Preliminary communication
https://doi.org/10.31664/zu.2022.110.04
Woman with a Rifle: Nasta Rojc’s Autoportret u lovačkom odijelu in Light of Visual Culture Studies
Srđan Tunić
; samostalni istraživač, Beograd, Srbija
Abstract
One of the iconic paintings of Croatian artist Nasta Rojc (1883–1964), Autoportret u lovačkom odijelu [Self-portrait in a hunting suit] from 1912, has been praised by researchers in the past two decades as her “life manifesto”. Researchers have argued that her self-portraits are performative and gender fluid, and made connections with the other rare few artists of the time who communicated non-heteronormative identities. As far as I know, except for Leonida Kovač, none of them utilized a visual culture approach in analysing this painting. Visual culture studies can offer new interpretations and expand on the gender and feminist discussions by taking into consideration the image of the hunters that was popular at the time. These findings can only support the claim that the painting is a strong and transgressive artistic statement in Croatia and the Balkans at the beginning of the XX century. The introductory part of the paper describes the painting and draw correlations between the artwork and Rojc’s photographs and unpublished biography. Though undeniably performative, her self-portrait is an expression of her hobby, rather than an invented identity. This is followed by a short discussion on the popular image of hunters in the Germanic world, which takes into considerations postcards, genre paintings and portraits. This image is definitely patriarchal and masculine, and creates a backdrop for the subsequent discussion about women hunters or huntresses. Based on a couple of archival photographs from Croatia and popular postcards, women were presented as hunters, but their traditional image is either as supporters of men or part of the hunt as a love interest. There is also a brief note on huntresses in Croatia today. Going back to the title painting, I conclude that Nasta Rojc’s self-portrait is original and transgressive because she inserted a non-heteronormative subject into a conventional and traditional art historical scene, as her “life manifesto.”
Keywords
Nasta Rojc; 20th century; huntress; gender studies; visual culture; representation
Hrčak ID:
294933
URI
Publication date:
1.7.2022.
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