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Jack Franjevic

THE MODERNIST,
THE VISIONARY

— 1 9 4 0 ’ S T H R O U G H E A R LY 1 9 9 0 ’ S —

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JACK
FRANJEVIC

M ilwaukee, Wisconsin, nineteen In the mid–forties, after the war ended, Jack met
twenty-four, an artist was born— and married Pauline Popovich. She lived in Great
Jack Norman Franjevic—the son of Falls, Montana where Franjevic was stationed post
Josephine and Norman who had emigrated from World War. Shortly after that, they moved brief-
Europe a few years prior to his birth. His father ly to Milwaukee and then onto to Chicago where
worked for the Milwaukee Road railroad and was Jack attended the Chicago Art Institute in the ear-
a union leader. Josephine was a busy homemak- ly nineteen fifties. Chicago fired his imagination
er and mother, raising Jack and his sister Ruth as the city became one of his first artistic subjects,
through the great depression. from its beautiful parks to its busy business center
(The Loop) to the famous L-Train—he captured
When World War II broke out, Franjevic Chicago like a jazz musician.
joined the Army Air Corps where he flew cargo
planes over the infamous “Hump” (Himalayas) to In the late 1950’s, they packed their bags and
supply our forces in China. It was horrific duty, their three kids and headed for Iowa where Fran-
but he survived. jevic would teach art at Grinnell College, often

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called the Ivy League of the Midwest. But, a few The seventies and eighties were Franjevic’s most
years later they headed back to Great Falls where prolific years. He not only produced a staggering
Franjevic accepted a professorship at a new liberal amount of paintings, but created metal sculptures
arts school—the College of Great Falls. and pottery while teaching full-time. He had an
impact on many students, encouraging them to go
Over the next 30 years, Franjevic would on with art, even if it wasn’t practical.
teach, create, raise five kids with Polly, his loving,
hard-working wife. A new decade, the nineties, found his energies
waning. He retired in nineteen ninety, and, a year
In nineteen sixty-nine, he took a sabbatical to later, was diagnosed with Alzheimers. Even with
Europe. He and Polly spent the summer, travel- dementia, he kept creating. His final paintings
ing through England, France, Germany, Italy and were child-like in their simplicity, as if he were
other countries. Franjevic took pictures every- reaching back in order to embrace the end.
where. He’d taken over a hundred photo-slides
and, when he got back, he would innovate a new In nineteen ninety-two Jack Franjevic passed
media form—photostat on canvas, transferring away. He left the world his life’s work—over four
photo images onto silkscreen onto canvas. Real- decades of timeless, visionary art.
ism meets abstraction – real images superimposed
on abstract backgrounds. It was a break through.

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Jack with Polly, his wife, at a wedding in 1959

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I.

T H E E A R LY
YEARS

(1940–1959)

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Illinois Farm Illinois Farm is a landscape depicting rolling hills,
a farmhouse and barn. Though he was born ‘n
1948 raised in the city (Milwaukee, Wisconsin), he
Watercolor loved the country and many of his pieces depict
24” x 19” rural landscapes.

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The Loop – Chicago The Loop - Chicago is a depiction of one of the
Windy City’s largest business districts. It was
Early 1950’s painted during the time Franjevic spent in Chica-
Watercolor go, attending the Art Institute.
21” x 17”

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Roadside Madonna

1951
Oil
30” x 40”

Roadside Madonna is another of many 1950’s
paintings Franjevic produced during the prolif-
ic years late 40’s to mid-50’s. Madonna fits into
the many religious themes he explored during
this period.

Blue Mountain

1951
Oil
24” x 29.5”

Blue Mountain is an early Franjevic piece, depict-
ing the statue of an iconic religious figure standing
in a European town square, with the mountains as
a backdrop.

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Bombardment of Village

1952
Oil
24” x 38”

Bombardment of Village depicts exactly that—a
village set a fire by bombers barely visible in the
right hand corner of the painting. Franjevic flew
the Hump—cargo missions over the Himalayas
into China, so he knew the hell of war. He was
a radio operator / navigator in cargo flights at the
mercy of the mountains, the blind white horizon
and Japanese Zeros. This is the only depiction of
war he ever rendered on canvas. He rarely spoke of
his war experiences.

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Port on the Adriatic

1952
Oil
36” x 30”

Port on the Adriatic is another early depiction of
Europe, which had quite a hold on him through-
out the years. The painting is rendered in a bur-
gundy, rust with some detail of blue – interesting
color choices.

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Melting Snow This piece depicts the smelter located in Black
Eagle across the Missouri River from Great Falls,
1952 MT. This view (pointing north from the prairie)
Oil was a favored location and provided inspiration
30” x 20” for much of his art in the late 40’s and early 50’s.
Melting Snow is one of the few surviving pieces of
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Twilight

1956
Oil
20” x 26.5”

Twilight depicts the haunting image of two monks
walking to the monastery late at night. The mood
of the piece is dark, mysterious, spiritual, as they
will pass the cross of Jesus into the hollows of
the monastery.

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Blue Icon

1950’s
Oil
51” x 24”

Blue Icon is a haunting abstract of Jesus on the
cross. The split in images from the cross to a dark
cubist space evoke a haunting, spiritual atmo-
sphere.

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