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Ljeposlav Perinic 1922-2005 the King of Dolls and the world exhibition of his dolls in Buenos Aires in 1970
http://www.croatia.org/crown/articles/10431/1/Ljeposlav-Perinic-1922-2005-the-King-of-Dolls-and-the-world-exhibition-of-his-dolls-in-Buenos-Aires-in-1970.html
By Darko ®ubriniæ
Published on 06/29/2013
 
Ljeposlav Periniæ 1922-2005 was a Croatian known under the title of the King of Dolls or Rey de las munecas. In 1970 he had an exhibition of dolls in Buenos Aires where he lived since 1945. In this article we show a short interview with him conducted by Monica Mihanovic. On the photo Mr. Periniæ with two beautiful dolls representing Pakistan (on the left) and India. Since 1991 the collection of his dolls is kept in Croatia's capital Zagreb.

Rey de las munecas, Kralj lutaka, König der Puppen, Roi des poupées, Korol' kukol, O Vasilias tis kuklas, Regele papusilor, Bebekler krali



Exposicion mundial de muñecas en Buenos Aires (1970)
Buenos Aires: En un salón de la Capital Federal, se realiza una exposición mundial de muñecas. Reportaje al señor Ljeposlav Perinic, coleccionista de muñecas y de nacionalidad croata, en el cual se le pregunta: -¿Le escribió a la gente para que se las mandaran o como fue que empezó? -¿Cuál fue la segunda muñeca que recibió? -¿Dígame señor Perinic, alguien, algún estadista le dijo que no? -¿Señor Perinic, cuantas muñecas hay en total? (Responde: En total hay 156 muñecas) -¿Están todas aquí expuestas? -¿Yo se que esta exposición es para recaudar fondos para OPROVI; además conocemos OPROVI y les hemos hecho una nota; los he ido a visitar y realmente lo merece, pero esto se inaugura hoy y usted debe tener por lo menos una muñeca Argentina, espero? (Responde: Si) -¿Quién se la envío, el Teniente General Ongania? -¿Hace poco tiempo? -¿Las que están al lado, creo que vamos a tener que mirarlas muy de cerca, porque son las de su país de origen? (Responde: Si, de mi patria, Croacia) -¿Hay muchos tipos de trajes típicos en Croacia? (Mónica Mihanovich)


Mrs. Teresa Perinic de Bellofatto with her father, the King of Dolls. Mrs Teresa has dolls donated from South Korea and Brasil in her hands, while the proud King is with the two dolls representing Pakistan and India, donated by Benazir Bhutto and Indira Gandhi. The photo was taken in Zrinjevac park in the center of Croatia's capital Zagreb.


The King of Dolls with gifts representing Tibet, Argentina and Spain, donated by Dalai Lama, Carlos Menem and the Queen Sofia of Spain.

From Mr. Perinic's card: Gift from Jens Otto Krag, Denmark Gift from Henryk Jablonski, Poland

Kralj lutaka
Rey de las Muñecas
The King of Dolls
König der Puppen
Roi des poupées
O Rei das boneçcas
Korol' kukol
Ningyo no o
Kralj otroskih punck
Dockornas kung Melej habubot
Gift from Dulce Figueiredo, Brasil Gift from Leopold Senghor, Senegal
Koning van de poppen
Nukkien kuningas
Wa-wa-wang
Bubrigner takavor
Re delle bambole
Król zabawek
Ri na mBabóg
Malak al leaab
Dukkernes konge
Korol lalok
Kral na kuklite
Babák királya
Gift from Chiang Kai Shek, Taiwan Gift from Mois Chombe, Congo
O Vasilias tis kuklas
Regele papusilor
Bebekler krali
Mburuvicha guazu mitacuña porá
Panpiñen erregea
Léliu koralius
Král' babik
Puprego

Gift from Estonian community in Argentina Gift from Lithuanian community in the USAFor example, Mburuvicha guazu mitacuña porá is "the King of Dolls" in the language of Guarani indians in Paraguay.
Croatian judge from the town of Krapina, 16th century


A lovely doll donated to the King of Dolls by Grace Kelly, princess of Monaco.

