galerie frank elbaz is pleased to present a selection of historical works by Croatian artist Julije Knifer.
"The group of paintings gathered in this exhibition is exceptional. Firstly, because the artist’s works are rare and not widely exhibited: although Julije Knifer, born 1924 in Osijek, Croatia, is one of the major representatives of the Eastern European avant-garde, his contributions are still not sufficiently acknowledged in accounts of post-war art. Together with the members of the Gorgona group, which he co-founded in 1960, he helped put Zagreb on the map of a then increasingly open and multipolar art world. Secondly, because the works on display were all created during a key period in the artist’s life, the years 1969-73, before he started spending more time in Germany, and then France, where his techniques and formats changed significantly. Finally, the selected works are exceptional because they feature four paintings that break with the typical black and white of Knifer’s art – a rarity within a rarity, so to speak." - Arnauld Pierre