Androniqi Zengo Antoniu
{{Short description|Albanian impressionist painter and iconographer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2022}}
{{Infobox artist
| image = Androniqi Zengo Antoniu.png
| caption = Self-portrait, 1935
(National Gallery of Arts, Tirana)
| birth_place = Korçë, Albania
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1913|05|26|df=y}}
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2000|02|10|1913|05|26|df=y}}
| death_place =
| nationality = Albanian
| education = Athens School of Fine Arts
| style = Impressionism
| known_for = First Albanian woman to work as a professional artist
| spouse = {{marriage|Kristaq Antoniu|1941|1979|end=died}}
}}
Androniqi Zengo Antoniu (26 May 1913 – 10 February 2000) was an Albanian painter. She is considered to be the first professional woman painter from Albania, along with her sister Sofia Zengo Papadhimitri, and with Vangjush Mijo is credited with the introduction of impressionism to the country.
Biography
Androniqi Zengo was born on 26 May 1913 in Korçë less than a year after the Albanian Declaration of Independence, and was the daughter of the icon painter Vangjel Zengo.{{Cite web |last=Shqiptare |first=Qendra Mbarekombetare e Koleksionisteve |date=25 May 2017 |title=26 Maj 1913, lindi piktorja e parë shqiptare Androniqi Zengo-Antoniu |url=https://www.qmksh.al/26-maj-1913-lindi-piktorja-e-pare-shqiptare-androniqi-zengo-antoniu/ |access-date=13 May 2022 |website=Qendra Mbarekombetare e Koleksionisteve Shqiptare |language=sq-AL |archive-date=28 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190728173533/https://www.qmksh.al/26-maj-1913-lindi-piktorja-e-pare-shqiptare-androniqi-zengo-antoniu/ |url-status=dead }} Her sister Sofia was born in 1915.{{Cite web |title=Djemtë e Sofia Zengos: Një muze për pikturën e nënës |url=http://www.panorama.com.al/djemte-e-sofia-zengos-nje-muze-per-pikturen-e-nenes/ |access-date=13 May 2022 |language=sq}} She graduated with honours in painting and sculpture from the Athens School of Fine Arts.{{Cite thesis |last=Kalo |first=Sofia |date=15 March 2016 |title=Change of Sight, Sites of Creativity: The Visual Arts in Albania after Socialism |url=https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2/581 |journal=Doctoral Dissertations |pages=28 |doi=10.7275/7950680.0}} After studying in Paris, she returned to Albania to teach at the Nëna Mbretëreshë Pedagogical Institute.{{Cite web |title=Rivlerësohet 5.5 milionë lekëpiktura e Androniqi Zengos - Shqiptarja |url=https://shqiptarja.com/lajm/rivler-euml-sohet-5-5-milion-euml-lek-euml-br-piktura-e-androniqi-zengos |access-date=13 May 2022 |website=shqiptarja.com |language=sq}} A painter mainly of impressionist portraits and landscapes, as well as icons; her sister was strongly influenced by realism. She is credited as Albania's first professional woman painter.
In the late 1930s she is purported to have had an affair with the poet Lasgush Poradeci.Ir Ilir Shyta: [https://www.unitir.edu.al/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Doktoratura-Ilir-Shyta-Fakulteti-i-Histori-Filologjise-Departamenti-i-Letersise.pdf The Reception of Lasgush Poradec's Poetry.] Dissertation. University of Tirana, Tirana 2015, p.78. (in Albanian) In 1941 she married the singer Kristaq Antoniu.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rVYoAQAAMAAJ&q=Androniqi+Zengo+Antoniu |title=New Albania |date=1989 |publisher=New Albania. |language=en}}
During her lifetime, Zengo Antoniu had at least three solo exhibitions. Her first in 1935; her second in 1937 - to mark the 25th anniversary of the founding of Albania.{{Cite web |date=30 January 2013 |title=Për herë të parë/ Zengo & Antoniu, zbulohen "negativët" e panjohur |url=https://www.standard.al/2013/01/30/per-here-te-pare-zengo-antoniu-zbulohen-negativet-e-panjohur/ |access-date=13 May 2022 |website=Gazeta Standard Online |language=en-US}} She also took part in various group exhibitions, including one in New York in 1939. In 1963 she exhibited at the Alexandria Biennale, and was awarded two medals. She also worked alongside her father and painted several churches in her hometown, in Tirana and other places in Albania. In 1964 she painted the Vangjelizmo Church in Tirana.
She died on 10 February 2000. Alongside Vangjush Mijo, Zengo Antoniu is credited with the introduction of impressionism to Albania.{{Cite book |last1=Keefe |first1=Eugene K. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CXmB6nDu4_AC&dq=Androniqi+Zengo+Antoniu&pg=PA142 |title=Area Handbook for Albania |last2=Studies |first2=American University (Washington, D. C. ) Foreign Area |date=1971 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |language=en}}
Legacy
Zengo Antoniu's surviving body of work consists of over 500 pieces. There are 55 of her works in the collection of the Albanian National Museum of Fine Arts. Her works have featured in several retrospectives. In 2013 she featured in an exhibition examining the work of both her family, Zengo, and that of the Antoniu family.{{Cite web |date=1 February 2013 |title=Ekspozita 200 vite art të dinastisë Zengo dhe Antoniu |url=https://gazetamapo.al/ekspozita-200-vite-art-te-dinastise-zengo-dhe-antoniu/ |access-date=13 May 2022 |website=Gazeta Mapo |language=en-US}} In 2017, works by her were posthumously presented at documenta 14.{{Cite web |title=Androniqi Zengo Antoniu |url=http://www.documenta14.de/de/artists/16145/androniqi-zengo-antoniu |access-date=13 May 2022 |website=www.documenta14.de |language=de}}
According to art historians Shpresa Tolaj Gjonbalaj and Rregjina Gokaj, her works are part of the canon of second generation of Albanian art.{{Cite journal |last1=Gjonbalaj |first1=Shpresa Tolaj |last2=Gokaj |first2=Rregjina |date=1 January 2019 |title=Common and Special Features of the First School of Drawing in Albania and the First School of Applicative Arts in Kosovo |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/jesr-2019-0005 |journal=Journal of Educational and Social Research |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=45–52 |doi=10.2478/jesr-2019-0005 |s2cid=165856451 |issn=2240-0524|doi-access=free }}
One of the streets in Tirana's Laprakë district is named after her.{{Cite web |title=Rruga Androniçi Zengo Antoniu, Tiranë (Njësia Bashkiake Nr. 11, Blloku Gintash) |url=https://albania-streets.openalfa.com/streets/rruga-andronici-zengo-antoniu-tirane-tirana-municipally |access-date=13 May 2022 |website=albania-streets.openalfa.com |language=en-US}}
References
External links
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRa3CqYQcQY Artkand - Androniqi Zengo Antoniu- Peizazh] (televised auction, in Albanian)
{{Authority control (arts)|country=Albania}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zengo Antoniu, Androniqi}}
Category:20th-century Albanian painters
Category:Albanian women painters
Category:Athens School of Fine Arts alumni