Mirna Kutleša i Slava Raškaj TIHI RAD by MMSU Rijeka

Slava Raškaj

Mirna Kutleša 2

Tihi rad

Slava Raškaj, radovi

34 Tihi rad (na kraju proizvodnog ciklusa) 40 Zen i estetika tišine 46 Lista izloženih radova, kratke biografije 68 Mirna Kutleša, radovi

Slava RaĹĄkaj, Works

Silent Work (at the end of production cycle) 58 Zen and the aesthetics of tranquility 64 List of exhibited works, Short biographies 68 Mirna KutleĹĄa, Works

Slava RaĹĄkaj

Slava Raškaj

Mirna Kutleša

Tihi rad

Tihi rad (na kraju proizvodnog ciklusa)

Zavojiti puteljci, ograde i zidine, šumarci, ruševine, groblja... Otrgnute travke. Pa gusti zeleni vidici i procvalo cvijeće. Ovi nerijetko udvojeni prikazi rasprostiru se unutar mape akvarela i crteža Slave Raškaj nastale 1899. u rodnom Ozlju. Rođena gluhonijema, školovana podukama i tečajevima risanja i slikanja, Raškaj je slikala tada primjerene teme za umjetnice – mrtvu prirodu i pejzažne motive, izbjegavajući provjerena rješenja. 1 Raškajeva voli one momente u prirodi koji se više osjećaju i šute, nego vide i opažaju. 2 Pretražuje vlastita raspoloženja. Hvata njihove odraze u prirodnim mijenama, bujanju raslinja, njegovu prorjeđivanju. Listove papira katkad ostavlja nedovršene. Oblikuje ih u više smjerova i gotovo uvijek na obje stranice. I blistave krajolike i profinjene studije cvijeća, neprestance prati neodjeljivi ostatak što nas sačekuje na poleđini prednjih stranica; kao da bi se tu dao ukloniti. Tako pozadinu Kuće uz cestu prikazane podno rasvijetljenih obronaka, čini zgusnuta crna mrlja sa zapisom Kein schönes Motiv (Bez lijepog motiva). Ugoda i tjeskoba, pomirenost i uskomešanost ne daju se misliti odvojeno. Slavina mapa doima se kao podsjetnik na skrovišta svijesti, na poneka sretna mjesta i ona nerado priznata i nelagodna, a koja potiču želju za promjenom. Za izmicanjem od unificiranih krutih okvira, za priznavanjem drugosti. Stoljeće kasnije nailazimo na sličnu kombinatoriku protuslovlja u radovima Mirne Kutleše koji su nastali između 2015. i 2016. Pojedinačni motivi biljnog svijeta sada se probijaju u prvi plan. I opet negiraju preciznu granicu stranice papira. Egzotične vrste cvijeća ‘niču’ uz parazitske biljčice i izdržljive kućne ljubimce praktične za upotrebu modernog čovjeka koji nema previše vremena za njihovo njegovanje i uzgoj. Razabiremo raznovrsne izdanke, najčešće otrgnute iz uobičajenih staništa, vrtova, staklenika, teglica... Zastajemo nad strukturom listova, stabljika, korijenja i cvjetova, njihovim sponama i potkožnim

porama. Pozadina je mahom nedefinirana. Ambis bijelog prostora signalizira dvojbenu mogućnost preživljavanja. Bezdan iza ljepuškastih tvorevina mogući je početak razmišljanja o tome što nam je zajedničko – suučesništvo u krhkosti stvorenih svjetova i dijeljenje vlastite konačnosti. Izložba Tihi rad predstavlja tridesetak radova Slave Raškaj (Ozalj, 1877. – Stenjevec, Zagreb, 1906.) i Mirne Kutleše (Rijeka, 1980.). Nastala je kao novi izložbeni program koji okuplja radove iz fundusa određene razdobljem moderne umjetnosti te suvremene radove pozvane umjetnice. Zastajući nad sličnim sadržajnim preokupacijama i srodnim poetikama dviju umjetnica, izložba donosi nekonvencionalna ostvarenja hrvatskog akvarelnog slikarstva s kraja 19. stoljeća, paralelno suvremenim interpretacijama ovog medija. Obje umjetnice povezuju motivi biljnog svijeta, ali i srodni tretmani bijele površine. Slavini i Mirnini radovi potenciraju mjesta bjeline i poroznosti, međuprostore za daljnje upisivanje. Drhtavi su i treperavi, neskloni pretjeranom sređivanju i dugom opisivanju. Djeluju poput skica i studija, ne zbog očekivanja nekog završnog, studioznijeg rada, već zbog načina hvatanja krhkosti živih formi. Otuda i dojam potmule tišine koja nas pomiče u vremenu i smućuje pregrade između prošlog i aktualnog. Djeluje poput prigušenog krika koji može ponovno dozvati razdoblje odrastanja. Sa sigurne distance izdvojiti potisnute bojazni, hoćemo li biti prigrljeni, prihvaćeni? Kao što i mlada biljka traga za dominantnim izvorom svjetla… Bez obzira na različite karakteristike Slavinih i Mirninih radova, vegetacija se opetovano javlja kao dvojaki simbol, izrazite osjetljivosti na izvanjske utjecaje te unutarnje živosti i sposobnosti samoodržanja. Koristi se kao psiho-biografski prostor u kojem oscilacije energetskih ritmova, od prigušivanja i blijeđenja snage do njenog ponovnog buđenja, dolaze na vidjelo. Živi svijet koji zacjeljuje i ciklički se obnavlja, posreduje se zajedno sa svojim

