The Lightness of Youth Exhibition Opened in Sponza Palace

The first exhibition at the 74^th Dubrovnik Summer Festival, the cycle of paintings Lightness of Youth by Fadil Vejzović, was opened last night, 11 July, in the Sponza Palace atrium.

The Dubrovnik Summer Festival Artistic Director Dora Ruždjak Podolski addressed the audience at the exhibition opening, pointing out how honoured she was by the exceptional opportunity to present for the first time ever to the Festival and Dubrovnik audiences the painter's precious works inspired by the ubiquitous Držić, and the fact that the whole story surrounding the exhibition is intertwined with the entire Vejzović family. Her Assistant for the Theatre Programme and the author of the exhibition catalogue text, Saša Božić, explained more about the exhibition itself, saying that the motifs of Držić's The Story of Stanac – the need for eternal youth, sexuality, faces – in Mr. Vejzović's work are truly masterfully transformed into faces of commedia del arte, views of the city of Dubrovnik, but also into motifs from Renaissance Italian art. "Once again Lightness of Youth really shows the strength and need of the human desire for the eternal theatricalization of one's own life and for the transformation of one's humanity." At the end, the late painter's widow Majda Vejzović thanked the Festival and everyone present, saying how glad she was that "Fadil is again with us here tonight ".

Through 12 paintings executed in mixed media on paper, Fadil Vejzović brings his own interpretation of Držić's Dubrovnik. He found inspiration and motifs, such as the relationship between the old and young and the search for eternal youth, in Držić’s The Story of Stanac, as well as other classics of Croatian Renaissance literature and Italian Renaissance art. However, Lightness of Youth is not only an artistic response to Držić's themes, but also a deeper consideration of human sexuality, life processes and the constant need to dramatize one's own existence.

Fadil Vejzović (1943-2022) was a Croatian painter, graphic artist, designer, and illustrator. He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb and completed his postgraduate studies in graphics and painting in Nuremberg. From 1969 he worked independently and as a member of the group "Brezovica", and in 1976 he started working in the magazine "Start" as an illustrator and graphic editor, where he stayed for 10 years. He exhibited at numerous exhibitions in the country and abroad and received many important awards for his work as an artist. In 1984 he received the 19th Zagreb Salon Special Award, in 1990 the Croatian Graphic Arts Biennial Split Award, and in 1993 the 17th Zagreb Graphic Arts Exhibition Award. In 2001 he received the Lalin Plaque at the 1st International Graphic Arts Salon Rab and since 2007 his works are displayed in the permanent collection of the National Museum of Modern Art in Zagreb. He died in Zagreb in October 2022.

The exhibition remains open until July 30, and can be viewed every day from 6 am to 9 pm.