(Social) Realism: Albania

Kol Idromeno (1860 – 1939)
Kol 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.
http://www.shkoder.net/en/painters.htm







Nexhmedin Zajmi (1916)
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Tregim nga lufta nacional-çlirimtare 1954









Kel Kodheli (1920)








Vilson Halimi (1931)
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Shoke Lufte, Shoke Jete 1974





Sali Shijaku (1933)
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Punetoret ne studion e piktorit 1974




Shaban Hysa (1936)
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Themelimi i Partisë 1974




Dhimitraq Trebicka (1936)
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Pas Qitjes 1973




Spiro Kristo (1936)
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Femijet 1966




Sotir Capo (1936)







Shaban Hysa (1938)
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Further 1966






World (Social) Realist Art (Index of Countries)
This blog page is part of an ongoing project by artist and part-time lecturer Caoimhghin Ó Croidheáin (http://gaelart.net/) to explore Realist / Social Realist art from around the world. The term Realism is used in its broadest sense to include 19th century Realism and Naturalism as well as 20th century Impressionism (which after all was following in the path of Courbet and Millet). Social Realism covers art that seeks to examine the living and working conditions of ordinary people (examples include German Expressionism, American Ashcan School and the Mexican Muralists).

Click here for (Social) Realist Art Definitions, World (Social) Realism and Global Solidarity, Art and Politics, Social Realism in history and Country Index.

Suggestions for appropriate artists from around the world welcome to caoimhghin@yahoo.com.