Bosnian painter Safet Zec

One of the most influential Bosniak painters, Safet Zec, spent a significant part of his life creating in the so-called Yugoslav artistic space, which from 1945 until the dissolution of the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia was the stage for intense artistic life shaped by turbulent socio-political events. The phenomena which emerged at that point in time in the fine arts had a significant impact on his work, and over time, he emerged as the most prominent representative of a new art, specifically the art informal and neofiguration movements. Since this artist was almost unknown to the Turkish expert public, following the analysis of the relevant literature on the history of art, the content of monographs on this artist, and interviews carried out with him, the esthetic analyses of 48 of his most representative works represent his life and opus in the context of socio-political events. It was determined that he uses four groups of motifs: architectural (the motif of the Bosnian mahala, house, avlija, fence, wall, mosque, tekija, madrassa and tower...), scenery, still life (bread, cloth, tables, basins, cans), human figures and their parts (portraits, hands, motifs of people without faces, the human body). When it comes to technique, he uses drawing – in pencil, pen, ink, ink lavee, feather ink in color, feather ink, sepia toning, copper etching, drypoint, felt pen marker and charcoal; collage, tempera paint – on cardboard and on canvas; oil painting – on paper, cardboard, canvas and boards; aquatint – the intaglio printing technique; combined techniques. His formats range from smaller ones, 20x20, to larger ones 200x180 cm. He often uses the same motifs in his work, which he repeats over and over again, changing the means of expression, experimenting with their size, and framing them with his technique of choice. His palette ranges from green, via azure, to brick and red.