The MoCAB’s library and documentation department has the most exhaustive collection of materials pertaining to the 20th and 21st century arts in Yugoslavia, Serbia, and the region.
Its collection hold various pieces of specialist literature: books, exhibition catalogues, periodical publications, as well as e-publications by national and foreign authors from the field of history and art theory, contemporary art, philosophy, aesthetics, architecture, design, film, etc.
The library contains 5,700 books, collection of 24,000 catalogues of exhibitions held at home and abroad, and some 380 titles of the Yugoslav and foreign specialist periodicals from 1900 until today. A special section within the library is made up of the collection of rare editions encompassing the most important publications from the first half of the 20th century: the avant-garde editions such as the magazine Zenit and other Zenitist publications (Arhipenko nova plastika [Archipenko―New Plasticism], Manifest [The Manifesto], Istočni greh [Eastern Sin] by Ljubomir Micić), Crveni petao [Red Rooster] and Tumbe [Toombeh] by Branko Ve Poljanski, and other), the Surrealist editions (Nemenikuće / Ćirilo i Metodije [Nemenikuće / Cyril & Methodius] by Aleksandar Vučo, Turpituda by Marko Ristić, magazines Nemoguće [Impossible], Nadrealizam danas i ovde [Surrealism Here and Now], Putevi [Roads], Svedočanstva [Testimonies], and other), and also the lithograph series Ribari (Fishermen) by Mirko Kujačić (1934), along several series of drawings by Ljubomir Ivanović (created from 1931 to 1935). From the period during and immediatly after the WWII, the most important editions include Jama (The Pit) by Ivan Goran Kovačić, illustrated by Edo Murtić and Zlatko Prica, and 12 woodcut series Za slobodu (For Freedom) by Đorđe Andrejević Kun.
The content of the hemerotheque collection is particularly valuable. It comprises newspaper documentation, news clippings related to the Yugoslav and Serbian artists, exhibitions, art critique, institutions, and so forth. The news clippings are arranged according to respective subject matter and artist records.
Within the collection’s framework there is also photodocumentation, composed of photos, negatives, contact prints, and slides, of the artworks from the MoCAB collections. In addition, there is a large number of videos of exhibition preparations, exhibition views and openings, alongside other events related to the institution’s activity. The photodocumentation also contains photos made for the needs of the Studio for Conservation and Restoration.
The library is opened for visit by professional public, on appointment, each working day from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Contact:
phone: +381 11 367 62 90
biblioteka@msub.org.rs