On the above photo you can see a lovely gift from Grace Kelly, princess of Monaco. Mr. Perinic was a frequent guest on TVs in several countries: Argentina, Uruguay, the USA, Canada, Croatia. In an official bulletin issued by the United Nations (Information UNESCO, No. 540, September 1968) a whole page was devoted to his dolls, that were described in an article entitled United Nations in the Dolls. If you happen to stay in Croatian capital Zagreb for a while, don't miss to see Mr. Perinic's collection that he donated in 1991. It has been permanently exhibited in the center of Zagreb (Zrinjevac square 14, Tourist information center, quite near the Embassy of the USA) in 2000. Great merit for very complex and nontrivial transport of over 300 dolls from Hamilton, Canada, to Zagreb, have Anamarija Snajdar from Croatian Radio Sljeme, and Petar Milicic, nephew of Mr. Perinic.

The Vicar of the Croatian Parish in Ottawa, Canada, who financially supported the transfer, it is interesting to say - was Black. When he visited Zagreb, on the occasion of the first exhibition of dolls held there in 1991, he also payed a visit to the most famous sanctuary of Marija Bistrica (near Zagreb) to see the "Black Madonna". On his return to Zagreb, he remarked to Mr. Perinic: The church was fantastic, it was packed with people, and what was very interesting, was that only the Madonna and me were black, while all the others were white!

The international exhibition EXPO '67 held in Montreal in Canada had also a small pavilion full of dolls. It was Mr. Perinic's pavilion where he exhibited his collection, unofficially called Croatian pavilion (it was also the sole exhibit of Argentina). He had numerous charitable exhibitions of his dolls, mainly for UNICEF children's program. As an example, one of exhibitions of his dolls was organized in order to help children in Argentina suffering from leprosy. On another exhibition of dolls, funds gathered in this way sufficed to build a house in the children's village in Garin, in the vicinity of Buenos Aires, directed by S.O.S. OPROVI Argentina. Here S.O.S. Children's Village is a well known charitable international organization, founded by Hermann Gmeiner in 1949 in Austria. It is interesting that the building was named - CROACIA.


Mexican doll donated to the King of Dolls by Mrs. Eva Samano de Lopez Mateos, the first lady of Mexico.

Eleonora Aimone, Argentinian poetesse and writer (born in Italy) wrote the following verses dedicated to the King of Dolls (published in Marulic, Zagreb, 6/1998): 

El Rey de las muñecas 

  

A Ljeposlav Perinic

Saber de ti es remontar 
al cielo de un amanecer soñado 
Es trepar nubes de ilusión 
y descender, con las manos llenas 
de rizos y de tules bordados, 
de zapatitos y faldas multicolores, 
de cintas y monos labrados. 
Saber de ti es volver a la infancia, 
a mecer en nuestros brazos 
la muñeca con bucles de oro, la de trenzas negras, 
la vestida de harapos 
o el soldadito con el sable en la mano. 
Saber de ti es la certeza inefable 
de haber encontrado un espacio 
donde se detiene el tiempo, 
un estanque de aguas claras, 
un soplo de brisa perfumada, 
un Edén de paz donde 
un duende pasta su ternura 
entre niños de porcelana... 

y tu mirada.
Kralj lutaka 

  

Ljeposlavu Periniæu

Znati za tebe to je kao vinuti se 
u visine zore u snu nasluæene. 
Lebdjeti po oblacima umi¹ljaja 
i sletjeti punih ruku 
vezena finog tila i pramièak uvojaka, 
cipelica i ¹arenih haljinica 
ure¹enih vrpcama i ma¹nicama. 
Znati za tebe to je kao vratiti se u djetinjstvo 
i na rukama ljuljati 
lutku zlatnih uvojaka, 
lutku crnih pletenica, 
i onu u dronjcima, 
ili pak malenog vojnika sa sabljom u ruci. 
Znati za tebe to je kao neizrecivo pouzdanje 
da smo nai¹li na mjesto 
gdje se zaustavilo vrijeme, 
vrelo bistre vode, 
lahor mirisava povjetarca, 
rajski vrt sreæe i mira 
gdje duhovi ¹eæu sa svojim dra¾ima 
meðu djeèicom od porculana... 

i tvojim zaèaranim oèima.

Translated into Croatian by Ana Blazekovic.

Formated for CROWN by Darko ®ubriniæ
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