Ismet Mujezinovi\u0107 (1907 - 1984)

Ismet Mujezinovi\u0107 was born in Tuzla on the 2nd of December 1907. He was an only child to father Salih and mother Sadija. His father died during his early childhood and his mother remarried. His stepfather, Salko Vare\u0161akovi\u0107, enrolled him on a photography course, with the intention of opening a photographic studio for him. Ismet completed his course, but on the recommendation of his tutors he continued his education, and was sent to a grammar school in Sarajevo, where professors discovered his exceptional talent for painting. After the completion of the grammar school, and on the recommendation of Niko Andrija\u0161evi\u0107, a well known Sarajevo lawyer, author, art collector and his future patron, he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb. At the Academy, he received Ivan Mestrovic\u2019s scholarship as an exceptional talent, and he continued to develop alongside the professors such as Valdec, Kova\u010devi\u0107, Hoeker, Ivekovi\u0107, Ibler, Vanka, Csikos, \u0160enoa, \u0160ulenti\u0107, Kljakovi\u0107, Krizman, Babi\u0107, Beci\u0107. After graduation from the Academy, he specialised in fresco painting in the class of Jozo Kljakovi\u0107, and together with a few other chosen post-graduate students he assisted in the painting of the frescoes in the church of Saint Marko in Zagreb.

After completion of his studies he moved to Belgrade for a while, where he spent most of his time working in the Central Press Office and the workshop of the painter Valerijan Krekovi\u0107.

During the time he spent in Belgrade, he also wrote the script and directed the documentary \u201cAll-slavic Hawk Celebration\u201d. In 1931, he moved to Vienna and subsequently to Paris, where he worked in the \u201cThéâtr-Fonten\u201d and the \u201cThéâtr - Pigalle\u201d as a supporting actor. He also took language and comparative literature courses and spent most of his time socializing in film and theatre circles. He spent most of his time with Mihajlo Kova\u010devi\u0107, at the time the most famous performer of Shakespeare\u2019s heroes, and through him he met his new friends - namely Svetislav Petrovi\u0107 and Stojan Aralica. During his Paris period, Ismet Mujezinovi\u0107 mostly painted portraits and created drawings in the bars and cafes of Mount Parnasse. His drawings of this time were in the spirit of ideas from contemporary left oriented artists and intellectuals who were preoccupied with social problematic, with whom he spent much of his time. He also studied Art History at the University of Sorbonne but he failed to graduate as he decided to return to Yugoslavia in 1933.

Upon his return to the homeland, he directed \u201cJegor Buli\u010dov\u201d in Bjeljina, and also played one of the roles. In Split, he assisted in the construction of Caryatids for the monument on Avala, sculpted for Me\u0161trovi\u0107 by Grga Antunac and Ivo Lozica. After that he finally returned to Sarajevo, where he and a few co-thinkers formed \u201cCollegium artisticum\u201d, pandan to artists\u2019 group \u201cEarth\u201d in Zagreb. During that time, he worked on theatre and film set design, and he exhibited paintings with a social theme.

In Split, where he painted for the Zrn\u010di\u0107 family, he met Marija Sisari\u0107. She was working as a school teacher in Vojkovi\u0107i near Sarajevo, and Ismet often stayed with her, where he started working on a painting with a new theme - \u2018\u2019Children in school\u2019\u2019. Ismet Mujezinovi\u0107 married Marija Sisari\u0107 in 1939.

He was mobilized in 1941, and after a short stay in the army, he joined the Partisan movement. He was in the Partisan army until the end of the war, when he was discharged with the rank of Major. He was awarded a certificate as a partisan who fought in the movement from the beginning of the WW II and he was also in charge of the first partisans\u2019 airport, for which he received an award. While in the Partisan movement, on top of his regular tasks of drawing, recording events, painting, he painted a painting showing the first AVNOJ convention in Biha\u0107. He created a large number of drawings, which were hidden during one of the German offensives, and never found since.

Whilst editing different magazines, organizing a film section as a core of the future Yugoslavian film, creating posters and cover pages, he was also doing other cultural and artistic activities. He co-authored a partisan drama named \u2018\u2019Bar strategists\u2019\u2019 where he played the character of Mujaga. He was the founder and first editor of the \u2018\u2019Front\u2019\u2019 magazine. He participated in the founding of \u201cOslobo\u0111enje\u201d, \u201cFront sloboda\u201d, the film company \u201cBosna film\u201d and the School of Applied Arts in Sarajevo, where he also lectured for a short time. At that time, he was mostly preoccupied with the National Liberation Movement (NOB) themes. As one of the representatives of Yugoslavia, he exhibited his work at the XXV Venice Biennial.

After receiving two federal awards for painting and also a good critique for the painting \u2018\u2019Crossing the Neretva\u2019\u2019 at the Venice Biennial, he was commissioned to do a series of four large format paintings for the House of Army in Sarajevo. Subsequently, he decided to become an independent artist, in order to have more time to paint large compositions with a war theme. After his first painting \u2018\u2019Uprising\u2019\u2019 was finished, since he did not have a studio, he moved to Tuzla. During that period, he twice went to Paris on study trips, where he started drawing in the Paris bars and cafes with renewed passion, this time with the new material - felt tip pen, which opened up new painting possibilities for him. That is how the drawings from Paris, Venice and other European cities were created. In Tuzla he completed the painting \u2018\u2019Crossing the Neretva\u2019\u2019, and he began the third painting \u2018\u2019In the Glory of Fighters of Sutjeska\u2019\u2019. He returned to Sarajevo once again, where he began preparations for murals inside the monument on Sehitluci. As he did not manage to get the promised studio space, he returned to Tuzla, where he completed the third out of the four paintings for the House of Army.

During the sixties, he finally managed to realise his idea of constructing a studio in Tuzla, where he completed the fourth painting \u2018\u2019Liberation of Jajce\u2019\u2019. Later on, he would reproduce a similar but bigger version of that painting for Villa Pantov\u010dak in Zagreb. During that time, he also created paintings of the smaller format, with elements of local folklore from Tuzla market. From that period, a series named \u201cVillage Women\u201d was significant, as well as many portraits, out of which the most famous was \u201cSelf portrait with the Medal\u201d.

He received several Republic awards, as well as the first and second award by the Federal Government for paintings \u201cCement Mixer\u201d and \u201cCrossing the Neretva\u201d. He received the AVNOJ award, as well as numerous other awards and recognitions. On the centenary of the birth of Vladimir Ilich Lenin, he was awarded a Lenin Medal in USSR. He was a corresponding member of the Science and Arts Academy of Yugoslavia, as well as a member of Science and Arts Academy of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was the holder of the NOB Medal, Medal for Courage, as well as numerous other State awards.

Ismet Mujezinovi\u0107 died in Tuzla, on the 7th of January 1984.