| Danica
(Duna) Peklic - Peyer 1888.
Education:
Painting course with Csikos and Crncic ( Zagreb c. 1906.)
In Vienna (c. 1910), in Paris
Provisional College of Arts and Crafts in Zagreb (from 1907.-?)
Biography: After attending the private painting course held
by Csikos and Crncic at the Crafts School in Zagreb, she
became one of the first students of the newly established
College of Arts and Crafts in Zagreb from 1907. As she was
a lively and restless character, she did not complete her
studies in Zagreb, but continued them in Vienna and Paris.
In Vienna she first married Sibe Milicic, a writer, but
the marriage did not last long. Her second husband was Alfred
Peyer (the constructor of the open market of Dolac in Zagreb).
They divorced in 1935, and as a result she received a villa
in Korcula which she sold to the painter Maksimilijan Vanka.
This money paid for her move to America. First she lived
in Los Angeles, and then moved to San Pedro, California.
While living in Zagreb, she was actively engaged in the
Women Artists' Club, participated in their exhibitions,
and in 1933 was elected Vice-chairwoman of the Club. Many
people in Croatia were relieved when she moved to America,
and one of her relatives (a University professor) expressed
the general opinion about her character, "She is fine
as an artist, but shall leave that to critics and art historians,
but we who had to suffer her company cannot wish her to
return. As a person she was unruly and euphoric. She liked
posing and had theatrical manners. She always imposed her
will on others and had numerous lawsuits without reason.
Her relatives avoided her as much as they could."
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