vladimir Nazor Award is an annual award given by the Croatian Ministry of Culture to Croatian artists for highest achievements in various artistic fields. It was established in 1959 and is named after the notable writer Vladimir Nazor...

 for lifetime achievement in architecture.

Josip Seissel died on February 19, 1987 in Zagreb.

Legacy

As an architect, Seissel was involved in urban planning for parts of Zagreb, as well as studies for other regions such as Makarska
Makarska
Makarska is a small town on the Adriatic coastline of Croatia, about southeast of Split and northwest of Dubrovnik. It has a population of 13,716 residents. Administratively Makarska has the status of a town and it is part of the Split-Dalmatia County....

, Baško Polje, Šibenik
Šibenik
Šibenik is a historic town in Croatia, with population of 51,553 . It is located in central Dalmatia where the river Krka flows into the Adriatic Sea...

, Mljet
Mljet
Mljet is the most southerly and easterly of the larger Adriatic islands of the Dalmatia region of Croatia. The National Park includes the western part of the island, Veliko jezero, Malo jezero, Soline Bay and a sea belt 500 m wide from the most prominent cape of Mljet covering an area of...

 and Nikšić
Nikšić
Nikšić is a city in Montenegro . In 2003 the city had a total population about 75,000.Nikšić is located in Nikšić plain, at the foot of Mount Trebjesa. It is the center of the municipality , which is the largest in Montenegro by area...

. In addition, he worked on plans for Miroševac cemetery, Maksimir Park, Plitvice Lakes
Plitvice Lakes
Plitvice Lakes National Park is the oldest national park in Southeast Europe and the largest national park in Croatia. The national park was founded in 1949 and is situated in the mountainous karst area of central Croatia, at the border to Bosnia and Herzegovina...

 and other projects. As a teacher at the Zagreb Faculty of Architecture, he influenced the next generations of urban planners.

In addition to his career as an architect, Seissel was active in the avant-garde art movement in Zagreb from the 1920s, most notably related to Zenit magazine. As Jo Klek, his designs are considered to be the beginning of Croatian constructivism
Constructivism (art)
Constructivism was an artistic and architectural philosophy that originated in Russia beginning in 1919, which was a rejection of the idea of autonomous art. The movement was in favour of art as a practice for social purposes. Constructivism had a great effect on modern art movements of the 20th...

, and his collage "Pafama" in 1922, is considered to be the first abstract
Abstract art
Abstract art uses a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th century, underpinned by the logic of perspective and an...

 (non-representational) of Croatian modern art. This work had a long-lasting impact on Croatian art of the 20th century, especially during the later neo-constructivist movements of the 1950s and 1960s.

Seissel used collage and montage techniques to create his designs without reference to historical or literary subjects. He experimented with geometric forms, creating abstract shapes and exploring spaces. His constructivist forms have geometrical designs and interlocking planes, for which he used modern transparent materials that allowed light to become a contributing element. By the 1930s, Seissel's art was approaching surrealism.

Seissel's collage "Parfama" (1922) is an early example of how he combined the constructivist elements of form, colour, space and material. The name Pafama is an abbreviated form of the German Papier-Farben-Malerei, meaning Paper-Colour-Painting.

As an illustrator, Seissel was responsible for the graphic design and layout of some editions of Zenit magazine, the constructivist design of Marijan Mikac's books, and he also created the Zenit exhibition poster.

Much of Seissel's art uses words to convey an ironic message, and his use of humour was a distinctive characteristic of his work. His mainly surrealist art, created over half a century includes drawings, watercolours, pastels, tempera and collages. His best-known series consists of 19 verbo-visual works in watercolour, ink and tempera called 3C i tričarije (a play on words that is difficult to translate).

In 1987 Seissel's wife, Silvana Seissel, donated a substantial body of his artistic works from his surrealist period, including paintings, drawings and posters to the Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb
Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb
The Museum of Contemporary Art is a contemporary art museum located on Dubrovnik Avenue in Zagreb, Croatia. It is the biggest and most modern museum in the country....

. The museum already had in its collection some major works from his earlier Zenit period created under the name Jo Klek. In 1992, a further bequest added his architectural, urban planning and written works. In total, the collection consists of around 3,000 works, spanning his careers both in art and architecture from the 1920s up until his death in 1987.

Works

Works include

  • Zenit magazine artwork (1922–25)
  • Zenit theatre set designs, costumes, posters (1922–25)
  • 3C i tričarije
  • Self Portrait, 1918
  • Pafama, collage, 1922
  • Balkanac calm, 1922
  • Rooster on the Roof, 1922
  • Ex Libris Plavsic, 1922
  • Wine shops 1924

  • Travelling city, urban planning drawing 1932


Exhibitions

During his lifetime, he exhibited his work in solo and group shows, most notably during the 1920s with the Zenit group.

Solo Exhibitions

Recent exhibitions of his work include:
  • 1997 Josip Seissel: Nadrealističko razdoblje [J.S.: The Surrealist Period] Visual Artists' Centre (HDLU) in Zagreb and at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb
    Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb
    The Museum of Contemporary Art is a contemporary art museum located on Dubrovnik Avenue in Zagreb, Croatia. It is the biggest and most modern museum in the country....


Public Collections

His work can be found in the following public collections
  • Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb
    Museum of Contemporary Art, Zagreb
    The Museum of Contemporary Art is a contemporary art museum located on Dubrovnik Avenue in Zagreb, Croatia. It is the biggest and most modern museum in the country....

    , Croatia
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