Lilya Pavlovic-Dear (born 1947) is a French-American painter, printmaker, photographer, and video artist. She has participated in more than 200 group shows and 60 solo shows.
Life and education Pavlovic-Dear was born on 30 May 1947 in Topola-Oplenac, Yugoslavia (now Serbia). In 1970 she graduated with a BA in Fresco, Painting and Mosaic at the Academy of Applied Arts in Belgrade. Obtaining a scholarship from the British Council, in 1973 she graduated as a Master of Fine Arts in Printmaking from Chelsea College of Arts, London. In 1974 she moved to Los Angeles where she exhibited and taught at UCLA from 1974 to 1977.
Work The main themes of Pavlovic-Dear's work are organic structures, maps of the world, Marco Polo on the Silk Road, angels, and water. Nature and ecology have always been present in her work and have oriented it for the last 50 years.
In the San Francisco Chronicle art critic Thomas Albright wrote of Pavlovic-Dear's work: "Imagine a cross between Dubuffet, Escher, and William T. Wiley. Lilya is a kind of landscapist of the inner psyche whose principal tools are an intricate, all-encompassing web-like structure and a fantastic quality of interior space." The art critic Pierre Rouve said of her show at Bradford University: "She portrays the unspoken and the unspeakable".
In 2007 Pavlovic-Dear published the book Marco Polo on the Silk Road, receiving the Grand European Prize Botticelli for it in 2008. In 2010 she published a retrospective book on her career entitled Lilya Pavlovic-Dear: Art Works 1970-2010.
Since 2019 Pavlovic-Dear has been a contributing expert to the Silk Sustainable Development Institution, a think tank based in Washington D.C..
Personal life Pavlovic-Dear married Richard Hamilton Bryarlie Dear Junior in 1975, and they have three daughters: Natasha, Katarina, and Alexandra. Pavlovic-Dear has been working and living between France and the United States since the 1980s.
Exhibitions Pavlovic-Dear has had exhibitions in the United States, Europe, and China. Important shows took place at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C; Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Venice, during the 56th Venice Biennale; Museum of Shanxi Province in Xi'an; and Museum of Modern Art in Madrid. She is featured in multiple public and private collections, including Los Angeles County Museum, U.S.A; Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris, France; Neue Galerie, Graz, Austria; and Museum of Art of Shanxi province in Xi'an, China.
Other exhibitions include: Bradford University, England, 1973 Premi Internationale de Dessin Joan Miró, Barcelona, 1973–75, 1981 Ljubljana International Graphic Arts Biennial, 1977 International Biennial of Young Artists from New York, 1977 Washington International Art Fair, 1977 Frederick Wight Gallery, Los Angeles, 1977 Salon d'Automne, Grand Palais, Paris, 1980, 1986 Salon de Mai, Grand Palais, Paris, 1981, 1987, 1989 Museum of Modern Art, Madrid, 1981 Art and Architecture, UNESCO, Paris, 1988 International Mini Print Exhibition, Cadaqués, 1982–99 Salon Comparaisons, Grand Palais, Paris, 1988–98 Dix Ans d'Acquisitions, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, 1991 Salon Figuration Critique, Paris, 1996–98 SAGA, Paris, 1997 Triennale Mondiale d'Estampes Petit Format, Chamalières, 1997, 2000 UNESCO Museum, Beirut, 2000 Caelum Gallery, New York, 2004 IPCNY, New York, 2005 N.A.W.A Gallery, New York, 2009 Salon Capital / Comparisons, Paris, 2010 AUP Gallery, Paris, 2010 Royal Geographical Society, London, 2010 Fondation Paul Ricard, Île de Bendor (France), 2011 Parish Gallery, Washington D.C., 2011 Fondation Taylor, Paris, 2011 European Council of Europe, Strasbourg, 2013 Museum of Art of Shanxi province, Xi'An, 2014 Exposure Award at Louvre Museum, Paris, 2015 Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Venice, 2015 UNESCO, Venice, 2017
Main collections Pavlovic-Dear's work is represented in the following collections: Los Angeles County Museum, Los Angeles Museum of Modern Art, Madrid Dix Ans d'Acquisitions, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris Musée Minerve, Yzeures Jewish Historical Museum, Belgrade Historical Museum of Serbia, Belgrade Musée d'Arts décoratifs, Belgrade Neue Galerie, Graz National Museum of Kraljevo, Kraljevo National Museum of Šumadija, Kragujevac New York Public Library, New York Art Bank, Washington D.C.
Pavlovic-Dear is also listed in le Dictionnaire d'Art Bénézit, la Cotation d'Art Drouot, and Dictionnaire d'Art Akoun.
Awards and honors Pavlovic-Dear has received the following awards and honors: Chevalier Artistique, Accademia Internacionale Greci Marino, Italy, 1998 Silver Medal, Arts Category, Mérite et Dévouement Français, 1988 Médaille d'Argent dans la catégorie des Arts, Le Mérite et Dévouement Français, 1998 European Arts Prize, Léopold Senghor, 2007 Grand European Prize Botticelli 2008, for her art book Marco Polo on the Silk Road Golden Medal for the work "Ancient China in the Eyes of Artists", Guiyang Confucius Academy, China, 2017
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