Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Visual Arts
Montenegro's fine-arts legacy can be divided into two broad strands: religious icono-
graphy and Yugoslav-era painting and sculpture.
The nation's churches are full of wonderful frescoes and painted iconostases (the screen
that separates the congregation from the sanctuary in Orthodox churches). A huge number
were produced by members of the Dimitrijević-Rafailović clan from Risan in the Bay of
Kotor, who turned out 11 painters between the 17th and 19th centuries.
Earlier Serbian masters (predating Montenegro) include Longin, a monk from 16th-cen-
tury Peć (in present-day Kosovo), whose unique approach to colour created otherworldly
scenes of saints and Serbian royalty backed by blue mountains and golden skies. You'll
find his work at Piva Monastery. Following him half a century later was Ðorđe Mitrofan-
ović from Hilandar (now in northern Greece), whose accomplished icons and frescoes fea-
ture in the Morača and Pljevlja monasteries. A talented contemporary of his was Kozma,
who also worked at Morača.
Yugoslavia proved to be something of a golden age for the arts. Among the modern
painters, an early great was Petar Lubarda (1907-74) whose stylised oil paintings included
themes from Montenegrin history. Miodrag (Dado) Ðurić (1933-2010) was known for his
accomplished surrealist paintings and drawings, but he also produced engravings, sculp-
ture and, in later years, digital work. In 2012 an offshoot of the Montenegrin Art Gallery
devoted to 20th-century and contemporary art was opened in Cetinje and named in his
honour.
Other names to look out for include Milo Milunović (1897-1967), Jovan Zonjić
(1907-61), Vojo Stanić (born 1924), Filip Janković (born 1935), Dimitrije Popović (born
1951) and sculptor Risto Stijović (1894-1974). The best places to see the works of these
and others are at Cetinje's Montenegrin Art Gallery and the museums and galleries of
Podgorica.
Of the contemporary crop, one to watch is Jelena Tomašević, whose paintings and video
installations have been exhibited in New York, Berlin, Milan and Venice. Born in Belgrade
to Montenegrin parents, performance artist Marina Abramović won the Golden Lion in the
Venice Biennale in 1997. One of her most well-known pieces was
The Artist Is Present
,
where she sat for 75 days immobile in a chair in New York's Museum of Modern Art
while museum visitors took turns to sit opposite her.
