Graficki Kolektiv
Founded in 1949

Graficki Kolektiv is a specialized institution in Serbia, which has been, for the sixth decade now, in different ways inducing and fostering print art, as well as presenting work in other visual arts media. The creation and transformation of the modern Serbian print, in the context of contemporary fine arts, is inseparable from the role of the Graficki Kolektiv.

The Founders

Graficki kolektiv was founded in 1949 by the first generation of students at the Department of the Print Art, Academy of the Fine Arts in Belgrade: Bosko Karanovic, Mirjana Mihac, Dragoslav Stojanovic Sip, Mile Petrovic, Dragoljub Kazic, from the class of professor Mihailo S. Petrov. By founding the atelier/printshop they provided the conditions for further work and affirmation of this media in an environment that didn't have a tradition with a focus in a print art media. In 1952. the members of the Graficki Kolektiv had added to their printshop a gallery space, thus fulfilling the idea of immediate affirmation of the print art through the exhibitions. By opening the first May Exhibition of the Print Art, in 1952, began the rich exhibiting activity of the Graficki Kolektiv Gallery. The founders of Graficki Kolektiv were soon joined by other artists - Stojan Celic, Mladen Srbinovic, Mihailo Petrov, Mario Maskareli, Lazar Vujaklija, Aleksandar Lukovic; they were registered in 1953 as The Artists’ Group with 11 Members. Within the following decades, the program conception and sharpened criteria have contributed that Graficki Kolektiv has gained a high reputation, while the GK Gallery has represented important Yugoslavian and international artists of different generations and poetics. Graficki Kolektiv became part of the history of a contemporary Serbian and Yugoslavian culture of the second half of the twentieth century, as an important and specific focus of the arts life and a factor of artistic development. Graficki Kolektiv was founded at a time when there were no similar institutions, galleries, or museums, while even after they've been founded, it has kept its position as an important place for promotion of the contemporary art.