The Dobrović House, Jelsa
The Dobrović house is located on the north edge of St. John’s square in Jelsa, right beside a 16th-century baroque church dedicated to the same saint. The house in its present form was refitted in the 19th century and today, along with its extremely well-preserved interior, remains one of the best examples of neoclassical architecture in Jelsa. That is why the house is protected as a national cultural heritage site. The merchant family who owned it was very involved in the cultural and intellectual life of Jelsa. The last permanent resident of the house was Juraj Dobrović, an internationally renowned visual artist.
The permanent exhibition of the Dobrović house has been designed from two museum collections. This Cultural-historical collection is mostly presented on the first floor and it consists of an authentic interior specific to the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as various decorative and everyday objects that tell the story of an urban family’s life at a time of significant economic and cultural growth in Jelsa. This ambience is enriched with artwork from the Collection of prints, paintings and reliefs by Juraj Dobrović. The interaction of the rational, pure, contemplative and analytical traits that describe the artistic persona of Juraj Dobrović with the cultural and historical surroundings that were built and treasured by previous generations of the artist’s family are what make this conceptualised permanent exhibition unique. The “Kravata” gallery is located on the ground floor, where the Dobrović family used to run their textile store. Its name (Kravata – necktie) was inspired by the eponymous series of works of Juraj Dobrović.
JURAJ DOBROVIĆ is a Croatian artist born in Jelsa on 29 January 1928. He started his education in his hometown, continuing later in Bol, then Split. Finally, he moved to Zagreb where he graduated from the Faculty of Economics and Business in 1957. Four years later, in 1961, he also obtained a degree in art history at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. Dobrović did not continue down this somewhat unusual professional path of a future artist, as he never worked in any of these professions. In 1962, the artist presented himself to the public for the first time with an exhibition of metal utility objects in the Gallery of the Croatian Architects’ Association in Zagreb. Shortly afterwards, Dobrović turned his attention to works of pure art with accentuated metaphysical and spiritual properties, which classified him as a member of the New Tendencies group, an international movement which is today considered to be one of Croatia’s most famous contributions to international artistic development. As a member of the New Tendencies group, he co-authored three exhibitions – New Tendency 3 (1965), Tendencies 4 (1969), Tendencies 5 (1973). He held more than 200 exhibitions around the world among which participation in Venetian Biennale (1972) and Sao Paolo Biennale (1973) particularly stand out. Today, his works are held in national and international museums and galleries.
