Photoarchives
Contact:
Irena Šimić
P. +385 1 6112 046
E. isimic@ipu.hr
About the origins and the scope of work
The Photographic Unit is a unit responsible for the gathering, processing and providing user support for photographic material, and it serves as expert infrastructural support to research programmes of the IAH and other scientific research programmes, as well as for museums, galleries and educational institutions in Croatia.
The Photographic Collection, gathering holdings which have been collected from the very establishment of the IAH (in 1961), nowadays represents a significant collection of photographic documentation regarding the research of art works and cultural heritage (painting, sculpture, architecture and arts and crafts).
Throughout the years, IAH Photographic Unit has employed a number of top Croatian photographers: Nenad Gattin, Mihael Ostrovidov, Branko Balić, Krešimir Tadić as well as Ante Rendić Miočević, Višnja Crnolatac, Vjekoslav Urukalović, Slobodan Tadić, Igor Nikolić, Jovan Kliska, Milan Drmić and, presently Paolo Mofardin (photographer and photographic lab technician).
Systematization and processing of the Photographic Collection started in 1966, when Ivanka Reberski launched the project entitled "Fundamental Documentation for Art History", with the Collection as an integral part of it. In processing the documentation, great contribution was made by Đurđa Kovačić, Nada Grujić, Vlasta Zajec, Marinka Fruk and other researchers. Special credit for the formation of the Collection belongs to Branko Balić, whose oeuvre is kept as a separate collection (Branko Balić Photoarchives) and to Krešimir Tadić, whose records of cultural heritage remained preserved in the Photographic Collection, and are still actively used in scientific research and for other purposes.
Here you can download the catalogue with a selection from the Photoarchives depicting art (painting and sculpture) in Croatia from 12th till mid-20th century.
Content
The Photographic Collection holds approximately 60,000 mostly b/w negatives of various format, of which over 25,000 capture paintings and sculptures systematically arranged by names of artists (over 1,200 authors). Approximately 29,000 negatives of built heritage are systematically arranged by alphabetical order according to site (around 1,000 sites, mostly part of the Republic of Croatia), with Koprivnica, Križevci, Ludbreg, Karlovac, Rijeka, Zagreb, and Dubrovnik distinguished as individual units. The collection also includes over 15,000 printed photographs (searchable by names of artists and/or sites) and 1,000 diacolors (format 6x6 and Leica). The processed material is searchable through database.
Since 2003, the Institute implemented digital photo equipment as a standard; photos are systematized and processed using Adobe products and are accessible to Institute employees and associate scholars through the Modulor repository and platform (since 2016).
Photoarchives Nenad Gattin and Branko Balić
Personal legacies of Nenad Gattin (since 2016) and Branko Balić (since 1977) form special photographic collections as part of IAH's Photoarchives.
Photographic documentation donated by IAH researchers
The donation bequeathed by Prof. Radovan Ivančević (2007/2008) holds around 22,000 negatives and diapositives of Croatian and international monuments, as well as TV recordings, which are a valuable resource for researchers and educators.
The donation bequeathed by Đurđica Cvitanović (2010) holds original photographic documentation that was used in the preparation of numerous studies and publications of the scientist (larger units being Zagreb, Požega, Karlovac, Pokupsko, Paulines). The donation is in the primary stage of curation and is not available to external users.
Photographic documentation, as part of the donation bequeathed by Olga Maruševski (2009), is stored within the Photographic Collection and is in the primary stage of curation.
The donation bequeathed by Miljenka Fischer, which has gone through the primary stage of systematization, holds photographic and other documentation referring to larger research units of Križevci, Koprivnica, Bjelovac, Petrinja, Čazma, Čakovec, Karlovac, and Virovitica.
Photographic documentation held as part of Grgo Gamulin Collection includes mostly the documentation used for the synthesis of 19th and 20th century Croatian painting, that remains a significant contribution to the knowledge on these periods of Croatian art.
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Instructions and lists (only in Croatian):
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Download:
- Katalog 2011. (pdf 34 MB)