The exhibition will be open from January 20 to March 27, 2022. The Jevrem Grujić House is open on Thursdays and Fridays from 3 pm to 8 pm and on Saturdays, from 11 am to 4 pm with available guided tours
Thursday, January 20, 2022 – Today, at the Jevrem Grujić House in Belgrade, the exhibition titled „The Great Women of Serbian Culture“ was officially opened in the presence of many cultural figures and media outlets. The exhibition has been staged in cooperation with the Cultural Diplomacy Office. It features 18 famous women of our history who, with their actions, courage and contribution to Serbian culture, but also to the entire Serbian history, influenced the development of Serbian thought and society in general.
The exhibition was opened by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia, Maja Gojković, who said the following on the occasion:
“For the benefit of our entire society, and especially for the younger generations, we need to constantly highlight the importance of women in the cultural and artistic life of Serbia. It is especially important to underline that many of them, including most of the great women to whom this exhibition is dedicated, lived and created in times when women’s rights were not recognized in a way that is the case today, in the modern world,” Ms Gojković underlined.
The Commissioner for the Protection of Equality, Brankica Janković, also addressed the exhibition guests:
“It is very important to talk about women’s creativity, a phenomenon that was almost unknown and unrecognized in public until a little over 100 years ago. The number of women who have secured their place in encyclopedias of art, science and history is still negligible, despite the importance of their works and their influence on the development of Serbian thought and society. Exhibition visitors will get to know the works and creations of eighteen great women from Serbia, and I believe that it will be an inspiration for further research on women’s contribution and teachings on virtue, fighting spirit and perseverance, which are necessary at all times. ”
The Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia, the Secretariat for Culture of the City of Belgrade and the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality are the exhibition’s sponsors.
Branka Conić, the director of the Jevrem Grujić House, Dr Gordana Bekčić and the art historian Ružica Opačić are the exhibition’s authors.
Often marginalized, even more often forgotten, 18 great women of Serbian culture, whose work will be presented at this important exhibition, paved the way for new generations of painters, writers, doctors, scientists, philosophers and for a better social position of women in professional life.
They were nurses and warriors, decorated with medals and ranks, and in many ways, the first of such kind in their city, country, and even Europe. The first to study, the first to obtain a diploma, the first doctoral students, the first writers, the first painters, the first managers, members of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, founders of art associations, but also societies for the protection of women. Always patriotic, they often balanced between the struggle for personal realization and the shackles imposed on them by the patriarchal society and even more often remained misunderstood in the struggle for the accomplishment of their personal, artistic, social and life goals.
Milica Stojadinović Srpkinja, Mina Karadžić, Poleksija Todorović, Draga Ljočić, Beta Vukanović, Nadežda Petrović, Isidora Sekulić, Jelisaveta Načić, Marija Maga Magazinović, Vidosava Kovačević, Anica Savić Rebac, Zora Petrović, Desanka Maksimović, Leposava St. Pavlović, Milena Pavlović Barili, Ljubica Marić, Ljubica Cuca Sokić and Soja Jovanović will ‘speak’ to the exhibition’s visitors about their life stories, destinies and achievements. Let’s not forget them, because they are truly great.
“The goal of ‘The Great Women of Serbian Culture’ project is to increase the visibility of women’s cultural heritage, which has enabled women to occupy the highest positions in our culture and society today. Their perseverance, steadfastness and strength to do their work were an insurmountable force that changed our society, and in which they themselves were often harshly judged. We believe that now, as we are talking about them, they are smiling at us,” pointed out the director of the Museum of the Jevrem Grujić House and the exhibition’s co-author, Branka Conić, at the opening.
The exhibition was staged in partnership with over 15 cultural institutions throughout our country, including – the Museum of the City of Belgrade, Pavle Beljanski Memorial Collection, Milena Pavlović Barili Gallery, Nadežda Petrović Art Gallery, SANU Gallery, SANU Institute of Musicology, Museum of Theatre Arts of Serbia, Valjevo National Museum, Svetozar Marković University Library, Desanka Maksimović Endowment, galleries Vitamin X, HQ and B2, private collections, as well as Matica Srpska and “Kakva Ženska!”.
At the exhibition, you will be able to see a comprehensive selection of personal items of the featured women, such as the violin of our first composer Ljubica Marić, whose music was performed by the world’s largest orchestras, personal items of Milena Pavlović Barili, Isidora Sekulić’s typewriter, Desanka Maksimović’s famous hat, journals and many other valuables.
In cooperation with galleries Vitamin X, HQ and B2, The Great Women of Serbian Culture exhibition will also feature artwork by contemporary young Serbian painters such as Jelena Djurić, Kristina Ivić, Mina Radović, Ivona Pleskonja, Kristina Ristić, Nevenka Stojisavljević, Irena Kovač, Tijana Radenković, Jelena Jelača, Kristina Bajilo, Maja Rakočević Cvijanov, Marina Marković, Andrea Dramaćanin and Anja Tončić.
During the exhibition, many presentations, plays, performances and themed evenings will take place, inspired by their work.
The exhibition was supported by the following companies: DUNAV OSIGURANJE, Manpower Group, Clockwork Film Production, Avakum Invest, DPC and Cicero.
