Zenit

The international review of new art and culture Zenit (1921-1926) enjoyed a reputation in the world as the only Yugoslav avant-garde journal, which was included in the international avant-garde scene at the beginning of the 1920s. Zenit was launched by avant-garde artist Ljubomir Micić (1895-1971) in February 1921 in Zagreb. It’s been published there monthly up to 1923, and thereafter in Belgrade till the last issue in December 1926, when the magazine has been forbidden. A total of 43 issues were published, as well as one poster Zenitsmus, and one issue of daily Zenit Newspaper dated 23 Septemebr 1922. Its founder, editor and the chief ideologist of the Zenit programme was Micic, poet and art critic, whose intention was to introduce social and artistic principles of avant-garde period into Croatia and Serbia, particularly constructivism, futurism and Dadaism.

Issues

N° 1 (1921) - N° 43 (1926)

Edited by Ljubomir Micic. Besides Ljubomir Micic, other people have taken part in the editing, like Bosko Tokin, Rastko Petrovic, Branko Ve Poljanski and Ivan Goll.

Published in Zagreb (1921-1923) and Belgrade (1924-1926)

Special Numbers:

• One complete issue was devoted to young Czech artists
• N° 17/18 special issue dedicated to the new Russian Art, edited by Ilya Ehrenburg and El Lissitzky.

Contributors

The most significant authors apart from Micic were Ivan Goll, Bosko Tokin, Branko Ve Poljanski [Branko Micic], Dragan Aleksic and Marijan Mikac, Milos Crnjanski, Dusan Matic, Stanislav Vinaver, Alexander Blok, Jaroslav Seifert, Wassily Kandinsky and others. The visual contributions by Josif Klek (Josip Seissel) and Mihailo S. Petrov epitomized Zenitist art and painting.

Reprint

The monograph Zenit 1921-1926 includes studies about literary and visual culture of the Zenit, the complete chronicles of the periodical, biographies of all the contributors, a bibliography, a list of literature on Zenit and zenithism, as well as a valuable webography. The book was printed in full color, on 530 pages, and equipped with illustrations from the magazine, as well as with photographs of contemporary celebrities. Some of the photographs appear for the first time.

Literature

• Vidosava Golubovic, 'The Zenit Periodical (1921-1926)', published on the site of Zenit 1921-1926 (Belgrade 2008). [1]
• Milan Grba, 'Belgrade', in Stephen Bury (ed.), Breaking the Rules. The Printed Face of the European Avant Garde 1900-1937 (The British Library : London 2007) 74-76.
• Dragan Kujundzic and Jasna Jovanov, 'Yougo-Dada', in Gerald Janecek and Toshiharu Omuka (eds.), The Eastern Dada Orbit. Crisis and the Arts. The History of Dada, 4 (New York 1998) 58 ff.
• Irina Subotic, 'The avant-garde visionary and utopian model proposed by Ljubomir Micic and his journal Zenit', in Balkan Studies 3-4 (1996) 54-57.
• Irina Subotic, 'The Visual Culture of the Zenit Periodical and Its Publications', published on the site of Zenit 1921-1926 (Belgrade 2008). [2]
• Irina Subotic, '"Zenit" and Zenitism' / translated by Ann Vasic, in The Journal of Decorative and Propaganda Arts 17, Yugoslavian Theme Issue (Autumn 1990) 14-25.

http://digital.nb.rs/zenit/english.html
http://www.dada-companion.com/journals/per_zenit.php