In Memoriam Sava Stepanov (1951 - 2024)

Sava Stepanov, art critic, theoretician, the long-standing artistic director of the "Danube Dialogues" festival and curator of numerous exhibitions from Novi Sad, has died in June 2024 at the age of 73. 

Stepanov’s departure is an irreparable loss for the cultural scene of Novi Sad and Serbia. For more than half a century he was a chronicler of the Vojvodina and regional art scene and an active participant in artistic events and processes. He left an indelible mark and made an invaluable contribution to art criticism and the positioning of the Vojvodina art scene within the international cultural space. His critical reports, essays and analytical texts observed relevant phenomena and personalities of the Vojvodina art scene, and addressed its main currents and actors throughout the 20th century to the present. His love for art and the artist as a creator dominated his every concept. He observed and recognised new artistic trends and practices and encouraged young people to freely experiment and explore. From the late seventies of the 20th century until today, he published a large number of texts, books and monographs, with which he tried to follow the main artistic currents and actors on our art scene.

Stepanov started his professional career at the Matica Srpska Gallery (1973 - 1979). In the period from 1977 to 1981, he was the editor of the Art Salon Tribina mladih in Novi Sad, the editor of the Photo Gallery (1979–1993), then the director of the Centre for Visual Culture "Zlatno oko" (1993–2010), and the manager of the gallery "Most" at the Institute of Culture of Vojvodina (2011-2014), now the Cultural Centre of Vojvodina "Miloš Crnjanski". Stepanov collaborated with the "Bel Art" Gallery for many years. Five years ago, Matica Srpska Gallery received a unique gift from him - the gift collection of art critic and collector Sava Stepanov.

For his dedicated work, he was awarded numerous awards, including the Golden Badge of the Cultural and Educational Community of Serbia (1994), the Spark of Culture Award of the Cultural and Educational Community of Vojvodina (1994), the award of the Society of Art Historians of Serbia for the most successful author's exhibition (1996), the "Lazar Trifunović Award”, for critical consideration of contemporary visual art (2011), as well as "Teodor Pavlović" Lifetime Achievement Award (2019) and Vuk's Award (2021).