suspregnutim dvojnikom. Progovara o uvijek aktualnoj dinamici živih formi, nježnosti, njezi, potpori, kao i usporednim procesima odbacivanja i istiskivanja koji su danas i predimenzionirani. Nasilnosti nasuprot, okupljeni radovi prizivaju druge prostore koji predstavljaju neku vrstu obrnutog rasporeda u odnosu na istinski ostvarenu utopiju i u kojem su svi stvarni rasporedi ili svi drugi rasporedi koji se mogu naći u društvu, istovremeno predstavljeni, osporeni i preokrenuti: mjesto koje se nalazi izvan svakog mjesta, a položaj kojega se ipak može odrediti. 3 Podrazumijevajući odstupanje od potvrđenog prosjeka, drugi prostori izvrću uvriježene sustave identificiranja i orijentiranja, izazivaju propitivanje ‘norme normalnog’. Tako se začudna kombinatorika isključenja i uključenja, otvaranja i zatvaranja, odsustva i prisustva, u Slavinim i Mirninim radovima, može promatrati kao odražavanje opreka između štićenih obitavališta te nesigurnih zakloništa, kako bi postojeće granice između tijela i prostora postale upitne i promjenjive. Uzmimo kao primjer Slavin crtež Ruke na poleđini Ozlja. Gledamo u sukcesiju nosa, usana i šaka. Lice i njegov nositelj, tijelo prisutni su tek u fragmentima, u slijepljenim usnicama i stisnutoj mimici prstiju. Mirnina instalacija Mjesto u sjeni također se naslanja na princip mise en abyme i uslojavanje slike u slici. Temeljni je motiv florealna arabeska koja je preuzeta sa flamanskog porculana, potom uvećana i iscrtana na zidu. 4 Djelomično je zakrivena refleksijom napuknutog stakla koje je pokriveno jedva primjetnom prašinom. Predodžbe o cjelovitosti i homogenosti pokazuju se kao varke koje katkad i omoguće lakše podnošenje svakodnevnih dezorijentiranosti, zamijetili ih ili ne. Sugerirajući skrovitu prostornost i krhko postojanje, Slavini i Mirnini radovi podsjećaju na mnoštvo preskočenih prostora koji se u proizvodnoj utrci modernih vremena racionalno zatomljuju. I neprestance gomilaju. Suptilnost izloženih radova pronalazimo u

neizravnom upućivanju na sporne razdjelnice između prihvatljivih i nepoželjnih ili nepriznatih načina postojanja, a da pritom predodžbe o bivanju na rubu društvenih normi nisu doslovno vizualizirane. Prisutne su u naznakama i elipsama u kojima biljni svijet postaje pandan ljudskom. Podjednako labilan. U stalnoj potrazi za toplinom svijeta. Ksenija Orelj

2 3 4

Radovi Slave Raškaj iz zbirke MMSU, samostalnom izložbom prvi su put predstavljeni u Malom salonu 1993., Cerovac ističe posebnosti njezinog izraza, a njen ‘hendikep’ kao dragocjenu kreativnu prednost pred ‘normalnom’, konvencionalnom percepcijom drugih autora. Usp. Branko Cerovac, Slava Raškaj i estetika šutnje, Moderna galerija Rijeka, 1993. O statusu umjetnica u razdoblju Moderne usp., Ljiljana Kolešnik: Likovne umjetnice, u: Rodno (spolno) obilježavanje prostora i vremena u Hrvatskoj, Institut za društvena istraživanja, Zagreb, 2006., str. 228., Vrata likovnih Akademija, čije pohađanje je još od renesanse bilo jedini ključ javne afirmacije, ženama su otvorena tek sredinom 19. stoljeća. No sve do tog trenutka, klasično akademsko obrazovanje i mogućnost crtanja prema (nagom) modelu ženama su bili nedostupni. Kako se do pojave moderne umjetnosti upravo prikazivanje nagog ljudskog tijela držalo temeljnom slikarskom, odnosno kiparskom vještinom, žene su, budući deprivirane tog tipa poduke, već unaprijed bile lišene mogućnosti dobivanja stručnih stipendija, nagrada pa i podrške javnosti. Matko Peić, Slava Raškaj, Spektar, Zagreb, 1985., str. 42. Michel Foucault, O drugim prostorima, http://pescanik.net/ o-drugim-prostorima/ O crtanju po zidu kod Slave Raškaj i utjecaju porculanskih tekstura, usp. Matko Peić, op. cit., str. 8. – 13.

