Slavko Brill
Slavko Brill was a Croatian Jewish sculptor and ceramics artist born in Nova Gradiška.
He graduated in 1926 at Art Academy in Zagreb. His artistic works included portraits, busts, and cemetery monuments.
After the establishment of the Independent State of Croatia, Brill converted to Catholicism. He was arrested by the Ustaše in July 1941, and then quickly released after an intercession from the Gorica utensils factory, where he was employed. In January 1942 he was arrested with his wife and incarcerated in Jasenovac concentration camp where he was forced to feature along with some other Jewish artists including Daniel Ozmo and Daniel Kabiljo in a propaganda film. Brill worked for a while in the camp's ceramics workshop. He died from tuberculosis in January 1943. His wife and her mother perished in Đakovo internment camp.
Brill's works were posthumously featured in group exhibitions in Belgrade and Zagreb, as well as a retrospective exhibition in Zagreb in 2004. Approximately 30 of his gypsum sculptures are kept in the Glyptotheque of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, and one of his portraits is kept in the Modern Gallery, Zagreb. Some of his glazed ceramic statuettes, made in the Jasenovac concentration camp, are kept in the Jasenovac Memorial Area collection.
