Janko

Domsic

1915 - 1983

Croatia

Domsic

We know almost nothing of Janko Domsic’s life or the circumstances of his arrival in France. He probably spent some time in prison and in 1935 worked on the construction of a railroad. When in Paris, he lived in misery in a sordid building. He was in conflict with the Social Security system about his old age pension and with others who would have robbed him of his writings.
Domsic draws and writes with colour pencils, ballpoint pens and felt-tip pens. His drawings teem with writings in French, but sometimes also in Croatian and German. With the exception of some information from his personal life, Nazi songs and religious writings, most of his vocabulary refers to mystic ideas, to the moral code of freemasons as well as to economy. The pentagram, swastika and hyphens embellish the drawings as well as are part of the figures stretched to extreme. The lines are joined together and form a labyrinth with no way out.  He died in 1983, taking with him the secrets of his art. His work is in major collections of art brut in the world.

  • Séminaire sur l’art brut. Actes 1:De quoi parle l'art brut ?, sous la direction de Barbara Safarova, Bresson, abcd.www.abcd-artbrut.net, 2012.

  • Arte bruta, terra incognita, catalogue d’exposition, (collection Treger-Saint Silvestre Lisbonne, 20 Avril 2012 au 23 Septembre 2012 à la Fondation Arpad-Szenses – Viera Da Silva), textes de Christian Berst, Marina Bairrao Ruivo, Antonio Saint Silvestre, Paris, lelivredart, 2012.

 

  • Françoise Monnin, L'art brut, Nouvelles éditions SCALA, Paris, 2012.


  • « L'Art Brut aujourd'hui », Artension, Hors Série n°4, septembre 2010.

  • Outsider Art, Source Book, Art brut, folk art, outsider art, Raw vision Ltd, 2009.

 

  • Janko Domsic, Le Mécanicien Céleste, catalogue d'exposition (17 octobre – 22 novembre 2008, galerie christian berst) Paris, galerie christian berst, 2008.

 

  • Art Brut, Collection abcd, catalogue de l’exposition « art brut, sbirka abcd » à la galerie de la ville de Prague (14 juin -10 septembre 2006), abcd les éditions, 2006.

 

  • Beautés insensées/ Oltre la ragione, Bianca Tossati dir., Paris/Milan, Scala, 2006.

 

  • Lucienne Peiry, L’Art Brut, Paris, Flammarion, Coll. « Tout l’art », 1997, 2006.

 

  • In Another World/ Omissa Maailmoissa, Arja Elovirta dir., Helsinki, Kiasma, 2005.

 

  • Jean-Louis Lanoux, « Pantins et Pentacles : l'apocalypse selon Domsic » in abcd, le journal n°2, Montreuil, 2005.

 

  • A corps perdu, ABCD, une collection de l’art brut, catalogue d'exposition (Paris, Pavillon des arts, 30 avril - 26 septembre 2004), Paris, Paris musées, 2004.

 

  • Michel Thévoz, Collection de l'Art Brut, Lausanne, Lausanne, Musées Suisse, 2001.

 

  • La Fabuloserie, Art Hors-les-normes, Art Brut, catalogue, Dicy, 2001.

 

  • Abcd une collection d’art brut, Arles, Actes Sud / [Paris] ABCD, 2000.

 

  • Zora Fitting, « Yanco Domsic », Fascicule de l’Art brut n°16, Paris, Compagnie de l’Art Brut, 1990.
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