Zen i estetika tiĹĄine

Od djelovanja i smrti Slave Raškaj pa sve do umjetničkih ostvarenja Mirne Kutleša prošlo je više od jednog stoljeća unutar kojega su se umjetnosti, a posebice slikarstvo, rigorozno i radikalno borili sa samim sobom, odnosno, s medijem kojega predstavljaju. Od radikalnih gesti avangarde pa sve do raznih estetika modernizma i postmodernizma odvijala se ta dinamična povijest poimanja slike i onoga što ona treba reprezentirati, paralelno s kojom je egzistirala i održala se vjernost prema slikarstvu koje je raskoš, doživljaj duha i koje još može izraziti najdublje emocije. Upravo je ta ljubav i povjerenje u likovnost i vizualni jezik koji još može komunicirati sa gledateljem ono što, uočljivo i na prvi pogled, povezuje Slavu Raškaj i Mirnu Kutlešu. Dvije umjetnice imaju i blizak senzibilitet prema slikanju prirode što se očituje i u temama njihovih radova, a također dijele ljubav i prema likovnoj tehnici akvarela kao i prema modro-zelenoljubičastim tonovima. Kao jednu od konstitutivnih estetskih odrednica Slavinih slika, Branko Cerovac uočio je prisutnost nečeg neizrecivog i trans-estetskog te je u tome prepoznao značajke moderne umjetnosti ističući da je umjetnica dospjela u područje koje Susan Sontag naziva estetikom šutnje. S tom usporedbom možemo se i ne moramo složiti, posebice stoga jer ta sintagma možda primjerenije označava umjetničku praksu, gestu i stav kojim umjetnik napušta umjetničko djelovanje, prekida javno izlaganje i sudjelovanje u svijetu umjetnosti kako bi izrazio svoj protest i pobunu protiv uloge koju mu je nametnulo društvo i svijet umjetnosti. Upravo se šutnjom umjetnik oslobađa od robovanja svijetu što su pokazali mnogi poznati umjetnici i intelektualci poput: Artura Rimbauda, Ludwiga Wittgensteina ili Marcela Duchampa. Nadalje, pišući o Slavinim radovima, Cerovac primjećuje da su oni anticipativni za našu modernu i suvremenu umjetnost, a

posebno je ta veza uočljiva u radovima pripadnika neformalne umjetničke skupine Gorgona, primjerice kod Josipa Vanište i Ivana Kožarića, zatim u djelima Fluksusovaca i neoavangardnoj umjetnosti kao i kod nekih slikara poput Ive Gattina. Međutim, Cerovac ne spominje da taj moderan dojam neizrecivog, pojmovno neuhvatljivog, iracionalnog, kao i tišina bremenita značenjem koju osjećamo na Slavinim akvarelima i crtežima, može pripadati i intuitivnom, gotovo religioznom osjećaju, odnosno, jednom osobitom učenju – zenu. Meditativnost tih akvarela i crteža, nepostojanje velikih tema u sadržajnom smislu, redukcija motiva i vizualnih pojavnosti na površini slike, minimalizam, liričnost, intimnost, rasplinutost, hvatanje atmosfere trenutka virtuoznim omjerima vode i pigmenta, stilizacija, sve su to karakteristike koje opisuju i prožimaju Slavine, ali i Mirnine radove. Zasnovani na intuiciji i neposrednom doživljaju prirode te iskustvu uvida ti radovi ostavljaju upravo taj istočnjački i zenovski dojam neizrecivog i trans-estetskog. Možda bi zbog toga estetika tišine, umjesto estetike šutnje, prikladnije označavala Slavine akvarele. Također, zen podrazumijeva traženje puta oslobođenja od patnje, odnosno kroz duboku koncentraciju i akt meditativnog napora nastoji se postići trenutačno prosvjetljenje – satori, pri čemu je, mogli bismo reći, upravo umjetnost, gluhonijemoj Slavi, bila glavno sredstvo tog traženja. Iako kod ovih umjetnica ne postoje direktne veze s zenom ili budizmom ipak postoje nagovještaji, stavovi, razmišljanja, umjetnički postupci i slikarski procesi iz kojih uočavamo postojanje dodirnih točki s navedenim učenjem i osjećanjima koja su primijetili i najbolji poznavatelji Slavine umjetnosti. Primjerice, taj zenovski doživljaj prirode očituje se i u želji da se u crtanju prirodnog pejzaža i bilja prevladaju granice između subjekta i objekta, kako to uočava i Matko Peić pišući o Slavinim djelima

nastalim 1899. godine: Zimski, gluhonijemi pejzaž najbolje je odgovarao stanju njene psihe. (…) Nigdje kao ovdje Amiel nije imao više prava kad je kazao: Pejzaž je duša. (…) Ma kako slikala pejzaž, ona ga je slikala kao samu sebe: jedan stari mlin koji propada uz Kupu, jedno stablo koje samuje u vrtu, jedna djevojčica koja samuje u suncu – svi ti pejzaži Slavini su autoportreti. Matko Peić jasno je uočio i povezanost s orijentalnim senzibilitetom i umjetnošću kada je zapisao: Pred njenim se očima događao tajanstveni fenomen, ona uz minimum slikarskog materijala izražava maksimum slikarskog duha… ona japanskom metodom, redukcionizmom, slika naš pejzaž… Jedinstven Slavin opus kao i usmjerenost na teme i motive iz djetinjstva u Ozlju, seljačke kuće, interijere, rijeku Kupu, pejzaže sa studijima maslačaka, bršljana, visibabe, šumarice, kukurijeka i drugih biljaka i Mirnina tematska raznovrsnost i poigravanje sa slikama iz različitog, znanstvenog, medijskog i drugog podrijetla, ne mogu se uspoređivati ali zato obje umjetnice, kao što smo već istaknuli, dijele sklonost prema slikanju prirode. U tom pristupu i dubinskom promatranju obje su fokusirane na detalje i prirodne efekte koje percipiraju, a ta, naoko marginalna tema mrtve prirode iz 19. stoljeća, samo potvrđuje da je, u tih sto i više godina koliko je prošlo od Slave do Mirne, intiman odnos prema prirodi, umjetnicima još uvijek važno područje interesa. Možda zbog toga jer se kroz fokusiranost na pejzaž, u gledateljima, nastoji potaknuti svijest o našem odnosu prema okolini općenito. Kroz temu mrtve prirode promišlja se o životu i smrti, a to dubinsko zagledanje u biljke i prirodu oko sebe, kao i želja da se minimalnim i jednostavnim sredstvima prenese misao o prolaznosti, bliske su filozofiji zena. Skicirani, poludovršeni ili dovršeni Slavini crteži iz mape nalaze se na obostrano ocrtanim blokovima papira i predstavljaju svojevrsne paralelne svjetove s temama koje su je opsjedale.

