A chance meeting with Mr. Ian
Clark, Canada’s cultural attaché attending the first solo art exhibition
of Croatian born Anton Cetin, Paris, 1968, resulted in the now internationally
recognized painter immigrating to Canada that year. He and his wife Milka
arrived in Paris, 1966, after Anton had studied mural techniques at the
School of Applied Arts, Zagreb, 1954-59, and graphic arts and painting,
Academy of Fine Arts, 1959-64. In Paris he was a freelance artist
and illustrator until French authorities told him to get a permanent job
or leave the country within months. He mentioned this to Canada’s Ian Clark,
who said if they wish, they could immigrate to Canada. Within months they
were in Toronto. There Anton worked as a freelance illustrator while creating
his archetypal Eve, “who universally represents the feminine, the spirit
of peace and harmony, the giver of life and nurturing force.” In the 1980s
he added a bird to “represent both the fragility of nature and the power
of nature in its ability to fly.” This dual theme in hundreds of his paintings
have been shown at more than 80 solo and 150 group shows world wide. His
works hang in numerous galleries and corporate boardrooms in Canada and
in more than a dozen countries, including the Vatican and his native Croatia,
where he was awarded the Order of Croatian Danica and the Order of the
Croatian Wattle by the President of Croatia, 1995. Rendered in his Toronto
studio, 1997, Hi!, an acrylic on canvas (22"x26") depicts the two strong
motifs, Eve and bird, which characterize the later paintings of Anton Cetin.
[Photo, courtesy Anton Cetin via Mel James]
