Jovan Obican was a French painter and lithographer best known for his depictions of folklore and traditional costumes rendered in a playful, childlike style. He often used bright colors and black outlines in his renderings of figures and animals, giving his work an illustration-like quality. Thematically, the artist’s work is similar to Marc Chagall and Jean Dubuffet for its dreamlike images and so-called naïve style of painting. Born in 1918 in Cannes, France to Yugoslavian parents, Obican studied to be a lawyer but never completed the proper training. Instead, he moved to the United States in 1959 and pursued a career in the arts. Over the course of his career, the artist maintained a studio in Boca Raton, Florida and Dubrovnik, Croatia—part of former Yugoslavia— where he developed an interest in Eastern Europe’s Jewish culture. Many of his mature works depict Jewish traditions and ceremonies, including traditional Jewish weddings, the dancing of the Hora, and traditional music. Obican died in 1986 in Dubrovnik, Croatia. Today, many of his works are held on display in his former Dubrovnik studio.