Brkan & Betina – Photography Exhibition from the Collection of the Gallery of Fine Arts of the National Museum in Zadar, provides an insight into Ante Brkan’s impressions of Betina, captured during his three visits to the town in the second half of the 1950s. Besides the photographs depicting the landscapes of the town, residential, sacral and public architecture, and portraits of its citizens, this exhibition includes rather valuable shots testifying about the importance of shipbuilding in Betina in the middle of the last century, and those who contributed to the creation of that heritage as well.
Ante Brkan (1918-2004) was a multi-award winning photographer from Zadar, one of the founders of the international photography exhibition ”Man and the Sea” (together with his brother Zvonimir), and the first professional photo journalist in Zadar.
Gallery of Fine Arts of the National Museum in Zadar currently owns the collection of Ante Brkan’s black and white negatives that date to the period the author spent working as a photojournalist for ”Narodni List,” a weekly published in Zadar (1958-1983). Photographs chosen for Brkan & Betina exhibition belong to this rich collection of approximately 30 000 negatives.
The creation of our museum’s permanent exhibition was made possible thanks to the photographs owned by Betina Shipyard that the author had taken during his three visits to Betina in the period mentioned beforehand. These photographs complete the narration of the history of shipbuilding in Betina in the 20th century.
With this exhibition, executed in collaboration with the Gallery of Fine Arts of the National Museum in Zadar, Betina Museum of Wooden Shipbuilding joins the 100th Anniversary of the birth of photographer Ante Brkan.
Marko Jović and curator and the head of Gallery of Fine Arts, Nevena Štokić, are responsible for the selection of photographs, concept of the exhibition, and its arrangement.
See you this Monday, the 2nd of July, at 20:00 for the opening night! Exhibition will be open until the 1st of August.