The evening dedicated to the great artist, Budva's Jovan Jov Ivanović (1932-2017), the founder of the Modern Gallery, was held last night on the Square between the churches in Budva's Old Town as part of the eighth "Ćirilicom" Festival.
The conversation about Ivanović and his personality, in the sense of a Mediterranean bohemian, a Budvanin who left a big mark in that city, was moderated by his daughter Marija Ivanović, and memories of the artist were shared with the audience by architect Slobodan Mitrović, art historian, academician, prof. Dr. Aleksandar Čilikov and old citizen Jerolim Dragičević.
In his presentation, architect Mitrović thanked the director of the Budva National Library, Mili Baljević, for the initiative to hold such an evening, asserting that in Budva there are official, but not ordinary, meetings of citizens in which retellings and evoking memories of meritorious citizens of Budva who are no longer among us .
He spoke about the circumstances and civil life in Budva in the interwar period, telling, in that context, more details about Ivo Ivanović and his children.
"I always have to go a little deeper. Tonight we will not go to the Middle Ages, the new century, don Krsto Ivanović, Antun Kojović. Budva is new after the First World War and we cannot boast that in the cycle between the two wars we paid a lot of attention to higher learning and university education. Budva was a very neglected city, every third house was a ruin - either from the bombing or from the ravages of time. Families that were more affluent were mostly engaged in trade and some of them went to colleges and for higher education. The Medinas, the Rajkovićs, the Rađenovićs... all had five or six children each, and one or two would always go to school and go to university. The family of Ivo Ivanović - an extremely unusual history and an extremely unusual biography. As a young man, Ivo already found himself in Constantinople and due to a combination of circumstances, he worked as an accountant in a Turkish company, carrying salaries somewhere around the field. He is attacked by bandits and everyone ends up in prison. And, guess what... this is really a gem I have to share tonight: Ivo hires a young Kemal Ataturk to defend him. Imagine the coincidences, that one of our citizens from Budva knew Kemal Ataturk, who introduced Turkey to European culture with the Latin alphabet and the abolition of many traditional forms of life. Ivo was engaged in trade, farming, had a huge property and all his children go to high schools. Marko goes to Dubrovnik to the Higher Trade Academy, Duško Medicine, Mirko Forestry, and Jovo, as the youngest, obviously cannot immediately establish a relationship with his spiritual commitment. He tried the Technical High School in Podgorica, then the Gymnasium in Cetinje, but he only found himself when he came to the Art School in Herceg Novi. It is a school that is talked about everywhere today, it was a treasure trove of Montenegrin talents, mainly painting and sculpture. The professors were Lubarda, Milo Milunović, Vušković - the elite of Montenegrin pre-war painters," Mitrović said, explaining how Jovo Ivanović personally influenced him and the generation to which he belongs.
"Budva had no institutions, the library was not yet functioning either, it only had the City Music and some of us interested boys who could not be brought up and educated in some schools and workshops. We had some models of our own and small towns developed according to those models. There were, say, three of us: Sreten Vujović, Mladen Suđić and me. We were 10, 12, 13 years old at the time and we were just looking for someone to hang onto, and that was Jovo. He was the only one who was able to turn our interests and attention so that we couldn't wait for him to come from Herceg Novi on Saturdays, to tell us about various experiences among artists and professors. And that's where our boyhood was spent, and Jovo was about fifteen years older than us. We were his company as well. Budva was focused on bare life, fishing, the only thing that was organized was sport, there was little involvement in water polo and football. So we were the few who read books, and Jovo was our ideal and role model," said Mitrović.
Art historian, academician prof. Dr. Aleksandar Čilikov recalled his decades-long friendly and professional relationship with Jova Ivanović, pointing out that they always had a specific communication that was two-fold.
"On the one hand, it is a professional communication between an art historian and a painter, an artist, and on the other hand, it was purely friendly. As an art historian, I think that Jovo Ivanović is an extremely significant figure in the development, not only of the domestic fine arts, but also of ex-Yugoslav art and, in my opinion, beyond. However, just as I was sitting here, among my many memories of hanging out with Jova, it occurred to me to talk about the conversations with him that took place in a cult place for Budva, the hotel 'Mogren'. Jovo always came to the corner of the pub, and I would often find him when I was coming back from the beach. Normally, it was inevitable to talk about art. Some of his conclusions were fantastic for me, as a young man, and they were very useful to me. Let's talk about how a picture is created. And Jovo says: The one from the audience, when he enters the gallery and sees the pictures, do you know how much he is interested in how that picture was created? My ID is what's on the wall. Because there was a story about how people use different technical means to get to the final product. I was also very interested in his theses - what is a picture when you paint it in the studio and what is a picture when you bring it out into the light of day. They are two different pictures. And I remember that after the earthquake, I was in the team of the Institute for the Protection of Monuments, which took exhibits from the Old Town for three months. And when we were moving the exhibits from the Gallery, Jovo came up to me on the pier and told me how different the pictures are in daylight," said Academician Čilikov.
