[1] As a young high school graduate, Jefto Perić went to work as a photographer’s assistant in the studio of Mihailo Merćep in Zagreb.
In Munich his art teachers were Carl Johann Becker-Gundahl (1856-1925) and Hans Hoffmann, and in Paris at the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts, where his mentor was Paul Signac.
It was in Paris that he met Pavle Beljanski and numerous other distinguished Serbian intellectuals from all walks of life.
Between the two world wars Beljanski was working hard on expanding his collection, and in 1935 when Jefto Perić moved back to Belgrade, Beljanski authorized him to choose and buy pieces while he promoted the works of the artists through organizing exhibitions and writing reviews for art magazines.
The concept of the exhibition, in addition to the complex cooperation on the collector-artist relationship, is based on Perić's works created over a long period of time, from the student drawings from 1914 to the late achievements of the mature creator.