Dado (painter)

Miodrag Đurić
Miodrag Đurić Dado in the early 70s
Born	Miodrag Đurić (1933-10-04)4 October 1933 Cetinje, Kingdom of Yugoslavia (now Montenegro)
Died	27 November 2010(2010-11-27) (aged 77) Pontoise, France
Nationality	Yugoslav
Other names	Dado (nickname)
Occupation	Painter, engraver, sculptor

Miodrag Đurić (1933–2010), known as Dado, was a Yugoslavian-born artist who spent most of his life and creative career in France. He is particularly known as a painter but was also active as an engraver, drawer, book illustrator and sculptor.

Đurić was born on October 4, 1933, in Cetinje, the historic capital of Montenegro, then part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and grew up in a middle-class family. His mother, Vjera Đuric (née Kujačić) was a biology teacher and his father Ranko Đurić belonged to a family of entrepreneurs.

His childhood years were affected by world events and by personal tragedies. During World War II, Yugoslavia endured Italian and German occupation, while the local partisans initiated a resistance that led to the emergence of Josip Broz Tito's Yugoslavia.

At the age of 11, Đurić lost his mother in a country still coping with the wounds of war. He then temporarily moved to Slovenia to be put up by a maternal uncle.

Though not interested in general education, Đurić developed a strong interest in art and displayed early creative skills. His family supported him to develop his talent and he started studying fine arts in the maritime town of Herceg Novi between 1947 and 1951.

From 1951, Đurić moved to Serbia to carry on his education in the fine arts school of Belgrade.

Encouraged by one of his teachers in Belgrade, Đurić moved to Paris, France, in 1956 in the hope to work there as an artist. He survived thanks to small jobs and eventually was hired in a lithography workshop run by Gérard Patrice. In the meantime and through his professional environment, he learned French fast enough to be able to meet and interact with well-established artists such as Kalinowski and Jean Dubuffet. These meetings and his showing some of his drawings and paintings raised the curiosity of artists and art dealers alike.

Art dealer and former resistant Daniel Cordier discovered the young Đurić and offered him the unique opportunity to show his work in his art gallery in 1958: Dado's professional career was launched.

Dado quickly moved from Paris to the countryside of Vexin. In 1960, he settled in a former water mill in Hérouval, Oise. This place was a haven of creation and social life until his death.