Diplomatic Ties

Serbian-born Paris-educated lawyer Pavle Beljanski (1892-1965) spent the first half of the twentieth century in diplomatic service in Stockholm, Warsaw, Berlin, Vienna, Rome and Paris. During his extended stations in Paris he was exposed to the latest trends in modernist visual art - a subject that had long held his interest. He also met and befriended many Serbian artists and writers who had gone to France to study and develop their artistic practices. By the end of World War II, Beljanski had amassed the most extensive collection of Serbian modernist art - a cohesive opus that he bequeathed to the city of Novi Sad and the people of Vojvodina. This study examines a quarter of the collection: forty-six objects by seven female artists.