Taking into account the number of artists who created caricatures, coupled with the substantial volume and quality of output, it is undeniable that caricature made a lasting impression on Split’s art scene during the first half of the 20th century. The validity of this viewpoint is supported by the current permanent display of the Museum of Fine Arts, where four caricatures by both Emanuel Vidović and Angjeo Uvodić are prominently showcased. The inclusion of caricatures in the permanent exposition represents the most significant and conspicuous museum gesture in acknowledging the artistic stature of this often-underestimated visual art form.
Through exhibitions, publications featuring humorous visual content, as well as drawing and print portfolios, this distinct form of visual expression has sparked the local community’s growing interest in artistic creation in general. Prominent figures from various walks of public life were regularly targeted by the artists, which, in a city inclined towards humour and all-encompassing theatre, aroused great interest. Caricature portraits were eagerly purchased, so it can be said that caricature played a role in the development of art collecting in Split. Considerable moral and material success of exhibitions from the late 1920s (especially of Angjeo Uvodić and Ivan Mirković) did not happen overnight. Looking back, caricature was introduced to the then-modest Split art scene by Emanuel Vidović in 1901. At a joint exhibition with the painter Josip Lalić in the foyer of the Municipal Theatre, Vidović exhibited around forty paintings, mostly landscapes, as well as several caricatures, now unknown.
Vidović gained a reputation as the finest artist in his hometown of Split during his lifetime. This primacy remains unchallenged to this day, with the caveat that in the meantime, he has been positioned nationally among the pioneers and most prominent protagonists of Croatian modern art.
Throughout his entire life as a classical painter, he showed little interest in the world of the living. He satisfied the bulk of his artistic interest in people through caricature, which he began practicing no later than 1901. However, today, our knowledge is limited to the works created between approximately 1908 and 1912, whether they are rare originals or reproductions in publications. After 1912, Vidović likely did not produce any more caricatures.
Twelve of his original portrait caricatures are kept in the holdings of the Museum of Fine Arts. They originate from the Collection of Dr. Ivo Tartaglia, former mayor of Split and viceroy of the Primorska Banovina, as well as a passionate collector with broad artistic interests. Most of the caricatures are associated with Vidović’s involvement in the legendary humorous-satirical magazine Duje Balavac, published in Split during the period from 1908 to 1912. Three illustrations, however, appear to have been produced for reproduction in the monthly journal of the Croatian Writers’ Association, Savremenik, which published them in August 1912.
Carefully rendered coloured drawings with more or less moderately caricatured physiognomic and stature traits speak to his cautious approach to the victims: educator, publicist, and librarian Dušan Mangjer (c. 1908), manager of the People’s Savings Bank Antun Makala (c. 1908), composer and conductor Srećko Albini (two caricatures: c. 1908, 1912), writer, theatre worker, and translator Milan Begović (two caricatures: c. 1909), prose writer, and publicist Niko Andrijašević (c. 1909), composer and conductor Josip Hatze (c. 1910), writer, publicist, and film professional Milan Marjanović (c. 1910), lawyer and prose writer Marin Bego (c. 1911), literary critic and historian Ante Petravić (1912), and sculptor Toma Rosandić (1912). Vidović refrained from intruding into the intimacy or secrets of his models. Instead, his focus remained solely on the humorous visualisation of their appearance, mostly observed in public settings, whether it be the characteristic facial expression, details of physiognomy, posture, stature, or attire. He benevolently sought to transform aesthetic shortcomings into endearing personality traits. Additionally, likely as a result of some form of self-censorship, there is a noticeable restraint in caricaturing, suggesting that the artist was aware of the provocative potential of caricature. Social standing was an important component of life in Split, and more drastic interventions in someone’s appearance could incite the city’s proverbial tendency towards mockery. It is presumed that the artist did not wish to offend acquaintances and friends whose appearance he played with, nor did he want to acquire a bad reputation for himself. All these reasons seem plausible considering that Vidović preferred a rather benign style of portrait caricature. However, in several cases, he did not resist a bolder, one might say audacious, transformation or deformation of physiognomy. He rarely engaged in situational caricature.
Given that the cultural public is far more familiar with the paintings of Emanuel Vidović than with his caricatures, it seems justified to draw attention to that aspect of his work through a genre-profiled content composed of caricatures from the holdings of the Museum of Fine Arts and reproductions selected from Duje Balavac – the most extensive source of the artist’s humorous works.
