Gracefulness

The newest thematic cycle of paintings by Milanka Bajčetić called “Gracefulness” is nothing but a sequel of her artistic creativity which refers to the cultural and natural heritage of Montenegro. This cycle contains twenty-one miniatures of rare and protected plant species – flowers, which represents only a fraction of the floristic richness of Montenegro.

The paintings were created during the period from 2011 to 2018. Flower after flower was painted in the combined technique with tempera and with a dry pastel on a coated cardboard. Each paiting equipped with a white passe-partout and frame – thin strip wood color. An integral part of the image makes the legend on the white paper placed in the exhibition space in the lower right corner next to the painting. Text legend is written in Montenegrin and English language. Legend contains basic information about a painted flower: its scientific name consisting of two words from the name of the genus and species names. The legend also contains his national title.

Flower fields, flowers…flower has been attracting with its colors many world famous artists, so flowers are in different eras of history painting painted as part of a still life, or as part of landscape. Our national textile handicrafts were decorated by floral motifs. Floral motifs are common decorative elements of industrially produced textiles.

The flowers were photographed by amateurs and masters of photos, hikers and botanists. Djuranovic Bajcetic painted the rare species of flowers observed by camera lens and then reproduced in a botanical studies. She chooses species that are characteristic for the territory of Montenegro: lovcen bellflower, Nikola’s big rabbit, violet Nicolai, snowdrop, coastal lily, poet’s narcissus, vrsuta, blue lasinje. By the color and move, the painter drew attention to the viewer on the biodiversity that surrounds us, by painting flower in the foreground on a light blue and pale yellow airy background.
On the paintings dominates sophisticated structure of the flower petals, pistil, stem, leaves, achieved by a stain coat of paint and with a broad stroke of the paintbrush. It seems that even a camera doesn’t have that possibility to record that prettiness of the flower plantlets that form the entire surface of the Montenegrin meadows and pastures. In these paintings spoke the inner world of the painter Djuranovic Bajcetic and her prominent cultivated taste for the delicate and refined. It is reflected in these paintings by purely artistic expression, refined colors and stroke, a clear coat of paint and portrait flower composition.
These pictures were taken in the impressionist manner and radiate by an abundance of light and soaked by the lyrical feeling. Although they were made with a simple painting technique on a simple background, the viewer sees the painted flowers in a subtle way. Painted flowers are getting the meaning and the message: Save the natural good of our country.
This unusual sighting of the plant world, sighting on the artistic picture, which is painted in a series by the artist Milanka Djuranović Bajčetić, as in herbarium where pressed dried flower petals are lined up, has a special charm.

Draginja Kujović
Art Historian
Kolašin, 2. February, 2017