Opsesivnost ponavljanja karakteristična je i za Mirnine crteže biljaka. No Mirna, cjelinu i raznolikost prirode svodi na znak, na jednu biljku, jedan cvijetak koji gotovo znanstveno-botaničkom preciznošću, ponegdje ilustrativno, iscrtava do najsitnijih detalja uočavajući na lišću žilice, razne mrlje, nepravilnosti ili tragove bolesti. Novije slike, od kojih su neke rađene i u kombiniranoj tehnici, zahvaljujući dubinskom promatranju, odnosno zoru, nisu više mimetičke i ne oponašaju prirodu već nastoje proniknuti u skrivena i dublja značenja. Tako je primjerice, u jednom od crteža, cvijet orhideje postao Rorschachova mrlja. Mirnini crteži su fragmentarni te se likovno i značenjski razdvajaju ali ih je moguće, kao na izložbi, složiti jedne pored drugih i povezati u svojevrsnu imaginarnu, kolažnu i promjenjivu scenografiju koja svjedoči o teatralizaciji slikarstva te razbijenom jedinstvu i cjelovitosti. Razbijena stvarnost tj. cjelina prisutna je i u instalaciji kojom Mirna, pod dojmom Slavine umjetnosti i sudbine, odaje hommage slavnoj umjetnici. Razbijeno posuđe projicira se na zid preko crteža s cvjetnim uzorkom. Treba li spomenuti da je upravo jedan od specifičnih izražajnih oblika zena, uz ceremoniju pijenja čaja i crno-bijele slike, crtanje i slaganje cvjetnih uzoraka i kompozicija. Raspuknuta stvarnost preduvjet je i da se dosegne zenovsko prosvjetljenje, odnosno satori. Evo kako Hakuin, osnivač moderne škole zena u 18. stoljeću, opisuje taj doživljaj: …Tad je iznenada nastupila kritična koncentracija. Činilo mi se da sam se sledio u zamrznutom polju koje se širilo unedogled, dok sam u svojoj nutrini imao osjećaj potpune prozirnosti. Nisam mogao ni naprijed ni nazad. U tom su mi stanju prolazili dani dok jedne večeri zvuk zvona nije naglo sve srušio. Bilo je kao da se razbila staklena vaza ili srušila kuća od žada. Prenuvši se osjetio sam da su se sve moje prijašnje neizvjesnosti raspršile kao santa leda koja se topi. Sve prošle i sadašnje teškoće nisu više vrijedne ni da budu opisane.

Spokojnost, snenost, tišina, prozračnost, rasplinutost, magličasta atmosfera, važnost bijelog papira i njegove praznine, zatim dojam nedovršenosti i nedorečenosti karakteristike su koje opisuju Slavine ali i Mirnine radove, ali ono što možda i najviše, u formalnom smislu, povezuje te dvije umjetnice svakako je odnos prema bjelini slikarskog papira i iskorištavanje vrijednosti bijele podloge koja stvara atmosferu potmule tišine nalik prigušenom kriku. Naravno, Slava Raškaj je poznato i priznato ime u povijesti umjetnosti s, u velikoj mjeri, istraženim i zaokruženim opusom, dok se likovni izraz i umjetnička nastojanja Mirne Kutleše još razvijaju. Upravo zbog toga je i zanimljiv novi ciklus MMSU-a jer, osim što povezuje dvije umjetnice iz dva različita razdoblja, taj odnos ne koncipira kao odnos između mentora i njegovog sljedbenika, odnosno, profesora i učenika, nego kao odnos koji nam pokazuje kako povijest umjetnosti ne mora nužno biti jedinstvena i linearno ispričana priča koja se evolucijski razvija kroz sljedove umjetničkih pokreta i oblika izražavanja. Upravo nam primjer dviju umjetnica, koje se prve predstavljaju u novom ciklusu, znakovito i zenovski, nazvanom Tihi rad, pokazuje da između umjetničkih senzibiliteta ne postoje, i ne bi trebale postojati, granice. Ovaj ciklus svakako ne bi trebao poslužiti tome da, u kompetitivnom smislu, istakne ili podcrta, tehničku ili bilo kakvu drugu, superiornost jedne umjetnice naspram druge, već upravo suprotno, treba nam pokazati kako umjetnici otkrivaju jedni druge i najbolje se razumiju, bez obzira na vremenski period koji ih razdvaja i u kojem djeluju ili su djelovali. Nikica Klobučar

Slava Raškaj Crtanka studije akvarela i crteži na papiru (akvarel, olovka, tuš) vanjska mjera s paspartuom: 420 x 350 mm Ozalj, 1899. MMSU-435-(2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 20, 21, 23, 26)

