Painters from Shkodra

[ Piktorët shkodranë ] – faqe në shqip

P a i n t i n g

• • Zef Kolombi
  • Andrea Kushi

Kolë IDROMENO (1860 – 1939)

— architect, sculptor, photographer, scene-painter, engineer and painter

Idromeno is the most distinguished painter of the Albanian National Renaissance period. He was born in Shkodra, where he learned the first elements of photography from Pjetër Marubi. In 1876 he stayed for some months at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice, and then worked in the studio of an Italian painter. When back in Albania (1878), he engaged himself in a number of different activities, working as an architect, sculptor, photographer, scene-painter, engineer and painter. He was the initiator of the first art exhibition in Shkodra (1923) and was represented in the first national art exhibition at Tirana (1931).

He established a very active photographic studio. Idromeno was the first to show moving pictures in Albania (1912). He had kept up a correspondence with Lumiere brothers in Paris.

His painting is very rich in details and of a highly artistic value. He created a number of ethnographic compositions. The portrait “Sister Tone” is not only his masterpiece, but also one of the best pieces of the whole Albanian fine arts. Idromeno also stands out as the first landscape painter in the modern Albanian painting school (“Courtyard of a House in Shkodra”) and as the pioneer of the realistic secular painting. His name became known abroad as well, with works represented in international exhibitions, e.g. in Budapest (1900), New York (1939) etc. His paintings are now housed in the Gallery of Fine Arts at Tirana, in Shkodra etc.

Other renowned painters emerged, such as Ndoc Martini (1880-1916), Simon Rrota (1887-1961), Andrea Kushi (1884-1959), Zef Kolombi (1907-1949)

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Zef KOLOMBI (1907 – 1949)

Kolombi is one of the most eminent figures among the old generation of Albanian painters. Born in Sarajevo into a family of Shkodra origin, he became an orphan in early childhood and grew up under the care of his grandmother in Shkodra. In search of work, he wandered about the streets of Italian and Yugoslav towns.
With the help of his compatriots he was registered as a student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, wherefrom he graduated in 1933.

Upon his return to Albania, he was given a post as a teacher of drawing in Elbasan and later in Shkodra. A part of the new generation of Albanian painters learned from him the first skills of this art.

His artistic work includes portraits, landscapes, still lifes and a small number of compositions. He is one of the most renowned painters of still life in Albanian painting. A transparency of colours, an artistic refinement and a beautiful materialization of objects mark them. Foreign specialists have appreciated his still lifes and they could stand meritoriously in the best galleries anywhere. Kolombi has also created some portraits and landscapes, penetrated by grief, expressing the author’s emotional state and the humours of his time. His works have been shown in exhibitions in various countries. They are now housed in the Gallery of Fine Arts at Tirana, Shkodra etc.

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Andrea KUSHI (1884 – 1959)

Kushi is one of the most eminent figures among the old generation of Albanian painters. Born in Shkodra, where he spent his childhood, the first impulses to a creative work he received in his birthplace, where the paintings of Idromeno were well-known. For some years he was a student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Belgrade but thereafter, during the years of the First World War, he was obliged to interrupt his studies. Upon his return to Albania, he worked as an art teacher in Elbasan. He dedicated himself to the training of young painters. In 1931 he opened the first drawing course in Tirana, which some months later became a vocational school, the first fine arts school in Albania. A. Kushi was one of the organizers of the first national art exhibition in Albania (Tirana, 1931). He has been represented in a number of national exhibitions. His works include portraits and landscapes.

The portraits tend to characterize the figure so as to reflect the character’s inner life, in which the painter often exhibits an anxiety produced by the difficulties of his time. His works are housed in the Gallery of Fine Art at Tirana and the galleries at Elbasan and Shkodra.

Taken from: Albanianculturalheritrage