lerka njers katalog london A5 (3)

EMBASSY OF THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA
LJERKA NJERŠ
A creative adventure in colour and re
At the Croatian Embassy Art Gallery
21 Conway Streeet, London W1T 6BN

A CREATIVE ADVENTURE IN COLOUR AND FIRE
Ljerka Njerš is one of the most versatile and internationally acclaimed Croatian
artists. Trained in ne and applied arts, she is primarily known as a ceramicist
who found her inspiration in traditional and modern techniques adapting
them to suit her rich imagination and ne sensitivity. She is not unknown to
the London public, but this time she comes to London to reveal how she is
successfully at ease with a new medium of painting on silk and remind
us of her creativity with samples of her artwork in other materials.
In preparation for her grand retrospective exhibition in the Museum
of Arts and Crafts in Zagreb in 2007, she surprised the curators with
her new venture in glass moulding and painting. It was such a
revelation that commissions followed and her amazing,
glistening glass panels ranged from table tops to precious
jewellery. In an impressive richly illustrated monograph that
followed in 2012, Ljerka was hailed for her last adventure in
glass as a pinnacle of her career. Little the authors knew that
four years later Ljerka once again will apply her creativity to
another material but retaining her style and choice of
themes. The light brush stroke imaginatively ows on a
sensuous surface of pure silk and her vibrant colours are
present in her digitally manipulated photographs.
Whichever material Ljerka works with, whichever technique
she applies, she does it with total dedication and love for her
work. She could not have expressed it better than she has
done in her artist's statement for the catalogue of her 2016
exhibition in the Studio of the Modern gallery in Zagreb:
“I have been creating since I remember. The inexhaustible
possibilities of today's technology, combined with ancient
techniques, made me simply fall in love with ceramics,
especially raku and obvara. My favourite subjects are the female
body, owers and leaves, which always have to t within a given
shape. The line of the drawing is my favourite concern. As I work I
anticipate the happiness my creation will give to the viewer. All the
beautiful things which surround me inspire me: the setting of the sun,
the impression of the leaf on wet clay…”
We are grateful to Ljerka for sharing with us the happiness of her creations.
Flora Turner-Vučetić, London, March 2018

Biographical note
Ljerka Njerš graduated in ceramics at the School of Applied Arts in Zagreb
and continued her education at the Zagreb Academy of Arts where she
majored in painting, graduating in 1961. Ever since she has worked as a
professional artist and has an impressive record of solo and collective
exhibitions at home and abroad. She has won many awards and
commendations. Ljerka is a member of the Croatian Association of Artists
and the Croatian Association of Applied Arts as well as the Society of
Designer Craftsmen in London. She has taken part at a number of
international symposia and has undertaken study tours of Austria,
Denmark, Italy, Great Britain, Hungary, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland
where she also exhibited. In 1978 she was a member of the International
jury at the “Concorso internationale della Ceramica”, Gualdo Tadino,
Italy. In Portugal she created new work at the stoneware factory Santana
and at the reputable porcelain factory, Vista Alegre in 1987-1988. In 1988
at the Curwen Studio in London headed by Stanley Jones, Ljerka
produced a series of coloured lithographs. One of them was selected for
the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition in 1989.
Her rst one woman show in London was in 1965 at the University of
London, and since then she has regularly exhibited in London's
prestigious galleries including the Woodstock gallery (1966), the
Propantera Gallery (1981), Leighton House Museum (1984), Liberty's
(1985), Foyles Art Gallery (1986), Blackman Harvey Gallery (1990), and
the Curwen Gallery (1988), to mention only some. Ljerka also participated
at auction s of Contemporary Ceramics at Christie's 1985.1986.1990. and
Bonhams 1990 , 1991 , 1994, 2002, 2006. and at MAAK in 2016.
This is her second exhibition in the Croatian Embassy Art Gallery. The rst
was in 2006, when her paintings paid tribute to the famous opera singer
Milka Ternina in connection with the exhibition in the Royal Opera House.
Ljerka has contributed to the exhibitions and events in the UK organised
by her sister Lady Jadranka Beresford-Peirse on behalf of the International
Trust for Croatian Monuments.
She lives and works in Zagreb.
www.ljerkanjers.com
Open to the public until 3 May / Monday to Friday 10 am to 4pm
except Tuesday 1st of May when the Embassy is closed
RSVP acceptances only to: vrhlon@mvep.hr