Jovan Radovic, called Jean Radovic (1913-1991), was born in Gajtan, a small village in what was then the Kingdom of Serbia. Born into a family of nine children, he lost his father very early on when the latter died in a brawl between neighbours. Schooled between the ages of ten and fourteen, the young boy worked as a shepherd before joining the army at twenty-four. In 1941, during World War II, he was taken prisoner in Italy. After being held in various camps, he managed to escape and sought refuge in Switzerland in 1943. A year later, displaying aggressive behaviour and suffering from hallucinations, he was admitted to Cery psychiatric asylum* near Lausanne. He was repatriated to his country of origin – which had become part of Yugoslavia – in 1948.
Created between 1944 and 1947, Radovic’s drawings were made with graphite and coloured pencil on scraps of paper, which he sometimes cut into the shapes of the subject represented. These dynamic and colourful drawings feature such figures as men in uniform, women in festival costume, musicians, and scenes of daily life. He sometimes signed his drawings ‘travail [work] Jean Radovic’ and added a few words on the theme.
