Alexander Dzigurski (1911-1995) - Marina

Alexander Dzigurski (Stari Becej, 1911 – San Francisco, 1995)
Marina with the Duino Castle (Trieste)
Oil on canvas, 85 x 111 cm
With frame, 108 x 134 cm
Signed bottom right: “A. Dzigurski”

The canvas under consideration bears the signature, at the bottom right, of Alexander Dzigurski (1911–1995), a figure who stands out in the 20th-century art panorama as a painter capable of transfiguring the force of the elements into visual poetry. Born in Stari Becej, then part of Yugoslavia, to a modest peasant family, Dzigurski showed a crystallized talent early on, which the Serbian Church chose to foster, guiding him to Belgrade. Here, amid the walls of the Rakovica monastery and the classrooms of the Art School, the artist laid the foundations of a magistral technique, qualifying in 1929 and initially distinguishing himself as a sought-after portraitist and decorator of sacred buildings. However, it was the voluntary enlistment in the Royal Navy between 1939 and 1941 that marked his artistic epiphany: life at sea gave him the opportunity to study water in all its facets, understanding its movements, transparencies, and primordial power. The rapid escalation of war events and the captivity of his unit at the hands of the German army did not break his spirit; having miraculously escaped, Dzigurski embarked on a journey that took him to Vienna and finally to Italy. It was in the Friulian capital, Trieste, that his works found their first exhibition consecration and where the artist felt the magnetism of the Adriatic coast. This Italian season imparted a definitive turn to his poetics, orienting it toward a romantically rooted landscape style that would accompany him even after his move to the United States in 1949. Across the ocean, together with his wife Lenka and daughter Jelena, Dzigurski achieved extraordinary success: American collectors remained enchanted by his views of the Rocky Mountains, national parks, and the rugged coastlines of New England, recognizing in him a unique interpreter of the majesty of the New World. The painting under examination, depicting in the background the rocky promontory on which the Duino Castle rises, in the province of Trieste, represents a perfect example of his mature expressive power. In this work, the artist shuns the modernist avant-gardes to embrace a language of dynamism and executive vigor, where the wide use of the palette knife gives the surface a almost tangible vibrancy. The nickname “Poet of the Sea,” bestowed by the Chicago Tribune, seals his ability to capture the very essence of the ocean, elevating him to one of the foremost exponents of the genre. Shortly before his death in San Francisco, Dzigurski entrusted to history a reflection that today sounds like a solemn promise: “I love art. I will go away as if everyone were disappearing, but my art will outlive me.”

The frame is supplied as a courtesy gift, therefore it cannot be a reason for return or complaint.

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