Pregledni rad
Painter Niko Miljan — A New Interpretation
Sanja Žaja Vrbica
; Sveučilište u Dubrovniku, Odjel za umjetnost i restauraciju
Sažetak
Niko Miljan was a Dubrovnik painter born in Cavtat in 1891. His talent was noticed by Vlaho Bukovac, while Miljan was still a boy. Having completed regular education and after two years of preparation in the atelier of Josip Lalić, Miljan enrolled at the Art Academy in Prague. His future work was influenced primarily by Vlaho Bukovac and Jan Preisler. Upon completion of studies in 1913, Miljan returned to his native country, and then moved with his family to Macedonia where he worked as a drawing master. His first exhibition was in Belgrade in 1924; it was mostly seascapes in a style based on plein-air and postimpressionist art. After his return from Macedonia, Miljan taught drawing in the Dubrovnik gymnasium until 1931, when he retired in order to devote himself to his art. His motifs come mostly from the area of Dubrovnik, from Cavtat and Montenegro, but also from his trips to Bohemia and Slovakia. In the thirties he had many well-received exhibition both at home and abroad — in Vienna, and in Bohemia and Slovakia. He spent the Second World War in Prague, and moved to Zagreb in 1950, and then to Dubrovnik. Out of his large oeuvre only some one hundred paintings are known, and seventy more through reproductions only.
Miljan's style was primarily influenced by Bukovac and the Prague Academy. He strictly followed the rules of perspective and anatomy, as well as an objective approach to the representation of the motif. His early adoption of the plein-air and postimpressionist techniques left a lasting imprint on his art, although it was formed at the time when modem art was coming into being. Miljan painted landscapes, vistas of coastal towns, motifs from Dubrovnik and Cavtat, and other motifs in which one can experience various forms of light, and vibrations of the air. Only on rare occasions did Miljan paint figured motifs. His derivation of postimpressionism is marked by thick layers made by fast brushstrokes, and by colored shadows without a spectral analysis of light. He was not a painter to open new roads and make history, but a member of the group of artist which observed revolutionary moves rather than participating in them. Still, thanks to the quality of his works Miljan deserves a place in any survey of Dubrovnik painting. Some individual creations, such as "The Street Among Gardens," belong among anthological works of Croatian "vedutte" painting.
Ključne riječi
Hrčak ID:
148740
URI
Datum izdavanja:
15.12.2005.
Posjeta: 1.325 *