Slava Raškaj rođena je 1877. u Ozlju. Između 1885. i 1893. školovala se u Zavodu za gluhonijeme u Beču. Za zagrebačkog razdoblja, 1894. – 1895., počinje njen intenzivni stvaralački razvoj. Školuje se u Kraljevskoj ženskoj stručnoj školi. Likovne poduke dobiva od Bele Čikoša Sesije. Postupno oslobađa vlastito likovno mišljenje i izraz od školskih (bečkih i zagrebačkih) pravila konvencionalno ‘dobrog’ slikanja. Ilustracije za časopis Vienac izrađuje 1898. Godinu dana kasnije boravi u Ozlju, kada od siječnja do svibnja nastaju akvareli i crteži iz mape prikazane na ovoj izložbi. Od 1901. na kućnoj je njezi zbog znakova gubitka ‘duševne ravnoteže’. Od 1902. do smrti, 1906., boravi u Državnom zavodu za umobolne u Stenjevcu. Povremeno slika. Sva njena korespondencija uništena je ili izgubljena nakon njene smrti. Od 1898. do 1906. izlagala je na nekoliko izložbi, Društva hrvatskih umjetnika, Zagreb, 1898.; L’exposition AustroHongroise, Petrograd, Moskva, 1899. / 1900.; Svjetska izložba u Parizu, 1900.; Putujuća izložba Društva hrvatskih likovnih umjetnika, Sušak, Karlovac, Osijek, Đakovo, Zemun, Sisak, Varaždin, 1901.; Izložba Društva umjetnosti, Zagreb, 1902. i 1903. Prvu retrospektivnu izložbu, u povodu 50-godišnjice njezine smrti, organizirao je Institut za likovne umjetnosti JAZU u Zagrebu 1957., a iste godine i u Beogradu, u suradnji sa Savezom gluhih Jugoslavije. * Usp., Branko Cerovac, Slava Raškaj, Moderna galerija Rijeka, 1993.

Mirna Kutleša Nepodnošljiva bjelina crteži na papiru (akvarel, olovka, tuš, flomaster) objekt (staklo, metal) 2015. – 2016. Mjesto u sjeni crtež na zidu (tinta), analogna projekcija 2016.

Mirna Kutleša rođena je 1980. u Rijeci. Diplomirala je slikarstvo na Akademiji likovnih umjetnosti u Zagrebu 2004. Od tada kontinuirano izlaže na skupnim i samostalnim izložbama. Radovi joj se nalaze u zbirci riječkog Muzeja moderne i suvremene umjetnosti i zbirci Erste fondacije, te privatnim zbirkama. Članica je Hrvatske zajednice samostalnih umjetnika od 2010. Kroz svoj rad propituje vizualni okoliš sa njegovim hijerarhijama i uspostavljenim narativima izvlačeći na vidjelo neočekivana ili potisnuta značenja. Kroz crtež i sliku, nerijetko ih proširujući u suptilne prostorne instalacije, istražuje kanone reprezentacije utkane u tkivo zapadne civilizacije kako bi stvorila alternativna gledišta. kutlesamirna.blogspot.com

Slava Raškaj

Mirna Kutleša

Silent Work

Silent Work (at the end of production cycle)

Winding roads, fences and walls, groves, cemeteries… torn blades of grass. Thick, green landscapes and flowers in blossom… These themes, often shown side by side, overflow Slava Raškaj’s sketchbook of aquarelles and drawings, created in 1899 in Ozalj. Born deaf-mute, she received her education in the form of drawing and painting lessons and the motifs she painted – still life and landscape – were motifs suitable for female artists of that time. However, her style avoided conventional solutions. 1 Raškaj is drawn to those moments in nature which are not ‘seen’ and observed, but ‘felt’, in silence. 2 She explores her own moods. She captures their reflections in nature’s transformations, in the growth and the thinning of flora. Sometimes she leaves her work unfinished. She paints in several directions and almost always on both sides of the paper. Both the lustrous landscapes and the fine studies of flowers are always accompanied by a lingering remnant, which we chance upon when we look on the back of Slava’s paper, and which seems as if it could be removed from there. For instance, on the back of A House by the Road, painted under the luminous hills, there is a thick black blot, with an inscription Kein schönes Motiv (Without Beautiful Motif). Ease and anxiety, peacefulness and agitation cannot be seen apart here. Slava’s sketchbook seems to remind of secret shelters of consciousness, of the few happy places, the places we reluctantly acknowledge, the disquieting places that awaken our desire for change. The desire for breaking the bounds of uniformity, for the recognition of otherness. A century later, we come upon a similar amalgamation of contradictions, in the works of Mirna Kutleša created between 2015 and 2016. In these works, floral motifs come to the foreground. And, again, they negate that very place where one side of the paper ends and the other begins. Exotic flowers ‘grow’ next to parasitic plants and the enduring pets, practical

and convenient for modern people who do not have time any more to grow and cultivate them. We pick out different saplings, which are often torn from their grounds, gardens, greenhouses, pots… We linger over the texture of leaves, stems, roots and petals, their veins and hidden pores. The background is most often undefined. The abyss of the white space symbolizes the questionable possibility of survival. The nothingness behind the pleasing forms may indicate a beginning of reflection on what we all have in common – our participation in the fragility of created worlds and our sharing of own ephemerality. The exhibition Silent Work encompasses around thirty paintings of Slava Raškaj (Ozalj, 1877 – Stenjevec, Zagreb, 1906) and Mirna Kutleša (Rijeka, 1980). It has been developed as a new exhibition program gathering the works of modern art from the MMSU collection and the contemporary works of the invited artist. Exploring the similar thematic preoccupations and kindred poetics of the selected artists, this exhibition brings nonconventional realizations of the Croatian watercolor painting from the end of the 19th century, together with the contemporary interpretations of this medium. These two artists are connected by motifs of flora, but also by the way they treat the white surface of paper. Slava’s and Mirna’s works potentiate the whiteness and the porousness, they accentuate the ‘inbetween’ spaces that wait to be filled. These spaces are fragile and shivery, showing disinclination for being garnished and meticulously described. They remind of sketches and studies, whose purpose is not to turn into a completed, studious work, but to capture the transience of the living forms. Hence the impression of heavy silence that moves us in time and erases the boundaries between the past and the present. It resembles an outcry that has the power to invoke the period of growing up. To recognize the repressed fears, from a safe distance, fears of

