Voditelj: Elizabeta Rogović
The Modern and Contemporary Art Collection primarily contains works by contemporary artists created from the 1950s to the present day. The ways in which these works entered the museum’s holdings have varied over time. Between 1954 and 1978, numerous works by renowned contemporary artists, such as Ivo Dulčić, Antun Kaštelančić, Julije Knifer, Ivan Lesiak, Aleksandar Masle, Edo Murtić, Šime Perić, Vanja Radauš, Josip Vaništa, Eugen Vidović, and many others, were acquired through purchases and donations facilitated by various state bodies (committees, secretariats, cultural funds, etc.). For many years, there was an ambition to establish a gallery within the Museum, and efforts were made to promote gallery activities. As a result, in 1970, the then Gallery of Modern Art (now the Modern and Contemporary Art Collection), which had been operating as a department of the Museum, was officially designated a gallery of regional importance by the Croatian Museum Association. Over the years, some artworks were purchased directly from solo exhibitions or as prizes at traditional events such as Art Colony, Grisia, and Ars Histriae. Other ways of building the collection were regular annual acquisitions and donations, and a considerable number of works entered the Museum after artists vacated their studios in Rovinj.
The core of the collection is made up of works by artists who emerged within the so-called Rovinj art circle, a group of painters and sculptors who settled in Rovinj, either permanently or temporarily, during the 1950s (Z. Matić, B. Mascarelli, S. Vuličević, S. Pranjko, V. Brešić, Lj. Škrnjug, the Haramija spouses, E. Budicin, the Brajnović family, among others). They were the driving force behind two of Rovinj’s most notable art events: Art Colony and Grisia. Exhibitions of the Art Colony were held from 1963 until 2019, while Grisia – an open-air exhibition – was first held in 1967. On the second Sunday in August each year, the street that meanders from the foot of St. Fuma towards the main town square was occupied by artists of all generations. Both professional and amateur artists, but also students and children, had the chance to show their work there. The most successful artists were appropriately rewarded, with prosciutto and cheese.
In the period from 1970 to 1989, the Rovinj Museum participated in the organization of an annual group exhibition Castrum Vallis in Bale (Valle). The exhibition got its name after the local castle where it was traditionally held.
In 1970, the Rovinj Museum Collection, the National Museum of Labin and the Piran Civic Gallery launched an art event titled Ars Istriaca, which was renamed as Ars Histriae a year later. The Pazin Ethnographic Museum and the Pula Showroom (later: Center for Dramatic and Visual Arts, and Yugoslav Feature Film Festival, Pula) joined the organizational team in 1974. In the following years, the Poreč Heritage Museum (1978), i.e. the People's University of Poreč, also participated in the organization of the exhibitions.
At the Ars Histriae exhibitions, artists connected to Istria, either by origin, birth, or work, were showing their artistic accomplishments. Architects were also featured in the first five exhibitions. It was an annual event for the first few years, becoming biennial from 1972. The exhibition was hosted by a different institution every year, and each exhibition took place at the organizer’s headquarters. The jury awarded prizes, recognitions and diplomas to the best artists, as well as the main prize – the Ars Histriae Charter, which provided the awarded author with a solo exhibition in the following year.
In 1994, in the desacralized church of St. Thomas in Bregovita Street in Rovinj, two artists (Goran Petercol and Damir Sokić), together with the curator of the Rovinj Museum (Dario Sošić), launched a series of exhibitions titled “Rovinj Art Program” with a desire to revitalize this part of the old town. Over the course of two decades, the program promoted contemporary, progressive and innovative Croatian art. It featured numerous Croatian artists, representatives of different generations, and the selected international authors. These facts, as well as the exhibition space itself, ultimately resulted in very interesting exhibition projects.