JOSIP PINTARIC PUCO (XX CENTURY) The observer

signed and dated ‘Pintarić Puco 1981’ (lower right) oil on canvas 55 x 39 cm Josip Pintaric Puco was born on 19 March 1927 in Mala (Nova Gradiska), Croatia, into a family of ten children. Initially a wood engraver, he started painting on glass in 1960 and started using oil paint in 1962. A talented painter and musician, he did not care about world fame, he defined himself as an amateur canvas painter. After his first solo exhibition in Nova Gradiska in 1963, he regularly exhibited his work, both solo and in groups, in many cities in Croatia, the former Yugoslavia and the world. In his large-format paintings, now in galleries and museums all over the world, from Sydney to New York, the naive artist describes his beloved region. Dealing with simple subjects such as nature and the customs of peasant life, taking care of the drawing in the smallest details, the whole representation is the result of a complex system of lines, arabesques. Colour also plays its part in the choice of soft opalescent hues. He is considered one of the major representatives of Croatian naive art.