Bosnian and Herzegovinan art
Herzegovina was highly influenced by the impresso ceramics from the Western Mediterranean, as seen in Green Cave near Mostar, Čairi near Stolac, Lisičići near Konjic and Peć Mlini near Grude.
Because of these influences, Kakanj culture is considered part of a wide circle of Neolithic tribes that followed a cult of life force (from northern Italy, Dalmatia and Epirus to Aegean).
The bronze culture of the Illyrians, an ethnic group with a distinct art form, started to organize itself in what is today Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In the 4th century BC, the first Celts arrived in the region, bringing with them the technique of the pottery wheel, new types of fibulas and different bronze and iron belts.
The Neretva Delta in the South was heavily dominated by Hellenistic influences of the Daors, an Illyrian tribe who had their capital in Daorson near Stolac.
[4] The complex of step sanctuary in Gradac near Posušje from year 184 AD had marble temple dedicated to recently deceased emperor Marcus Aurelius.
From the earliest times of Bosnian Kingdom the nobility was buried in large necropolises near roads with graves marked by monumental tombstones (stećak).
Misal Hrvoja Vukčića Hrvatinića - a liturgical book of the Bosnian duke and ruler of Dalmatia - Hrvoje Vukčić Hrvatinić, today in Istanbul, is colourfully painted with many details of knightly culture.
Sarajevo is an example of a non-urban open city where the most important buildings are organized around one veining street, a čaršija (Persian chahar-su meaning all four sides).
The bridge is an important part of Islamic art, not only because of the great skill required of an architect, but because of its symbolic meaning a mediator between Heaven and Earth.
In Bosnian Islamic architecture, stone is reserved for religious, public buildings and fortifications, while private houses were built out of wood and ćerpić (native simple bonding material made of clay and straw).
After Bosnia became part of Austro-Hungarian, the region's art scene witnessed an intensification of activity as cities modernized and changed in structure.
The first Bosnian artists were educated in large European academies in Vienna, Munic, Prague, Kraków, Budapest and Paris, thanks to scholarships of cultural societies like Prosvjeta and Napredak.
Artists like Atanasije Popović, Lazar Drljača, Gabrijel Jurkić, Branko Radulović, Petar Šain etc., are influenced by academism with slight touches of Impressionism, Art Nouveau, and pointillism.
Mijić and Đoko Mazalić founded an art association called Krug (The Circle) with a strong focus on urban aesthetics of nature.
Those buildings were uniting function, content and form, without unnecessary plastic decoration, and with a simple rhythm of windows and modern constructions.
Even the Communist State changed its feeling toward modern art by commissioning large abstract monuments dedicated to famous battles in The War (Sutjeska, Kozara, Makljen etc.).
[6] In the 1970s, an art expression inspired by old Bosnian culture and tradition appeared in the graphic work of Dževad Hozo and in the paintings of Mehmed Zaimović, Seid Hasanefendić and Mersad Berber.