When it comes to conversations with Ivanovic beyond discussions about art, Čilikov emphasized that it was never boring with Jova.
"Jovo is simply a man who, in my opinion, spread incredible positive energy. Let's say, that iconic terrace of the hotel 'Avala', in my opinion the most beautiful terrace on the eastern coast of the Adriatic, which was brought to what it is now through various architectural tricks. If you had watched Jov Ivanović, who occasionally appeared there, and his show... No matter what kind of show today, it's all ridiculous compared to that! He could sing exceptionally well. I remember one time, I, Pero Radulović and Jovo were sitting on the corner of 'Mogrena'. And Pero mentions the Italian canzone. And Jovo now makes an analza - 'Parlami d'amore, Mariu', and then he sings the introduction, then 'Volare' by Domeniko Modunjo, then Ivo Zaniki... Indeed, I miss him a lot. He is one of the people I highly valued not only as an artist, but also as a human being," he added.
The artist's daughter, Marija Ivanović, read part of her text, which is in the monograph on Jovo Ivanović.
"Budva, the sea - two concepts without which he could not imagine his life. Buying fish on a trawler, čakula with a fisherman with whom he 'throws' a few recipes from 'Food and Wine'. For me, Budva, dad, childhood, counting boats, walking along the waterfront, wouldn't Ivan and I be tempted to have a bite to eat? Music, dancing with him on the terrace of the former hotel 'Avala'. A glass or two of chardonnay or sauvignon and Al Bano and 'Felicità', Robertino and 'Mamma son tanto felice', a song that he especially loved and which he hummed in moments known to him when he would remember his mother Mara Maria. Only the chosen ones knew that he did not leave the house without tweezers, that he returned three times before going back and forth, that he did not fly, did not sail, did not swim, only in the shallows up to half a dog's length. Picasso once said: All children are artists, the problem is how to remain artists when they grow up. You, father, were and remain a great adult child."
There are a handful of anecdotes about Jova Ivanović. Jerolim Dragičević from Budva remembers how he was left in the care of Jova and Kreš Deloik as a child, how they taught him to play roulette, then Jova as an art teacher and many beautiful memories from the later period.
"The year 1984 and the opening of the hotel 'Avala'. There was the Montenegrin leadership, the municipal leadership, and the gala had already been held there. In the middle of the evening or towards the end, I guess Jovo asked them to stop the music, because he was just starting to be in his element. And when he sang Italian canzones, these managers watched and did not shut their mouths. And Jovo didn't let anyone accompany him, not the orchestra, not anyone, only he sang. It's an unforgettable night as far as I'm concerned. To him, the Italian canzone was everything when it came to music. In fact, Jovo was originally from Budva. He was everything, he just didn't like to deal with politics, nor to talk about politics," said Dragičević.
The tribute to the unforgettable Budva artist was also attended by a large audience of the "Ćirilica" Festival, who accompanied the speaker's presentations with applause and ovations.
During the evening, a visual composition of photos from Ivanović's life was shown, accompanied by Italian canzones, and Jov's blouse, capelin, paints, tubes and brushes were exhibited on the Square between the churches.
The text "Goodbye, friend" was also read, which was written by Professor Miroslav Luketić on the occasion of the death of Jov Ivanović, and which was published in a monograph published in 2018.
The eighth "Ćirilicom" Festival will continue tonight from 21 pm on the Square between the churches with the screening of a documentary film about Sava Lukin Vladislavić Raguzinski, a diplomat of Emperor Peter the Great who formed the Russian foreign intelligence service, demarcated the Russian and Chinese empires, actively participated in the military operations of the Russian empire and realized the signing of peace with Turkey.
The film was realized through the presentation of documents and artifacts from the exhibition about Count Sava Vladislavić, which premiered in the Gallery of Radio and Television of Serbia, recorded material and the testimony of the interlocutors.
After the screening of the film, the director, executive producer and author of the RTS "Palette of Cultural Heritage" series - Slavica Stefanović, and co-author of the exhibition and descendant of Count Vladislavić - Branko Vukomanović will speak.
The "Ćirilicom" festival is being held until September 14 in the organization of the Budva Public Library and the Association of Publishers and Booksellers of Montenegro, with the support of the Municipality of Budva, the Tourism Organization of the Municipality of Budva and the Public Enterprise for the Management of the Maritime Assets of Montenegro.
Bonus video:
