GALLERY OF CHILDREN’S PRINTS OF THE RATKOVO GRAPHIC ART SCHOOL – ANKICA IŽAK – Ratkovo

The Gallery of Children’s Prints of the Ankica Ižak School of Graphic Art in Ratkovo was established in recognition of the outstanding achievements of the graphic arts section at Ratkovo Primary School. As the gallery’s name suggests, much of the credit for these achievements belongs to Ankica Ižak, an art teacher at ‘Ratko Pavlović-Ćićko’ Primary School, where she worked from 1959 onwards.

After mastering an old, long-forgotten and exceptionally demanding artistic technique – multicolour printmaking, which is now practised by very few artists worldwide – her creative work flourished. The technique involves producing linocuts from a single block, with more than twenty printed colours and shades. The prints are made by hand, without the use of a printing press, and the block cannot be reused afterwards. The result is a small number of unique, one-of-a-kind prints.

Today, children’s artworks from Ratkovo adorn the entrance hall and corridors of their school, as well as the premises of numerous hospitals, institutions, galleries, businesses and military barracks. They have also featured on UNICEF greeting cards, in textbooks and children’s magazines, not only in Serbia but across four continents.

Photo credit: Tourism Organisation of the Municipality of Odžaci