The magazine is also the first concrete source of information about his caricature production after written records of exhibited works in 1901. It was launched as a monthly publication in February 1908 by Vidović, Virgil Meneghello Dinčić, Ante Katunarić, and Angjeo Uvodić, who, along with his brother Marko, ended their collaboration after the first issue. All four founders created caricatures and signed them with pseudonyms: Vidović – Rode, Meneghello Dinčić – Baf:Baf:, Katunarić – Piperle, Uvodić – Lepe. Meneghello Dinčić’s caricatures were the most prevalent, whereas Katunarić, who was the publisher, editor-in-chief, and author of most of the humorous texts, notes, and verses, was the least represented with only two examples. As a rule, the verses and caricatures corresponded and complemented each other. The magazine was published irregularly until May 1912, and then from June 1921 to July 1923, and it also featured humorous works by other artists. Portrait caricature was the predominant form throughout the entire edition. According to Frano Dulibić: “The German weekly magazine ‘Simplicissimus’ was one of the influences on portrait caricature known to have reached Split.”
Vidović created caricatures for Duje Balavac from 1908 to 1912. Around fifty of his works were published during this initial publication phase, in which he humorously interpreted well-known figures from the cultural, political, and social life of Split, as well as from other, mainly Dalmatian cities, which were of interest to the people of Split for some reason. Alongside a few already mentioned, Duje featured the then mayor of Split, Vicko Mihaljević, and former mayor Vinko (Vicko) Milić, physician and entomologist Eduard (Edi) Karaman, Monsignor Moscovita, lawyers Ercolano Salvi and Vjekoslav Škarica, writer Rikard Katalinić Jeretov, writer and politician Ante Tresić Pavičić, mayor of Trogir Nikola Madirazza, sculptor Ivan Meštrović, and others.
By comparing the original works with reproductions in the magazine and the aforementioned edition of the Savremenik journal, different strategies in Vidović’s execution are evident. For Duje Balavac, he created both black-and-white and colour caricatures. Although reproduced in black (rarely in red or brown hues), the difference can generally be discerned. Some monochrome drawings were later coloured, and the most striking example of a caricature is that of Antun Makala, published under the title Hannibal Ante Portas. Some of the caricatures were signed after publication: Artistic Evolution. Milan Begović; Our Writers. Milan Marjanović. He was known to draw similar or nearly identical coloured versions of published witty portraits, such as caricatures of Dušan Mangjer, Niko Andrijašević, Josip Hatze, Milan Begović, and Marin Bego, but signed as E. Vidović. For Savremenik, Vidović created coloured copies, which were published under his name and titles: Caricature of Toma Rosandić, Caricature of Srećko Albini, and Caricature of A. Petravić. Although they were printed in black and white, it is evident that the reproduced caricatures are exactly those kept in the Museum of Fine Arts. They are all signed with E. Vidović and are very similar to the caricatures of the same individuals in Duje Balavac. One of the original templates is the museum caricature of S. Albini signed Rode, which was published in Duje Balavac (and later coloured). Thus, Vidović limited the pseudonym and signature Rode exclusively to the Split magazine, while he wanted to present himself by his real name and surname in the central Croatian literary journal. Whether he prepared any other unpublished caricatures for printing, we can only speculate. However, Vidović’s collaboration with Savremenik represents the final confirmation of the authorship of his caricatures in the Museum of Fine Arts.
EMANUEL VIDOVIĆ (Split, 1870 – Split, 1953) privately studied drawing with the architect and painter Emil Vecchietti. From 1887 to 1890, he studied sculpture and then painting at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Venice. Dissatisfied with his professors, he interrupted his studies and decided to pursue painting in Venice, Milan, and Chioggia. He staged his first exhibitions in 1894 in Milan at the Esposizioni Riunite, and in Split in 1896, where he showed his work in the window of the Ševeljević store. At an exhibition with Josip Lalić in the foyer of the Municipal Theatre in 1901, he exhibited caricatures alongside paintings, the first in Split. He was one of the founders and editors of the humorous-satirical magazine Duje Balavac, in which he published caricatures from 1908 to 1912. He was the conceptual founder, one of the most active organisers and participants of the First Dalmatian Art Exhibition in 1908. He was involved in the founding and work of the Medulić Association. For years, he worked in Split schools, first at the Imperial Royal Grammar School as a drawing substitute teacher from 1898 to dismissal in 1903, then at the Vocational School as a teacher of freehand drawing and decorative painting from 1909 to 1938, and at the Technical High School as a teacher of freehand drawing from 1927 to 1938. In 1922, he became a member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (corresponding), and in 1949, a member of the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts (corresponding).
