Starting from November 22, 2024, as part of the Permanent Exhibition at the MNMA Gallery in Jagodina, a documentary exhibition titled Portrait of a Self-Taught Artist: Notes by Oto Bihalji-Merin will be on view. Organized by the Museum of Naïve and Marginal Art, the exhibition will run from November 22, 2024, to February 17, 2025, in commemoration of the 120th anniversary of the birth of writer and publicist Oto Bihalji-Merin.

Документарна изложба Портрет самоука: записи Ота Бихаљи-Мерина представља својеврстан „омаж“ Оту Бихаљи-Мерину, међу истакнутим личностима српске науке и културе 20. века, најзаслужнијег за афирмацију и развој наивне и маргиналне уметности, али и значајним ликовним ствараоцима наших простора који су оставили траг у области неконвенционалне уметности, аутентичних сликара и вајара – својевремено предмета Бихаљевих интелектуалних преокупација.

The life and work of self-taught artists, as seen through the lens of Oto Bihalji-Merin, will be illustrated through a selection of printed publications authored by Bihalji-Merin, along with original documentary materials (photographs, letters, manuscripts) that serve as historical testimony.

A significant part of the exhibition includes video recordings—segments from domestic documentary programs in which Oto Bihalji-Merin and naïve artists are protagonists of a time when representative works of art were being created, many of which are now part of the Museum's collection.

The exhibition is realized using documentary materials from the legacy collection donated by Oto Bihalji-Merin, housed at the MNMA in Jagodina (Gallery branch) and in Belgrade (OBM Salon), as well as archival footage from RTS.

The public will be able to visit the exhibition Portrait of a Self-Taught Artist: Notes by Oto Bihalji-Merin until February 17, 2025.