Abstract

In histories of Serbian painting Sreten Maric is listed among the protagonists of socialist realism, and that on the basis of a single article - his criticism of an exhibition staged by the Association of Visual Artists of Serbia to the benefit of wounded veterans. Without denying the historical basis for this judgment, the author of the present paper pleads for a more nuance approach and propounds the thesis that socialist realism was primarily a complex pattern of social relations, and only in the second place a substantively defined doctrine. On the basis of an insight into the relevant sources it is argued that Maric was not a theorist of socialist realism; on the other hand, an ideologue of social painting he was indeed, believing in a synthesis of Art and Revolution. By way of comparison, the figures of Miroslav Krleza and Georg Luk?cs are referred to: neither of the two was a protagonist of socialist realism, though both belonged firmly to the so-called leftist thought. U istorijama srpskog slikarstva Sreten Maric vazi za protagonistu socijalistickog realizma, i to na osnovu jednog clanka - kritike na izlozbu Udruzenja likovnih umetnika Srbije u korist ranjenih boraca. Ne poricuci istorijsku ocenu, autor pledira za nijansiraniji stav i izlaze tezu da je socijalisticki realizam bio u prvom redu jedan sklop drustvenih odnosa, pa tek onda i neka sadrzinski odredjena doktrina. Uvidom u izvore, zakljucio je da Maric nije bio teoreticar socijalistickog realizma, ali ideolog socijalnog slikarstva jeste bio, uz veru u sintezu Umetnosti i Revolucije. Za poredjenje su mu posluzili Miroslav Krleza i Georg Luk?cs: ni jedan, ni drugi nije bio protagonista socijalistickog realizma, mada su obojica pripadala cvrsto tzv. levoj misli.