Julije Knifer: Collages for Meanders

A geometric motif pursued through collage by a celebrated Croatian protagonist of concrete artCroatian artist Julije Knifer (1924-2004) is recognized as one of the most prominent artists related to concrete art after 1945, as well as a founding member of the 1960s art collective known as the Gorgona Group. Over a career spanning five decades, Knifer developed a singularly restrained practice focusing on the variation of a single visual motif: the meander. Knifer's meanders have been interpreted differently depending on the period in which they appeared: first in the context of geometric abstraction and neo-constructivism of the "New Tendencies" of the 1960s. Today, they are more often understood as a gesture of resistance, with their asceticism and interest in the absurdism of anti-art and the neo avant-garde. This book focuses on a group of collages, produced in the late 1950s and early 1960s, that illustrates the development of the meander motif at a pivotal moment in Knifer's career.