Blagojevic, Ljiljana 1960-

views updated

BLAGOJEVIC, Ljiljana 1960-

PERSONAL:

Born 1960.

ADDRESSES:

Agent—c/o Author Mail, MIT Press, Five Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142-1493.

CAREER:

Architect and architectural historian. University of Belgrade, lecturer; School for History and Theory of Images, Belgrade, teacher.

WRITINGS:

Modernism in Serbia: The Elusive Margins of Belgrade Architecture, 1919-1941, MIT Press (Cambridge, MA), 2003.

SIDELIGHTS:

Architect Ljiljana Blagojevic is the author of a book on a very narrow subject, as well as the only study of its kind in English. Modernism in Serbia: The Elusive Margins of Belgrade Architecture, 1919-1941 is a collection of critical essays on a variety of related subjects, including housing, interiors, and exposition architecture. The book was published by MIT Press in cooperation with the Harvard Design School.

The buildings coverd by Glagojevic's study were built in the 1920s and 1930s, between the two world wars, and because many of them have been destroyed, changed, or are currently disintegrating, the volume is more than a study, but also a preservation resource. Most of the photographs used in the book have never been published outside Serbia, and some have never been published at all.

Blagojevic writes of the influence of Le Corbusier and the Yugoslav avant-garde movement of Zenitism, as well as international modern movements on Serbian modernism, and the impact of Milan Zlokovic, Branislav Kojic, Jan Dubovy, and Dusan Babic, founders of the Group of Architects of the Modern Movement.

Library Journal reviewer Peter Kaufman commented that the volume "commands more than local respect" and that Blagojevic "has fashioned an utterly fascinating and engaging study."