If I look back, I see how many famous people I've met: writers, painters, sculptors... A whole string of pearls!
Among them Miloš Vušković (1900 - 1975), an icon of Cetinje; according to critics, a grandiose artistic phenomenon.
When the Cetinje lime trees smell; the famous ones... And Miloš along Njegoševa, down Njegoševa, up and down... Most often with Risto Dragićević. Sometimes with his elegant wife, Eldom, Dubrovnik. Elegant, in a hat. Exuding Viennese charm.
He was a dear and frequent interlocutor to me. He lived on the second floor of a building in Njegoševa Street (the NA-MA store was on the ground floor), across from the hardware store. Šestan; and from there, not far away, along Njegoševa Street, the tavern "Kod Ikane", the mother of the charming Misa Tomašević, babe Dragan Tomašević, an excellent film and television cameraman and producer. A little further on, along the main, iconic Njegoševa Street, Đukanović palace, with four sculptures symbolizing the seasons. From 1944 to 1956, it housed the editorial office of "Pobjeda", so the old Cetinje residents still call it "Pobjeda". On the corner, the house of a prominent Cetinje merchant Đuro Spasić, and his sons, Arsena, Periša i Straw. Opposite the Spasić home, House Vukotić, built in 1910, the first building in reinforced concrete in this area. Across the street, perhaps, is the most beautiful building in Cetinje, the building of the former French Embassy. And then, the Club of Cultural and Public Workers (today the Ministry of Culture of Montenegro), Miloš Vušković's favorite meeting place, where he would often come to play a game of billiards.
And so, along Njegoševa, towards the Gymnasium, Bajice and Njeguši; then down the Kotor side, to Kotor, and from there into the world.
Opposite Vušković's house, across the Balšić market, in no time at the "Kovač" tavern, in Bajova...
Sociable, Miloš did not avoid taverns and enjoyed chatting with his fellow Cetinje residents, gentlemen, Risto Dragićević, Pavle Đonović, Ljubo Kapisod...
He told me: He chose Cetinje to be far from the center.
Back in the seventies, in mid-May, we had a long conversation, so I told him to scribble something on a piece of paper I was holding in my hand. He took a pen: "Every letter is sincerely written to dear Slobodan. Sincerely, Miloš. 18. - V - 70. Cetinje".
On the wall of the studio, the port of Dubrovnik; slender masts, resembling poles, sway... That's how Miloš saw them; and painted them...
- Those masts... That's also a kind of note - says the painter.
He was born in Cetinje in 1900. He completed junior high school in his hometown. Immediately after the end of World War I, he enrolled in the Art School in Belgrade, and then in 1921, he continued his studies of fine arts at the Academy in Vienna. He organized his first solo exhibition before leaving for his studies in Vienna, in Cetinje and Podgorica in 1921. Vušković's solo exhibitions were held in European capitals.
- Going to Europe, primarily to Vienna, Miloš took into account all the positive experiences of the fundamental school and new artistic ideas, transforming them into a confident and self-aware attitude and artistic style - stated the art historian, a native of Cetinje, Milan Coko Marovic.
Miloš was a truly unusual human and artistic phenomenon.
- Miloš Vušković respects time, the moment and the atmosphere and expresses this artistically in a very simple and modest way - emphasizes Coko Marović. - He logically recorded the memory of the past difficult times in the paintings “Tužbalica Ćetna” (1952) and “Autumn” (1953). He showed all the beauty of space and life in it by often painting flowers and landscapes, among which the painting “Park” from 1956 dominates...
He returned from Vienna in 1924 and worked for seven years as a drawing teacher at the Real Gymnasium in Pančevo, and then at the First Men's Gymnasium in Belgrade. Until World War II, in addition to painting, he worked as an illustrator and caricaturist in the Belgrade newspapers "Glas" and "Politika". As a member of the group of artists "Oblik", he exhibited regularly. With Pjero Križanić In 1935, he founded the humorous and satirical magazine "Ošišani jez".
He told me about his friendship with Pierre.
- I was often a guest at Pierre's for lunch. So, on one occasion, when I was all set to paint a portrait of his then wife League, Pierre himself took up the palette and made a very interesting portrait of Lisa, which is now in my possession. Finishing the portrait, he addressed Lisa: "You see, I'm a painter too!" forgetting that he had been one before, but caricature occupied him much more - Vušković will tell me.
In the pre-war Belgrade days (and nights), Vušković was friends with Tina Ujević.
- Neither Tin had any money, nor did I. We wandered around Skadarlija. That year I struggled in Belgrade, but I endured everything easily because I was driven by a great love for art - Miloš told me.
