| Nasta
Rojc 1883 - 1964
Education:
With Oton Ivekovic,( Zagreb, 1901/1902); with Tina Blau-Lang,
(Vienna 1904/1906)
Kunstschule für Frauen und Mädchen, (Vienna, 1902-1904 and
1908-1911), Frauen Akademie, (Munich, 1907)
Biography: It is difficult to summarise the implication
of the words of Matko Peic, member of the Academy: "Who
has experienced so much, both as a woman and a painter,
as this Amazon of our painting". Daughter of the Secretary
for Education and Religious Affairs, as a frail child she
preferred playing with a real hunting gun than with dolls.
Later, when she was a young painter, a gun was her favourite
element of the setting of her self portraits, especially
together with her mare Lenka who accompanied her roaming
in the fields of the family estate at Gudovac near Bjelovar.
In 1910, she married Branko, the tender son of the famous
Croatian 19th century writer August Šenoa. After the First
World War, her acquaintance with the English Lady Alexandrina
Onslow (who was decorated for her courageous rescue and
transport of the wounded) opened a new chapter in Nasta's
life. In the summer of 1924, on Alexandrina Onslow's yacht,
an accompanied by Oscar Kokoschka, Nasta experienced the
delights of sailing and painting the Adriatic scenery from
the deck. At Christmas 1924, Nasta was already painting
the Scottish countryside on the estates of Miss Onslow's
friends. Nasta's exhibition in London in June 1926 and later
in Zagreb, in November, represented a decisive struggle
in her endeavours to prove the Croatian art critics and
the public that works of art at an exhibition were no less
valuable because they were painted by a woman. Namely, the
same London exhibition which was given the best review and
recognition, was received with deliberate derision in Zagreb.
The fighting Nasta found in this disdain a source of strength
to group other women painters who wanted to gain recognition
for their work. Their efforts were successful when, on 11
September 1927, Ministry of the Interior in Belgrade approved
the regulations of the Women Artists' Club. It was not only
the first association of women artists in Croatia, but also
the first professional association of women from the Alps
to the Aegean sea. (Together with Nasta Rojc, a very significant
role, particularly for the official recognition of the Club
was played by the eminence grise of this struggle, thanks
to her relations with the Belgrade Royal court, especially
Queen Mary. This self-denying person working behind the
scene was Lady Onslow.)
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