Todor "Todoš" Manojlović was a poet, playwright, essayist and art critic. He laid the foundations of modern Serbian drama with his first major work "Centrifugal Player". Today he is considered one of the greatest European men of Serbian modern culture.
Family
Todor came from the affluent Manojlović family, who lived in Beckerek on Michael Pupin Street. Todor's parents were attorney Nikola "Niko" Manojlović and Sofija "Soka" Manojlović, née Petrović. Death took them at the same time, they both died "of severe illness", after 19 years of a happy marriage. Niko died on 6 December, and Soka the next morning on 7 December 1899. Todor and his brother Ivan found themselves suddenly without parents, though Sofija's sisters Linka Krsmanović and Olga Putić, as well as brother Joca Petrović, immediately took over the responsibilities of caring for them while they were still in their teens.
Education
Todor became a recipient of the "Avramović Foundation", one of 50 theological scholarships granted by the Serbian Patriarchate then located in Sremski Karlovci. Beginning in 1894, when he was in junior high at Veliki Bečkerek, he received the 300-florin annual scholarship.
Early life
He first studied law in Nagyvárad, where he met Hungarian poet Endre Ady who was six years his senior. With Ady and those writers and artists gathering around "Holnap", a paper in Nagyvárad became his "ticket" into the literary-art world which will completely occupy him for the rest of his life. From 1910 he studied art history in Munich, and from that time he corresponded with Vienna writer Stefan Zweig. The coming pre-war years he spent in Timișoara, Florence, Rome, Venice where he studied with enthusiasm old art and its creators. He graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy, Department of Art History in Basel in 1914.
Career
The First World War found him in Italy. In 1916 he went to Corfu as a volunteer and contributor to Srpske Novine and Zabavnik. Between the two world wars, he lived in Belgrade and participated in public life as a cultural worker. Manojlović's poetry was published in the entertainment journal Zabavnik. At the time French historian Gabriel Millet published an excellent study, La Serbie glorieuse, dealing with old Serbian art. Millet's study was published in the prestigious French art magazine L'Art et les Artistes. Manojlović reviewed Millet's study in Zabavnik, praising the French archeologist's high regard for the history of Serbia. As a well-versed art critic, Manojlović also reviewed exhibits in fine arts, and wrote about paintings by Miloš Golubović, Vasa Pomorišac, and Mihajlo Petrov in Letopis Matice srpske in 1926. However, a well-written study about Claude Debussy revealed that Manojlović was a connoisseur of the musical arts as well. This is even more remarkable having in mind that Debussy opened a new page in the development of French and European music at the time. Therefore, it was no surprise that from 1920 to 1924 Manojlovic held such diverse posts as Opera secretary, then Senate librarian and professor at the Belgrade Art Academy. In 1931, he was the editor of Letopis Matice srpske in Novi Sad. Always attracted to writers belonging to the modern movement, he translated Jacques Prevert's poems, some set to music like those of Milorad Petrović Seljančica. He collaborated with many literary papers and magazines, with noteworthy translation activities. He followed artistic events and wrote art criticisms. He wrote a large number of poems, essays, articles and reviews that covered all areas of artistic creativity. His dramatic pieces include Centrifugalni igrač, Katinkini snovi, Nahod Simeon, Opčinjeni kralj,San zimske noći, Comedia dell arte. In his old days, this "eternal bachelor" spent most of his time in his native Zrenjanin. He lived together with the unmarried half-sister Vera Putić. He was a life-long member of the Serbian PEN Club, and in his senior years received a series of literary awards. He died on 27 March 1968, and was buried in a family tomb at the Tomaševac cemetery in Zrenjanin. A memorial plaque was placed on the house where he lived and died.
