Ivan Rabuzin

Ivan Rabuzin (27 March 1921 – 18 December 2008)[1] was a Croatian naïve artist. French art critic Anatole Jakovsky described him in 1972 as "one of the greatest naïve painters of all times and countries".[2]

Ivan Rabuzin
Born	(1921-03-27)March 27, 1921 Ključ, Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes
Died	December 18, 2008(2008-12-18) (aged 87) Varaždin, Croatia
Nationality	Croatian
Known for	Painting
Movement	Naïve art

Rabuzin's father was a miner, and Ivan was the sixth of his eleven children. Ivan worked as a carpenter for many years, and did not begin painting until 1956, when he was thirty-five years old. He had little formal training as an artist, but his first solo exhibition in 1960[3] proved successful and he changed careers, becoming a professional painter in 1962.[4] His 1963 exhibition in Galerie Mona Lisa in Paris marked the beginning of the rise of his international reputation.[3]

Rabuzin's art is characterized by dense geometric patterns of vegetation and clouds that form rich, arabesque-like structures painted in gentle pastel colors.[3] His motifs were described as an "idealistic reconstruction of the world".[3] He took a stab at industrial design in the 1970s with a 500-piece run of the upscale Suomi tableware by Timo Sarpaneva that Rabuzin decorated for the German Rosenthal porcelain maker's Studio Linie.[5]

Rabuzin was active in politics as a member of Croatian Democratic Union, and from 1993 to 1999 he was also a member of the Croatian Parliament (in the second and third assemblies).

Rabuzin stopped painting in 2002 due to an illness.[2] He died on 18 December 2008 in a hospital in Varaždin, Croatia.[1]