Nast Rojc – one of the first Croatian academic female painters

Self portrait in hunter suit, 1912

Nasta Rojc (1883-1964), one of the first academically educated female painters in Croatia, was born in 1883 into a wealthy family. Her father was Croatian politician Milan Rojc, a former Minister of Education. From a young age she didn’t fit the stereotype of a young girl so, after many quarrels with her family, she persuaded them to let her peruse her true calling – painting. She was mentored by the prominent Croatian painter Oton Iveković thanks to whom she became skillful enough to continue educating herself in Vienna (“Kunstschule für Frauen und Mädchen”) and Munich, alongside some of the most exquisite Croatian artists like Miroslav Kraljević and Josip Račić. She was founder, along with Lina Crnčić-Vivant of the Club of female visual artists in Zagreb, 1920. Nasta excelled at portraits and landscapes, but although she was often present in various galleries, her work was frequently overlooked.

Self portrait with Boise, cca 1908.

Here is a video shot at her retrospective in Art Pavilion in Zagreb.