They also gathered at the "Moskva" hotel, where the tenant of the premises, a man from Ličan, gave them a box and there they discussed art...
Among the older generations of painters between the two wars, it was common to paint portraits of each other. Thus Zora Petrović made Vušković's portrait in return for the portrait of her that Vušković made.
- This is how portraits of many colleagues were created, which can be very interesting as collections, because if one portrait is created by several artists, then it reflects different understandings, views and temperaments on the same motif - Miloš Vušković told me.
His father, They are happy, a participant in the wars of 1875-1878, wanted Miloš to be an officer and intended to send him to Petrograd to attend cadet school; his mother wanted him to be a priest. But Miloš always wanted to draw.
And: as he pointed out Nikola Mijo Vujosevic, painter and publicist, Vušković, on his creative path, expressed and harmoniously combined in his artwork, not only the wealth of talent and the greatness of his painting capacities, but also exceptional optimistic, human virtues. Hence, his paintings reflected the joy of life, which was the credo of his existence...
S Lubard, Milunović, Prijić and others, he founded the Association of Fine Artists of Montenegro in Cetinje in 1946. By decision of the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of Montenegro, in 1948, Vušković was appointed director of the School of Applied Arts in Herceg Novi. In Cetinje, from 1952, he was the director of the Art Gallery, now the Art Museum of Montenegro. Miloš's great merit was in the formation of the Gallery, which, thanks to him, contains numerous anthological works.
He was a member of the Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts and a long-time president of the Association of Fine Artists of Montenegro.
A special gentleness, warmth, emanated from him; he felt happy if he did good to others.
He believed that fine arts in Montenegro had fully gained its popularity.
- Much of the credit for this goes to the Association of Fine Artists of Montenegro, which, by organizing numerous exhibitions throughout Montenegrin cities, brought fine arts closer to the people and formed an audience that practically did not exist before World War II - Vušković told me.
It belonged to people who had seen the world; Lubarda, Milunović, Risto Stijović, Parisians; ...Paris and only Paris... Many talented painters flocked to him, and Miloš went to Vienna. The professor who taught him painting loved him very much.
After Vienna, he returned to Cetinje and carefully painted in watercolor, because, as he told me, he had no other colors.
He loved his Cetinje; he often painted Cetinje's red roofs, parks, flowers, people...
Like many artists, he was never satisfied with what he created. He always wanted something new.
I also visited him in 1974. It was our last meeting and conversation.
The studio is dominated by a painting he called "Grocery Store." A Montenegrin woman, veiled in a black scarf, was squatting in the Balšica market. In front of her were a few eggs, some lettuce, onions...
- That's an extraordinary painting! That "Grocery Store". That's a story. Well, my exhibition next fall in Cetinje will be made up of paintings like that - Vušković told me.
He was always happy when he was at his easel; he forgot about everything unrelated to art.
- Color is joy for me. I can spend half an hour looking at a small detail in a painting that interests me. It often happens that I hate the painting I created at that moment, but after a longer period of time, if I look at it again, I notice something in it that I couldn't notice before, which was actually good - Miloš told me.
Whenever I was in Cetinje, I would stop by his place. And he would call me when he came to Titograd. We would most often meet at the Art Pavilion, where Aco Prijić had an office when he was the president of the Association of Fine Artists of Montenegro.
I also spoke with Vušković about his retrospective exhibition at the Modern Gallery in Titograd in 1967. It was a significant cultural event in the Montenegrin capital. He told me that the success of this exhibition was both his and the Modern Gallery's that organized it.
"I'm glad I got the opportunity to see my works in one place, created over a period of forty years. This type of exhibition, as they call retrospectives, is exciting because it evokes memories," Vušković tells me.
I asked him about his favorite painting. The painting he loves?
His eyes lit up.
- Imagine such joy; to receive an award at an exhibition that opens the door to your affirmation! In 1933, I received the “Politika” Award for the painting “Portrait of a Girl” at the Autumn Exhibition at the “Cvijeta Zuzorić” Art Pavilion in Belgrade. It is a painting that was noticed and that opened the way for me to affirmation. It was done in oil on canvas. My favorite is precisely that “Portrait of a Girl”. When I was working on it, I never thought that it would accompany me for the rest of my life. I look at it, so to speak, every day, since it is here, in the Modern Gallery in Cetinje - says Vušković. He was the first recipient of this newly established valuable award.
As a newspaper man, Vušković was intensely involved in caricature, so he separated himself from painting a little, but not so much that he neglected it. He had two caricature exhibitions in Montenegro, in 1966 and 1969.
He died in Cetinje in 1975. Condolences were received by his wife Elda.
Bonus video:
