The Exhibition “Radoslav’s Times” presents two parallel stories
telling about two epoques of life history in
Reprint of the Codex “Radoslav’s Gospel” was donated to the
Library of Congress by the
National Library of
The
Embassy of the
The
European Division of the Library of Congress have the
honor to present an exhibition of
The National
Library of
“Radoslav’s Times”
Two
Radoslavs - Two times
The Library of Congress
European
reading room
May 9 -
June 30, 2007,
About
the Codex “Radoslav’s Gospel”
There
are few monuments of the old Serbian manuscript heritage, largely destroyed,
that can even by their remnants so reliably testify of the value and beauty of
the whole codex as the twelve preserved leafs of Radoslav’s gospel. These
large-formatted leaves represent a part of the monumental handwritten four gospels,
produced in
About
the comic “Radoslav’s Times”
The
original diary kept by a guy named Radoslav that lived in the first half of 20
century was discovered by contemporary artist Aleksandar Zograf, who presented
it to the public in the form of a comic strip. Aleksandar Zograf is
pseudonym of Saša Rakezić, a comic-book author born in 1963
in Pančevo. His
independent comic books have been published worldwide. He cooperated with many
authors, among which Robert Crumb and Jim Woodring should be mentioned. His
affinities changed, but his style remained recognizable, placing him among
those authors whose work can be defined as the auctorial underground comic.
From
the exhibition catalogue:
Two artists and two masterly hands: Radoslav from
Athos and Aleksandar from Pančevo.
Two
chronicles: saved by a
miracle. These are two spontaneous testimonies, by two hermits, about their lives and adventures,
about two dedicated and hardy Serbs, about the fortunes and misfortunes carried
by an individual life submerged in the matrix of historical forces and
symbolical orders which prevail over real people in manifold ways. Both of them
are professionally connected to books and letters, one as a monk, and the other
as a typographer’s apprentice and later a typographer himself.
Two times:
The first half of the
fifteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century. A duration, a
span that invites thought.
Two states:
The post-Kosovo
Serbian despotism of Stefan Lazarević and the kingdom
Two great
historical tragedies, with irreversible consequences:
The death of the
wonderful knight-statesman-poet Despot Stefan and the Nazi occupation of
Two
copyists: The Inok
from Dalša copies the four gospels, the Word of God. Aleksandar from Pančevo copies and illustrates
Radoslav’s diary he found and bought for a pittance in the marketplace. The
holy and the profane, the immortal and mortal cross ways...
Two
autobiographies: Two
lives full of changes, between despair and hope, perishing and survival,
temptation and salvation. These two Serbs never give up. Five hundred years do
not divide, but unite them. As if they were one effort, one achievement, one
strength...
Radoslav’s gospel and Radoslav’s diary. Two Radoslavs. Two
men of our nation. Two ways of one life.
Five hundred years of one country, one people, one culture, one
Sreten Ugričić, Director of the
National Library of Serbia