Vlaho Bukovac Biography
Vlaho Bukovac, born and also known by the Italian name of Biagio Faggioni (Ragusa Vecchia, 4 July 1855 – Prague, 23 April 1922), was a Croatian painter. In 1878 he was the first Croatian artist to be admitted to the Paris Salon, at the time one of the most important painting exhibitions in the world. Since his youth, Bukovac used to travel for long periods in Europe and other continents, such as South and North America. From all his travels he drew inspiration for his works, which made him very famous at home and in the world, making him considered the most important Croatian artist between the 19th and 20th centuries. In 1892, Bukovac married Dubrovnik Jelica Pitarević, with whom he had four children: Augustin (Ago), Ivanka, Jelena (Jelica) and Marija: both Ivanka and Jelica later followed in their father's footsteps, enrolling at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague and becoming painters. In the 1980s he moved to Belgrade, where he worked for the Serbian royal family. From 1893 to 1897 he was in Zagreb, where he introduced the spirit of European - predominantly French - art of the time. Later - also due to a bitter controversy with the painter and politician Isidor Kršnjavi - he moved again to Ragusavecchia, until in 1903 he was called to teach at the Academy of Fine Arts (Akademie vytvarnyh umeni) in Prague. A long series of famous portraits belongs to this period. In 1905 he became a member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, while in 1919 he was a member of the Czechoslovak delegation at the Paris Peace Conference. One of his last works was a portrait of the king of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenians, Alexander I.
