Sunday we took a drive over to Kovačica, a small town located about 50 kilometers (30 miles) north east of Belgrade. The town is famous for its naive art style painters and its majority Slovak population. Nadia loves art and we’re exposing the kids to art so we decided to go and check out the galleries. Naive art is a genre that emphasizes color, childlike simplicity, and patterns. I never heard of this art style before and was curious to learn more.
The gallery/museum is well maintain and features the works of around 25 artists from the town and neighboring villages. The styles vary, from the more realistic depictions to pure fantasy. The use of color differs also, some being extremely bright and others more subdued. Most of the subject matter is a romanticized, rural lifestyle. For example, many show scenes of the harvest or hunt, sledding in the winter, etc. I preferred the more realistic works of Jan Bačur and Mihal Povolny while Nadia liked the more colorful pieces, especially of Ana Knjazovic. The town of Jagodina in southern Serbia is more famous for its naive painting and maybe someday we’ll visit there.
It was a bitterly cold morning and we walked around the main plaza a bit. It was strange to see a priest walking near our car when we pulled into town. The town is mostly descendants of Slovak immigrants and they have their own church. We usually see the Orthodox holy men with the long beards and black robes. We bought a small piece for our house and some souvenir calendars. It is a nice day trip and better than hanging around the house on a cold, foggy day.
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