Modernism in Serbia ─ The Elusive Margins of Belgrade Architecture, 1919-1941

Modernism in Serbia is the first comprehensive account of an almost forgotten body ofwork that once defined regional modernism at its best. The book reconstructs the story of Serbianmodernism as a local history within a major movement and views the buildings designed in Belgrade inthe 1920s and 1930s as part of a larger cultural phenomenon. Because so many of the buildingsdiscussed are disintegrating or have been destroyed or altered beyond recognition, the book servesnot only as a documentary and critical study but also as a preservation resource. Most of thephotographs and plans have never been published outside of Serbia, if at all.In restoring this workto its rightful place in the history of modern architecture, the book also sheds new light on anumber of other stories. These include the influence of Le Corbusier and of the Yugoslav avant-gardemovement Zenitism and the impact of international modern movements on the theoretical underpinningsof Serbian modernism. One of the subplots follows the story of the Group of Architects of the ModernMovement in Belgrade and its four founding members, Milan Zlokovic, Branislav Kojic, Jan Dubovy, andDusan Babic. Through anexamination of their work and that of other modern architects, most notablyDragisa Brasovan and Nikola Dobrovic, the book discusses the identity of Serbian modernism as it wasestablished in the period from 1925 to 1940. The book also identifies those buildings that representthe purest examples of Serbian modernism and analyzes the qualities that make them quintessentiallylocal forms while part of the larger modernist movement.Modernism in Serbia is a copublication ofthe Harvard Design School and MIT Press.

Ljiljana Blagojevic is a practicing architect and an architectural historian and theoretician. She is Lecturer at the Faculty of Architecture, University of Belgrade, and teaches at the School for History and Theory of Images in Belgrade.