whether we will be accepted and loved, just like a young plant that seeks its guiding source of light… Regardless of the differences in Slava’s and Mirna’s work, vegetation repeatedly occurs here as a dual symbol, symbol of an extreme sensitivity to external influences and, on the other hand, symbol of inner liveliness and ability for self-preservation. Vegetation is used as a psycho-biographical space that reveals all the oscillations of the rhythms of energy, from silence and loss of color, to a new awakening. These works mediate a living world that heals and moves in cycles of renewal, together with its hidden doppelganger. They speak about the eternally fresh dynamic of living forms, about tenderness, care, support, as well as the accompanying processes of rejection and suppression, which are over-dimensioned even today. In contradiction to violence, the exhibited works invoke other places, which are something like counter-sites, a kind of effectively enacted utopia, in which the real sites, all the other sites that can be found in a culture, are simultaneously represented, contested and inverted. Places of this kind are outside of all places, even though it may be possible to indicate their location in reality. 3 Bearing the connotation of deviation from the average, other places reverse the deep-rooted systems of identification and orientation; they call for questioning of the ‘norm of normalcy’. Hence this wondrous amalgamation of exclusion and inclusion, of opening and closing, of absence and presence in Slava’s and Mirna’s works can be seen as a reflection of contradictions between protected habitats and insecure shelters, whose purpose is to present the existing boundaries between body and space as disputable and changeable. Let us take Slava’s drawing The Hands, found in the back of Ozalj, as an example. We see the line of nose, lips and fists. The face and its bearer, the body, are present only in fragments, in the firmly shut

lips and clenched fingers. Mirnaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s installation A Place in the Shadow also relies on mise en abyme principle and the infinite reproduction of images. The basic motif is a floral arabesque taken from Flemish porcelain, magnified and drawn on a wall. 4 It is partly concealed with a reflection of blown glass covered in fine dust. Assumptions of wholeness and homogeneity appear as illusions that sometimes facilitate our coping with everyday disorientations, whether we see them or not. Conveying the message of hidden spaces and fragile existence, Slavaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and Mirnaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s works remind of a multitude of omitted sites that are consciously suppressed in these times hasty production. And these sites proliferate constantly. The subtleness of the exhibited works is evident in their suggestion of dubious boundaries between acceptable and undesirable ways of existence. However, the notions of living on the margin of social norms are not presented literally. They are shown in tinges and ellipses in which the world of plants becomes the counterpart of the world of humans. Equally delicate. In a constant search for warmth. Ksenija Orelj

2 3 4

The works of Slava Raškaj that belong to the MMSU collection were shown at a solo exhibition first time in Mali salon in 1993. Cerovac then pointed to the distinctiveness of her expression, noting that ‘handicap was the precious creative advantage over the normal, conventional perception of other authors (Branko Cerovac, Slava Raškaj i estetika šutnje, Moderna galerija Rijeka, 1993). On the status of female artists in the period of the Croatian Modernism cf. Ljiljana Kolešnik: Likovne umjetnice, in: Rodno (spolno) obilježavanje prostora i vremena u Hrvatskoj, Institute for Social Research, Zagreb, 2006, p. 228, The door to the academies of fine arts, the attendance of which was the only key to public recognition, were not opened to women until mid 19th century. Until then, traditional academic education and the possibility of drawing nudes were inaccessible to women. Since nudes were considered basic painting and sculpting skill, and it was so until the arrival of modern art, women, deprived of this form of lessons, were ridden of the possibility of receiving scholarships, awards, and even public support. Matko Peić, Slava Raškaj, Spektar, Zagreb, 1985, p. 42. Michel Foucault, O drugim prostorima, http://pescanik.net/ o-drugim-prostorima/ On Slava Raškaj’s wall drawings and the influence of porcelain textures, see Matko Peić, op. cit., p. 8 – 13

Zen and the aesthetics of tranquility

A hundred-year period stands between the time when Slava Raškaj created her work and passed away and the artistic achievements of Mirna Kutleša; a whole century in which art practices, and particularly visual arts, struggled vigorously and radically, fighting their respective battles with themselves and the media they represented. From the radical gestures of the avant-garde to different aesthetics of modernism and postmodernism, this dynamic history was taking place, the history of understanding paintings and what those paintings should symbolize, and at the same time there was, and there still is, a devotion to painting that represents the splendor and experience of the spirit, painting that still has the power to convey the most profound emotions. It is precisely this love and trust in visual art elements and visual art language that still communicates with the viewer and expresses the aspect that connects Slava Raškaj and Mirna Kutleša. These two artists share similar sensibility for painting nature, which reflects in their motifs, and they also share the appreciation of watercolor technique, as well as of blue, green and purple hues. Branko Cerovac noticed the presence of something inexpressible, something trans-aesthetical in Slava’s paintings and this inexpressible aspect was one of the constitutive aesthetical determinants of her work. Cerovac defined this as the characteristic of modern art, adding that the artist stepped into the sphere that Susan Sontag called the aesthetics of silence. We may or may not agree with this comparison, especially because this expression is perhaps more suitable for the description of an artistic practice, gesture and position that artists take in order to abandon art, to end with every public exhibiting of their work and leave the world of art behind, thereby voicing their protest against the role imposed upon them by society and artistic circles. Silence is the means by which artists acquire freedom from the servitude to the world, as shown by many artists and intellectuals such as

