Exhibition „Vangel Kodjoman – 120 years since birth“ in Daut Pasha Hammam

Share Button

The National Gallery invites you to an exhibition dedicated to the doyen of contemporary Macedonian painting, Vangel Kodjoman, which will be held in the Daut Pasha Hammam facility on the occasion of the 120th anniversary of his birth. It will be a great honor and pleasure for us to remember together his life and work, his portraits and landscapes, the colors and light of his native land.

Vangel Kodjoman, 120 years since birth

Daut Pasha Hammam,

19. 11. 2024, 20 h

This year marks the 120th anniversary of academic painter Vangel Kodjoman’s birth. The respect given to the artist means reintroducing his works to the public, which after a long period of time are exhibited and remind us of a past time recorded by the painter’s skillful hand.

Kodjoman belongs to the first generation of educated artists, along with Dimitar Pandilov, Lazar Lichenoski and Nikola Martinoski, and a little later Vasilie Popovikj-Cico, Dimo Todorovski, Tomo Vladimirski and Ljubomir Belogaski, who are considered the founders of Macedonian modern art. It is important to remind of the enormous efforts these authors invested in their work to modernize the Macedonian artistic and cultural life, which occurred in midst of economic and socio-political hardships. They were crating in times when art was not so close to the general public, in a period marked by wars, poverty and insecurity. The works of these authors represent a kind of testimony to those past times, they are marks that remind us of the changes that took place, which the artists experienced in their own deep, emotional, individual way.

It is difficult to single out certain phases in Vangel Kodjoman΄s work. It can be roughly divided into two time periods: before the Second World War to 1950 and from the fifties to the eighties. The first is a period when academic realism, as well as a post-impressionist influence from the Belgrade School of Fine Arts, can be seen in his works, while the second is characterized by an already formed personal colorist expressionism that prevails in his works, with elements from Fauvism painting.

What will mark Kodjoman s work the most is his contribution to the treatment of many different subjects. Interest in everything that surrounds him with the help of his painting craft, he diligently notes, draws, and paints. It seems that there is no subject that he does not work on or that he does not try to put on paper, on canvas. Oil, pastel and aquarelle are the techniques he uses to create his works on the subjects: nudes, portraits, landscapes, still lifes, as well as works with motifs from the old town architecture, works with social themes and works with historical content. However, he is mostly recognized for his landscapes and portraits, in which he creates his greatest and most significant works.

Vangel Kodjoman΄s artistic oeuvre is vast. Above all, it is due to his opinion that art should be among people, that it belongs to everyone and that it should not be anyone’s privilege. This is where he derives his perseverance, discipline and dedication to work. The treatment of all the techniques in which he expresses himself have the same importance and value as the themes he worked on during his creative life, which will mark him as a particularly prolific author, recognizable and remembered as a painter of the Macedonian region.

He was dedicated to his craft: art and painting, diligently, responsibly and with great love, for the rest of his life (1994). Vangel Kodjoman’s role as one of the founders of Macedonian modern art will remain noted and highly valued in the history of Macedonian art.

The curator of the exhibition is Aleksandra Zinovski Vilic and it will be displayed until December, 20.2024.

Share Button