Monday, April 29, 2013

Y is for Yugoslavia.

"Visit Yugoslavia."  The Yugoslavia for which this poster was created is no more. The artist, Janez Trpin, (1908-1973), created the poster in 1935 for Putnik, Yugoslavia's first travel agency.  Check out Christie's auction site.  If you have any original prints of other posters by him, they could be worth over $1800.

Janez Trpin c. 1935  Dover  Press
During the early 1990's, the Socialist Federation of Yugoslavia experienced a series of political conflicts and what were called "The Yugoslav Wars."  Since 1995, and the Dayton Peace Accords, Yugoslavia was realigned into seven separate states, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia. Kosovo is still a troubled region with conflict over borders. The problems with the former country of Yugoslavia involve older ethnic and religious ties and are complex.

"Yugo-nostalgia" is present in some areas when people yearn for the socialist system and the security it gave them and many still feel they are "Yugoslavs," a bit like Russians yearning for the "good old Socialist days."

I don't know anything about printing, but I noticed in this poster that there are multiple colors, and I think you have to have a separate plate for each color which must have been difficult.  It is striking, though.

7 comments:

  1. It's very striking. I love all the colors.

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    1. Hi Dana: Well, we are finally winding down. One more. . .

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  2. it is brilliant----i dreamed about yugoslavia a lot when i was young, for i knew this very kind lady, near my aunt's house---she was yugoslavian---she would tell many fascinating stories, and i loved her wonderful accent :)

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  3. Can you imagine being born in a country that is no longer?

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  4. Yes, that is a very vibrant poster. The conflicts were terrible following the breakdown of Yugoslavia.

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  5. Very informative post. Thanks for the history.

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  6. Thanks Nick and Heidi: The aftermath of the breakup of Yugoslavia was horrendous -- all the ethnic resentments bubbled up, wholesale slaughter.

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