Arthur Rimbaud, Ludwig Wittgenstein and Marcel Duchamp. In his writings about Slava’s work, Cerovac noted that her paintings heralded the Croatian modern and contemporary art. This connection is particularly visible in the works of the informal art group Gorgona, in Josip Vaništa and Ivan Kožarić, for example, or in the works of Fluxus and Neo-Avant-Garde art, as well as in the work of painters such as Ivo Gattin. However, Cerovac did not mention that such a modern impression of the inexpressible, the evanescent, the irrational, of silence laden with meaning that we sense in Slava’s aquarelles and drawings, may be part of an intuitive, almost religious, feeling, i.e., of a particular movement – Zen. The meditativeness of these aquarelles and drawings, the absence of grand themes in terms of content, the reduction of motifs and visual images on the surface of the paintings; minimalism, lyricalness, intimacy, dissolubility, the acts of capturing the atmosphere of the moment by applying impeccable rations of pigment and water, stylization; these are all the characteristics that define and permeate Slava’s, but also Mirna’s works. Based on intuition and an immediate experience of nature, and guided by insight, these works create precisely this Zen-like impression of the inexpressible and trans-aesthetical. Perhaps the term aesthetics of tranquility, instead of aesthetics of silence, would be better suited for the description of Slava’s aquarelles. Moreover, Zen involves a quest for a road to freedom, freedom from suffering; in a deep concentration and meditative effort, one aims to attain an immediate enlighthnenment – satori, and in this endeavor, deafmute Slava used art as her main route. Even though the work of these two artists is not directly related to Zen or Buddhism, there are still many hints, perspectives, sentiments, artistic procedures and painting processes which point to a correlation with the above-said teaching and with the emotions which were noticed by the connoisseurs of Slava’s art.

For instance, this Zen-like experience of nature manifests in an effort of transcending the boundaries between subject and object in the drawing of natural landscapes. Studying Slava Raškaj’s paintings done 1899, Matko Peić wrote: A deaf-mute landscape of winter best suited the state of her psyche. (...) Amiel has put it best: landscape is soul. (...) regardless of the way in which she painted a landscape, she painted it like she painted her own being: a old mill that deteriorates by the River Kupa, a solitary tree in the garden, a girl, standing alone in the sunlight – these are all Slava’s autoportraits. Matko Peić also established a correlation of Slava’s work with oriental sensibility and art. He wrote: A mysterious phenomenon was occurring in front of her eyes; with a minimum of painting material, she expressed the maximum of an artistic spirit… she used the Japanese method, reductionism, to paint our landscapes… Slava’s unique oeuvre, as well as her centeredness on the themes and motives from her childhood in Ozalj, peasants’ houses, interiors, the river Kupa, landscapes with studies of dandelions, ivy, snowdrops, anemones, hellebores and other flowers and plants and Mirna’s thematic diversity and her playing with pictures from scientific, media and other backgrounds, cannot be compared. However, both artists, as we have already stated, share the same preoccupation with the themes of nature. In such an in-depth approach, both artists focus on details and natural effects, and this seemingly marginal theme of the 19th century still life only confirms that an intimate relationship with nature remained an important field of interest of artists, in spite of the hundred-year period that separates Slava and Mirna. Perhaps this is so because focusing on landscapes fosters the viewers’ awareness of nature in general. The themes of still life encourage reflection on life and death and this in-depth observation of plants and nature, as well as the desire to communicate the idea of transience, is close to the Zen philosophy.

Sketches, half-finished or finished drawings from Slava’s portfolio were made on both sides of the paper and they represent parallel worlds with subjects that kept coming back to Slava. An obsessive repetition of motives is characteristic of Mirna’s drawings, too. However, Mirna reduces the wholeness and diversity of nature to a mere symbol, to a plant, or a tiny flower, which she draws in the finest details, with almost scientific precision, observing every vein on a leaf, every spot, every irregularity or sign of disease in a plant. More recent paintings, some of which are mixed-media, are no so mimetic anymore, owing to the in-depth observation, i.e. gaze, and they aim to penetrate deep into hidden meanings instead. For instance, a drawing of an orchid turns into Rorschach inkblot. Mirna’s drawings are fragmental and they differ from Slava’s, both in visual and connotative terms. Nevertheless, it is possible, like in this exhibition, to put these works side by side and connect them into imaginary, collage-like scenery, which confirms that painting can be ‘theatralized’ and that wholeness and unity can be broken. Broken reality, i.e. broken wholeness, can be also seen in an installation in which Mirna, under the impression of Slava’s art and destiny, pays homage to the great artist. Broken porcelain is projected onto the wall using a flower drawing. Flower patterns and compositions such as these, along with black and white paintings and the ritual of tea drinking, are typical forms of expressions of the Zen philosophy. Broken reality is the precondition of reaching the enlightenment of Zen, i.e. satori. This is how Hakuin, the founder of the modern school of Zen in the 18th century, described the feeling: …Suddenly a great doubt manifested itself before me. It was as though I were frozen solid in the midst of an ice sheet extending tens of thousands of miles. A purity filled my breast and I could neither go forward nor retreat... This state lasted for several days. Then I chanced to hear the sound

