Uros Predic's Studio

The Studio

The house was built in 1908 as a family storey house, according to the design of a prominent architect Nikola Nestorović Richly decorated front facade of the house, with the friezes of the grape vine, floral wreaths twisted around the medallions, is one of the most interesting examples of implementation of the secession in Belgrade architecture from the beginning of the 20th century .The studio in which the painter was working and creating, was additionally build next to the already existing building on the yard side. Of a modest size with huge glass windows and a small balcony, the studio was the meeting place for the most influential persons from the world of art of that time. After the death of Uroš Predić, the studio was used, in different periods, by the famous artists Miodrag B. Protić, the painters Stojan Ćelić and Đorđe Ivačković, after whose death in 2012, the studio was again the property of the family. Uroš Predić`s studio, as the space the great artist used to live and create in, along with the artistic legacy, is part of the special monumental values of the memorial character in Belgrade.

Education

An interesting and versatile personality of Uroš Predić, along with the extremely important role in the development of our Fine Arts, will remain recorded through numerous letters, diaries, correspondences with many famous persons, young artists, family members, which represent a kind of chronicle of society of that time, but also a material which testifies about a highly educated and respected man he was. Uroš Predić (1857–1953) was born in Orlovat, in Banat, in a patriarchal family. Along his father being a cleric, his mother Marija had the most important role in his further education. Her death left a noticeable trace in his life. After graduating from the painting Academy in Vienna in 1880, where he stood out for his talent, and very soon became one of the best students, he used to live and create in his birthplace Orlovat, in Novi Sad, Novi Bečej and in Belgrade, where he remained for the rest of his long working life.

Fine Arts Creativity

Along with Paja Jovanović the painter Uroš Predić is the most important representative of Serbian academic realism. He is the author of numerous portraits, genre scenes, historical compositions and religious contents. Some of his most important works are: “The Children Under the Mulberry Tree”, “An orphan on the Mother`s Grave”, “Kosovo Maiden”… The Chapel of Bogdan Dunđerski, the painter`s best friend, an orthodox church in Bečej, the Chapel on Lovćen all testify about the author`s extraordinary artistic craft in the field of sacral painting. Uroš Predić worked for 44 years in his studio in Belgrade, until 11 February 1953, when he died in an old age. All saved objects, letters, paintings, the easel, painter`s personal belongings, were given for safekeeping to The National Museum in Zrenjanin, and one part remained in the possession of the members of the closest family. He was buried in his birthplace Orlovat.