Oton Postružnik

Oton Postružnik (1900–1978) was a Croatian artist, painter, graphic artist, and ceramist. He was one of the founding members of the Earth Group artist collective in Zagreb from 1929 to 1933. He studied in Zagreb, Prague and Paris, and was a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb from 1950 to 1970. He is best known for his abstract paintings of natural subjects, such as his Leaf series.

Oton Postružnik received the Vladimir Nazor Award for lifetime achievement in 1964.

Biography

Oton Postružnik was born 26 March 1900 in Maribor, then in Austria-Hungary, today in Slovenia. His childhood was spent in Pregrada, where he completed his primary school education in 1910. Following that, he began high school in Krapina, but in 1913 the family moved to Zagreb. There, in 1915, Postružnik enrolled at the private art school of Ljubo Babić. In 1917 he participated in an anti-Hungarian demonstration, where he gave a speech, and received a warning from the authorities.