Biography
Milan Pelc was born 1958 in Sisak, Croatia. He graduated German Language and Literature, and Art History in 1984 at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb. He obtain a Masters degree at the same faculty in 1988 with a thesis entitled “Ilustracije hrvatskih protestantskih knjiga tisaknih u Urachu 1561.–1565.” (Illustrations in Croatian Protestant Volumes Printed in Urach 1561–1565).
Since 1992 he holds a PhD obtained at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb after submitting a dissertation on life and works of Martin Rota Kolunić, a 16thcentury engraver from Šibenik “Život i djela šibenskog bakroresca Martina Rote Kolunića (oko 1540.–1583.)”.
Starting in June 1985 until the end of 1988, he worked as a librarian at the department of old and rare books and manuscripts at the Croatian National and University Library in Zagreb. He worked as an assistant lecturer at the Department of Art History at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb from January 1989 until February 1993. In March 1993 he was offered a position at the Institute of Art history in Zagreb. In 2003 he was appointed director of the Institute, and he has held the position since.
He also teaches the subject Visual Culture at the Design Studies at the Faculty of Architecture in Zagreb.
He was awarded three fellowships by the A. von Humboldt Foundation, first in 1994–1995 at the University of Tübingen, then in 2005 and again in 2008 at the Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte in Munich. He spent some time as a fellow of the Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbüttel on several occasions, and he has also made study visits to Paris, London, Florence and Vienna.
His scientific research is mostly focused on the areas of European and Croatian prints and book illustrations during the early modern period (1400–1700), Croatian prints in the 19th and early 20th centuries, Renaissance in Croatia and Europe, History and Theory of Art History, and the history of books and visual media.
His activities include translating various books and articles on Art History by German authors into Croatian.
He has held series of lectures in Croatia and abroad, as well as at numerous national and international scientific and academic conferences gave numerous invited lectures at national and international academic institutions (Tübingen, Prague, Graz, Hamburg, Leipzig, Jerusalem, Ljubljana). He also organised several exhibitions of Croatian historical graphics.
In addition, he is the editor of a book series entitled Mala biblioteka Instituta za povijest umjetnosti (A Little Book Collection by the Institute of Art History) comprising a number of Theories of Art.
Moreover, he is a distinguished member of the international editorial boards of a Slovenian illustrated scholarly journal Acta Historiae Artis Slovenica (Ljubljana), and ARS (Bratislava), the journal of Institute of Art History of Slovak Academy of Sciences.
Since 1980s he published over a hundred scholary papers published in conference proceedings and domestic and foreign periodicals.
Awards
2008
Award „Radovan Ivančević“ of the Croatian society of art historians for the book Renesansa (Ljevak, 2008)
Award „Oton Kučera“ of Matica Hrvatska
Award „Josip Juraj Strossmayer“ of Croatian academy of sciences and arts and Zagreb Fair
Award „Kiklop“ by Pula book and authors festival
1999
National award for science by the Republic of Croatia
Bibliography (selected books)
Theatrum humanum. Ilustrirani letci i grafika 17. stoljeća kao zrcalo vremena. Primjeri iz Valvasorove grafičke zbirke Nadbiskupije zagrebačke, Ljevak, Zagreb, 2013.
Povijest umjetnosti u Hrvatskoj, Naklada Ljevak, Zagreb, 2012.
Iconotheca Valvasoriana, sv. VI, Fundacija Janez Vajkard Valvasor, Ljubljana, 2008.
Renesansa, edicija Povijest umjetnosti u Hrvatskoj, Naklada Ljevak, Zagreb, 2007.
Iconotheca Valvasoriana, sv. VII, Fundacija Janez Vajkard Valvasor, Ljubljana, 2005.
Iconotheca Valvasoriana, sv. VIII, Fundacija Janez Vajkard Valvasor, Ljubljana, 2005.
Horacije Fortezza, šibenski zlatar i graver 16. stoljeća, Institut za povijest umjetnosti – Gradska knjižnica Juraj Šižgorić, Zagreb, Šibenik, 2004.
Martin Rota Kolunić – Natale Bonifacio, djela u hrvatskim zbirkama, Kabinet grafike Hrvatske akademije znanosti i umjetnosti, Zagreb, 2003.
Illustrium imagines. Das Porträtbuch der Renaissance, Brill Academic Publishers, Leiden, 2002.
Pismo. Knjiga. Slika. Uvod u povijest informacijske kulture, Golden Marketing, Zagreb, 2002.
Fontes Clovianae. Julije Klović u dokumentima svoga doba, Matica Hrvatska, Zagreb, 1998.
Martin Rota Kolunić, Nacionalna i sveučilišna knjižnica, Zagreb, 1997.
Natale Bonifacio, Institut za povijest umjetnosti Zagreb i Gradska knjižnica „Juraj Šižgorić“ Šibenik, Zagreb, 1997.
Juraj Julije Klović u grafici, katalog izložbe, Kabinet grafike Hrvatske Akademije znanosti i umjetnosti, Zagreb 1997. (englesko izdanje: Prints after Gulio Clovio)
Biblija priprostih. Ilustracije hrvatskih i slovenskih protestantskih knjiga 16. stoljeća, Institut za povijest umjetnosti, Zagreb, 1991.