Алегорија спасења и представа Свети Никола спасава бродоломнике Уроша Предића

Abstract

Представа Свети Никола спасава бродоломнике Уроша Предића једна је од најсложенијих композиција српске уметности прве половине 20. века. она следи низ сликаревих алегоријских предства које се неретко везују за представу Светог николе, породичног патрона. У сржи визуелног исказа композиције налази се скривени језик који реферира на актуелни друштвени, политички, идејни и верски оквир времена. У сједињењу иреалних и реалних ликова остварује се умни исказ о вери и безверју, оптимизму и песимизму у турбулентном међуратном периоду. Метафора природне катастрофе (бура) поима се као указна структура о актуелном времену, и стога и као реална алегорија. најзад, слика представља обрнути исказ о уметниковом бићу и његовим структурама, и потрагу за редом у технолошки обездуховљеном универзуму пред други светски рат.

Te painting St Nicholas Saving Shipwrecked Sailors made by Uroš Predić in 1932 is one of the most complex compositions in the Serbian art of the frst half of the 20th century. Te allegories inspired by the Bible as well as those emerging from tradition had an important role in the visual arts of Christian civilization. Comprehensible topics raised to a higher level indicated broader contexts of reality. Te core of the painting represents the boat, a symbol of modern society. Te painting reveals a series of painter's allegorical presentations that are ofen related to the image of St. Nicholas, a family patron. Predić’s composition represents the visualization of the Saint’s well-known miracle in monumental format. It seems as if the composition were made out of two spheres; in the higher part St. Nicholas acts like a miracle worker raising his hands high to calm the sea and protect the sailors. Te lower part of the painting occupies a sea boat with an unusual group of typical fgures dressed in contemporary attire. Beneath the visual expression of the composition is a hidden language referring to the current social, political, ideological and religious framework of the period. Te fusion of unreal and realistic fgures (Orthodox monk, Catholic priest, Mohammedan, Jew, young married couple, sailors) is an intellectual statement on faith and disbelief, optimism and pessimism in the turbulent interwar period. Te metaphor of a natural catastrophe (storm) is understood as a reference to the current period and thus also as a real allegory. Predić’s pessimistic visions of the shape of the human spirit in the whirlpool of industrialized civilization seem to express sublime feelings of European men in the period between the two World Wars. Te painter’s real allegory discloses the fear of advanced technology that leads to apocalyptic destruction. Te boat at sea can be understood as a vision of disaster, but also like a slightly pessimistic prophetic vision of one's own and universal human salvation. Predić used the real allegory to present himself. Although lef out of the picture, he indirectly manifests himself as an intellectual being who actively acts within the social and cultural space of the community despite the expressed passivity and surrendering to God’s will.