• born in 1936 in Bojana, Croatia
• immigrated to Paris in 1966 and to Canada in 1968
• studied mural techniques at the School of Applied Arts in Zagreb (1954-1959) and graphic arts and painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, Croatia (1959-1964)

click on thumbnails at left to view larger images

Painter and printmaker Anton Cetín studied art in Zagreb before moving to Paris in 1966, where he worked as an illustrator. In 1968, he immigrated to Canada, working in advertising design for a time to help his art career. Cetín’s work has been preoccupied with images of Eve in the Garden of Eden, culminating in several one-man shows throughout the 1970s, and continuing on into the 1990s, although he did find interest in depicting the Canadian landscape alone in the 1980s. The preoccupation with the figure of Eve is also with woman in general. As Stuart Reid interprets this work, "Eve is our guide who leads us to the realm of the infinite. The archetypal woman, Eve universally represents the feminine, the spirit of peace and harmony, the giver of life and nurturing force" (1996). Cetín’s work is highly graphic in nature, based on line and the use of forms that float on lushly painted backgrounds suggestive of landscape. A juxtaposition of flowing line and geometric form often adds tension to his works already vibrating with colour. In 1998, thirty years after the artist first began drawing on this theme, he held an exhibition entitled Eve and the Bird: Variations, indicating he had not yet exhausted this inspirational source. Milan Ivaniševic has discussed the series in terms of colour, noting that "when Anton Cetín left his native Bojana, he took with him all the colours in the name of his town and brought them to places where he rested. In all those places the colours were beautiful, but not as beautiful as Bojana . . ." (1998). In a sense, Cetín carried his own Paradise with him wherever he immigrated, sharing it through his artwork. The introduction of the bird into the Eve paintings provides an ambiguous symbol, as the bird represents both the fragility of nature, and the power of nature in its ability to fly. According to Cetín (1996), he uses the bird to show that humanity must live in harmony with nature, as Eve lives in harmony with the bird. In 1986 Cetín returned to Zagreb for his first major exhibition there. Since then he has frequently visited Croatia, Germany, and Austria. Cetín has received several awards and honours, including Artist of the Year from the Canadian Croatian Artists Society in 1986, and the Order of Croatian Danica and the Order of the Croatian Wattle from the President of Croatia in 1995. He is a member of Visual Arts Ontario, the Print Council of Australia, the World Print Council and UNESCO.

Galerija umjetnina, Split, Croatia

Muzej-Franjevacka galerija, Siroki Brijeg, Bosnia Herzegovina

Umjetnicka galerija kraljice Katarine Kosaca, Mostar, Bosnia Herzegovina

Dom Kulture, Metkovic, Croatia

Zavicajni muzej Cazma, Cazma, Croatia

Peter Visser Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

Spomen dom, Pazin, Croatia

Istarska sabornica, Porec, Croatia

Galerija Vincent od Kastva I i II, Pula, Croatia

MGC Gradec, Zagreb, Croatia

Haus der Wirtschaft, Stuttgart, Germany

Toronto Hilton, Toronto, Ontario

Embajada de Canadá, Mexico City, Mexico

Museo del Chopo, Mexico City, Mexico

Academia de San Carlos, Mexico City, Mexico

Galerie Experiment, Stuttgart, Germany

Artwalk VII, Sandpoint, USA

Sony Plaza Art Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

Oberhausmuseum, Passau, Germany

Galerie Merry Old England, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany

Kunst Hamburg '90, Hamburg, Germany

Galerija Dubrava, Dubrovnik, Croatia

Umjetnicki salon, Split, Croatia

Kulturni centar, Rijeka, Croatia

Gradski Muzej, Bjelovar, Croatia

Beverly Gordon Gallery, Dallas, Texas

St Kilian, Wiesbaden, Germany

St Johan und Petrus, Bonn, Germany

Hilton International, Toronto, Ontario

Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario

Printmakers Gallery, Toronto, Ontario

Muzej za umjetnost i obrt, Zagreb, Croatia

Joseph D. Carrier Art Gallery, Toronto, Ontario

Salon XX, Bogotá, Colombia

Heritage Gallery, Los Angeles, California

Galeria Juan Martin, Mexico City, Mexico

Lillian Markus Studio, Toronto, Ontario

Hart House Art Gallery, Toronto, Ontario

Il Cabo Frio International Print Biennial
Cabo Frio, Brazil (travelling)

II Mini Prints International
Space Art Gallery, Seoul, Korea

4th International Art Friendship Exhibit
Tokyo, Japan

Aviva 26th Annual Art Exhibit
Toronto, Ontario

3rd International Art Friendship Exhibition
Mitsubishi Skyring Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

Canadian Graphics
Galerie Alexandre, Teheran, Iran

Ontario Now 2
Art Gallery of Hamilton, Hamilton, Ontario; Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, Kitchener, Ontario

Exhibition of Graphics
Weintraub Gallery, New York, New York

Canadian Cultural Centre, Paris, France

2nd Annual Washington International Art Fair
Washington, D.C.

2nd International Art Friendship Exhibition
Mitsubishi Skyring Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

Il bijenale suvremene hrvatske grafike
Umjetnicki salon, Split, Croatia

Portraits on Paper
J. Morris Gallery, Toronto, Ontario

American Printmakers' 26th Annual
Brockton Art Center, Brockton, Massachusetts

Canadian Painters-Etchers and Engravers' Annual
Sir George William University Art Gallery, Montréal, Québec

International Contemporary Art
Galerie Crozier, Lyon, France

CSGA Annual
Public Library and Art Museum, London, Ontario

International Drawings
Alberta College of Art Gallery, Calgary, Alberta

Graphex I
Art Gallery of Brant, Brantford, Ontario

Canadian Printmakers' Showcase
Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario

Two Sides of a Shadow: The Life and Art of Anton Cetín. Toronto: V-Art Productions Ltd, 1993.

Ivanisevic, Milan. "Anton Cetin finds paradise."  In Eve and the Bird Variations, 7. Zagreb, Croatia: 1996.

Reid, Stuart. "Variations on Eve: The work of Anton Cetin." In Eve and the Bird Variations, 9. Zagreb, Croatia: 1996.