Stipe Perković was born on the 4th of May, 1936 in Glavice, Vidoši, near Livno. Losing his father at the age of seven, and living with a single mother Nana and eight years older brother Jozo, he had a very rough life with far more downs than ups. He completed only three years of primary school, due to a poverty and necessity to help his family survive postwar years. But, that didn’t stop Stipe to continue learning by borrowing books from his former classmates and reading by the light of lantern.
He’s been very successful in building and designing since he was seventeen years old, despite being self-taught. He showed his artistic soul, in not only architectural solutions which quite resembled sculptures, but also in stone work and paintings made of oil on canvas, thine, coal and dry pastels. Most of his inspiration come from ancient civilizations as Egypt, where he was stationed as an UN piece soldier in 1957.
All his works are permeated in symbols on a tragically deceased son Mladen who died on January 23rd 1982. Mladen shared a vision of joined creationism with his father. Since than till today, Stipe impresses his pain, and pain of Mladen’s mother Anđa, in all of his works.
He is a big enthusiast of Russian classicism. Ever since childhood, his role models were L.N. Tolstoj, A.P. Čehov, L. Andrejev, A.A. Blok, S. Jesenjin and Maksim Gorki, whom he consider to be his second father. Stipe tried writing as well, producing his autobiography, “An itch of a soul “.
Stipe, being an extraordinary man as he is, was part of a documentary “Pharaoh Stipe from Vidoši”, from 1986-89, by the director Ratko Orozović. The movie gained a lot of awards and was seen on a film festivals in Belgrade, Tuzla, Cannes, Russia and Sweden. Part two was filmed in 2005, and, accordingly, a several articles were written about Stipe.
At the moment, he is living at Ivašnjak, next to Omiš in a house which is a part of a big building blocks and a hotel, and it is his own design. However, he spends most of the year in Glavice, in a house which he alone planned and built. And still, at the age of 72, Stipe continues to dream and create works which will testify of his greatness forever.