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Lot Essay
Ida Cadorin Music has confirmed the authenticity of this work.
Born in 1909 in the Italian town of Gorizia, near Slovenia, Zoran Antonio Music's childhood was spent constantly moving in the region due to the turbulent political climate of Eastern Europe. Music found solace in the quiet mystery of the animals and nature which surrounded his beloved Dalmatia, particularly the ancient mountains and wildlife of the region. The landscape of Music's youth was formative in the development of his artistic vision.
Music studied at both the Academy of Arts in Zagreb and in Madrid, but returned to Dalmatia at the outbreak of civil war in Spain. In 1940, Music moved to Venice, where he painted church frescos, his evolving style based on Byzantine art, the trecentro Italian painters Cimabue and Giotto, and the early Renaissance master Piero della Francesca. Music drew inspiration from these earlier masters while incorporating the enigmatic themes of the natural world which had enthralled him since childhood, resulting in a personal style. In 1944, he was deported to the concentration camp Dachau, an experience he recounted in later paintings. In 1945, after liberation by the Americans, Music moved to Ljubljana where he was subjected to the pressures by the newly established Communist regime. He quickly left and moved back to Gorizia, the town of his birth.
In the years following the war, Music embarked on the most celebrated theme of his oeuvre, the motivi dalmati. In these canvases he explored his own nomadic upbringing through an archaic style. In the wake of his horrifying experience in Dachau, Music was able to recuperate and move forward through remembered visions of his childhood. His work embodies the tension between the past, present, and future. In Cavallo rosso, painted in 1950, Music combines his archaic influence with his personal remembrance of his youth. The flattened perspective calls upon Byzantine art, but the subject rings true to Music's childhood and love of nature. He embodies the mystery of the Cavallo in this painting by rendering it with minimal formal qualities. Music also references the pressures of the Communist regime by infusing the canvas with red paint and titling the work Cavallo rosso or "red horse," or, more idiomatically, "Russian Horse." This work is intensely personal, referencing both the joy of Music's childhood and the brutal oppression he later faced.
Zoran Antonio Music circa 1989. Photograph by Mimmo Dabbrescia.
Born in 1909 in the Italian town of Gorizia, near Slovenia, Zoran Antonio Music's childhood was spent constantly moving in the region due to the turbulent political climate of Eastern Europe. Music found solace in the quiet mystery of the animals and nature which surrounded his beloved Dalmatia, particularly the ancient mountains and wildlife of the region. The landscape of Music's youth was formative in the development of his artistic vision.
Music studied at both the Academy of Arts in Zagreb and in Madrid, but returned to Dalmatia at the outbreak of civil war in Spain. In 1940, Music moved to Venice, where he painted church frescos, his evolving style based on Byzantine art, the trecentro Italian painters Cimabue and Giotto, and the early Renaissance master Piero della Francesca. Music drew inspiration from these earlier masters while incorporating the enigmatic themes of the natural world which had enthralled him since childhood, resulting in a personal style. In 1944, he was deported to the concentration camp Dachau, an experience he recounted in later paintings. In 1945, after liberation by the Americans, Music moved to Ljubljana where he was subjected to the pressures by the newly established Communist regime. He quickly left and moved back to Gorizia, the town of his birth.
In the years following the war, Music embarked on the most celebrated theme of his oeuvre, the motivi dalmati. In these canvases he explored his own nomadic upbringing through an archaic style. In the wake of his horrifying experience in Dachau, Music was able to recuperate and move forward through remembered visions of his childhood. His work embodies the tension between the past, present, and future. In Cavallo rosso, painted in 1950, Music combines his archaic influence with his personal remembrance of his youth. The flattened perspective calls upon Byzantine art, but the subject rings true to Music's childhood and love of nature. He embodies the mystery of the Cavallo in this painting by rendering it with minimal formal qualities. Music also references the pressures of the Communist regime by infusing the canvas with red paint and titling the work Cavallo rosso or "red horse," or, more idiomatically, "Russian Horse." This work is intensely personal, referencing both the joy of Music's childhood and the brutal oppression he later faced.
Zoran Antonio Music circa 1989. Photograph by Mimmo Dabbrescia.