Why is 1957 significant?
The year 1957 represents a turning point in Bekar's career in many ways, as his work is increasingly present in the context of culture and everyday life. That year, he designed the visual identity for the first in a series of international exhibitions “Family and Household”, which was accompanied by a series of promotional visuals. He published his works in professional magazines in France and Germany, and the first advertising campaigns in which he participated were published in domestic publications and media.

He also created the visual for the poster and catalogue for the 12th international exhibition of artistic photography, which was organized by the “Association of Photo and Cinema Amateurs of Yugoslavia” and held at the Art Pavilion in Zagreb, and whose exhibition project and layout was signed by renowned croatian architects Mirko Benažić and Bruno Planinšek. Bekar collaborated with both of them on other projects, especially related to the Ozeha agency.

Also, in 1957, “Fotokemika company profile”, designed by Bekar on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the factory, was published. It seems that it is still less known that Bekar was de-facto Fotokemika's in-house designer and that, in addition to the visual identity outlined in the mid-1950s, he worked on its continuous development, so we witness numerous examples of advertising campaigns, packaging and promotional materials of a wide range that he designed until the very end of the 1980s.

Exhibition setup
Bekar's oeuvre is truly extensive, and it's simply not possible to present it in its entirety — at least not at the moment, because it requires a retrospective treatment. Accordingly, we are showing some of his pieces and treating them through themes that function in the spaces in which we exhibit them.

As with any exhibition, the space dictates its final appearance. Gallery “Bernardo Bernardi” has the touch of a primordial modernist living room in which Bekar's works function quite naturally.

The work for Fotokemika is perhaps the most recognizable to professional photographers and photo enthusiasts thanks to the factory's large investment in propaganda activities in the context of domestic and international advertising.

On the example of Fotokemika, we can read the versatility of his signature, but perhaps most in the context of art. Namely, Bekar is primarily an artist - a draftsman, an illustrator, a photographer, and in his work we see how thin the border between design and art is. As he began to work professionally with photography at a very young age (and it was also part of his schooling - photochemistry), it's actually his primary medium of creation and thinking. As a technique, it may not have been prevalent in the earlier period of his work, but from the 1960s onwards he increasingly expressed himself through it, becoming the primary technique in the 1970s and 1980s.

The interested audience will be able to learn more about this topic in the book about Bekar “BEKAR Prélude” published by Croatian Designers Association (HDD).

Edited excerpt from exhibiton catalogue
written by Alira Hrabar Bekar and Dušan Bekar.

IMPRESSUM
Authors of the exhibition concept
Dušan Bekar and Alira Hrabar Bekar

All photos by Zoe Šarlija