of the temple bell and I was suddenly transformed. It was as if a sheet of ice had been smashed or a jade tower had fallen with a crash. Suddenly I returned to my senses. All my former doubts vanished as though ice had melted away. All my past and present worries do not have any significance anymore. Tranquility, dreaminess, silence, transparency, dissolubility, misty atmosphere, the importance of the whiteness and emptiness of the paper, the impression of incompleteness and vagueness are the characteristics that describe both Slava’s and Mirna’s works. However, what truly, in formal sense, connects these two artists is their relationship to the whiteness of the paper and their usage of the white background that creates an atmosphere of heavy silence, resembling a muffled outcry. Slava Raškaj is an acclaimed name in the history of art and her ouevre is complete and well explored, while Mirna’s expression and artistic endeavors are still developing. This is precisely what makes the new MMSU’s series so interesting; it connects two artists from two different periods, but it does not perceive this relationship as the relationship between mentor and follower, i.e., teacher and student. Instead, it depicts the relationship that shows us that history of art does not necessarily have to be a uniform, linear story that unfolds and evolves throughout the arrays of art movements and forms of expressions. The example of these two artists, who are the first to be presented, strikingly and in a Zen-like manner, in this new series titled Silent Work, demonstrates that between artistic sensibilities there are no, and there should not be, any boundaries. This series should by no means serve to pinpoint and highlight, in a competitive sense, the superiority of one artist over the other; on the contrary, it should prove that artists discover and truly understand each other, irrespective of the period that separates them, the period in which they created or still create. Nikica Klobučar

Slava RaĹĄkaj Sketchbook watercolor studies and drawings on paper (watercolor, pencil, ink) outer measures with passe-partout: 420 x 350 mm Ozalj, 1899 MMSU-435-(2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 20, 21, 23, 26)

Slava Raškaj was born in Ozalj in 1877. In the years between 1885 and 1893, she attended school for the deaf at the Institute for Deaf-Mute Children in Vienna. Her creative development intensively began in 1894 – 1895, when she came to Zagreb. She started receiving painting lessons from Bela Csikos-Sessia. She attended the Royal Vocational School for Girls in Zagreb. Gradually, Slava Raškaj began to liberate her artistic thought and expression, moving away from the rules (of Zagreb and Vienna schools) of conventionally ‘good’ painting. In 1898, she made illustrations for Vienac literary magazine, and a year later she went to back to Ozalj, where in the period from January to May she made watercolor paintings and drawings shown in this exhibition. In 1901, she started showing symptoms of emotional imbalance and after brief hospitalization she was referred to home care. However, she did not recover and in 1902 Slava Raškaj was admitted to the Psychiatric Hospital of Stenjevec, where she stayed until her death in 1906. She painted only occasionally in that period. All her letters we lost or destroyed after her death. From 1898 to 1906 Slava Raškaj had several exhibitions: The Croatian Artists Association, Zagreb, 1898; L’exposition Austro-Hongroise, St. Petersburg, Moscow, 1899 / 1900; world exhibition in Paris, 1900; travelling exhibition of the Croatian Association of Artists, Sušak, Karlovac, Osijek, Đakovo, Zemun, Sisak, Varaždin, 1901; Izložba društva umjetnosti, Zagreb, 1902 and 1903. The first retrospective of Raškaj’s works was organized by the Institute of Fine Arts of the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of her death in 1957, first in Zagreb and then in Belgrade, in cooperation with the Yugoslav Association of the Deaf. * cf., Slava Raškaj’s biography in: Branko Cerovac, Slava Raškaj, Moderna galerija Rijeka, 1993

Mirna KutleĹĄa Unbearable Whiteness drawings on paper (watercolor, pencil, ink, felt tip pen) object (glass, metal) 2015 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 2016 A Place in the Shadow drawing on wall (ink), analogue projection 2016

Mirna KutleĹĄa was born in 1980 in Rijeka. She studied at Zagreb Academy of Fine Arts, where she graduated in 2004. Since then, Mirna has been exhibiting her works in group and solo shows. Her paintings have been included in the collection of the Rijeka Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art and the Art Collection of ERSTE Foundation, as well as in private collections. She is a member of the Croatian Freelance Artists Association since 2010. In her work, Mirna KutleĹĄa explores visual environment with its hierarchies and fixed narratives, brining to the surface its unexpected or suppressed connotations. Her drawings and paintings, which she often transforms into subtle spatial installations, re-examine the canons of representation woven into the fabric of the Western civilization, with the aim of creating alternative points of view. kutlesamirna.blogspot.com

Mirna KutleĹĄa

slava Raškaj i Mirna Kutleša Tihi rad — Silent Work 20. 10. – 10. 11. 2016. Mali salon

izdavač — publisher

zahvale — acknowledgements

Muzej moderne i suvremene umjetnosti

Luka Matić, Nikola Nenadić, Robert Mijalić,

Museum of Modern and Contemporary

Vedran Kordić, Hrvoje Sitar

za izdavača — for the publisher

tisak — printing

Slaven Tolj

Kerschoffset, Zagreb

kustosica — curator

naklada — print run

Ksenija Orelj

300

fotografije i skenovi — photography

broj kataloga — catalogue no.

& scans

355

Goran Vranić; Kaligraf d.o.o. podržano — supported by prijevod — translation

Ministarstvo kulture RH;

Lidija Toman

Primorsko-goranska županija

grafičko oblikovanje — graphic design

sponzori — sponsors

Marino Krstačić-Furić & Ana Tomić

IN TECH d.o.o., Vertex BS d.o.o.

edukacija — education

Milica Đilas dokumentacija — documentation Diana Zrilić odnosi s javnošću — public relations

CIP zapis dostupan u računalnom katalogu

Ivo Matulić

Sveučilišne knjižnice Rijeka pod brojem 131021023

tehnički postav — technical display ISBN 978-953-8107-06-1

Vanja Pužar, Anton Samaržija suradnici na opremi radova Slave Raškaj i postavu — associates in the furnishing of Slava Raškaj’s works and technical display Iva Gobić Vitolović, Damjan Šporčić

Silent Work

Mirna Kutleša

Slava Raškaj 99

100