Vršački triptihon Paje Jovanovića na milenijumskoj izložbi 1896. Godine - reprezentacija lokalnog identiteta i (ne)prisutna ideologija

Abstract

Milenijumskom proslavom 1896. godine čitava Ugarska je obeležavala hiljadugodišnjicu doseljavanja Mađara na prostore Panonske nizije. Tim povodom je organizovana velika nacionalna izložba u Budimpešti, u okviru koje su izložena mnogobrojna dela likovne umetnosti. Županije i gradovi iz svih delova Kraljevine Ugarske su slali slikarske kompozicije, kojima su se reprezentovali u prestonici, a među njima se našla i slobodna kraljevska varoš Vršac. Delo Vršački triptihon je po narudžbini Municipije izveo Paja Jovanović, koji je i sam potekao iz ovog južnobanatskog grada. Trodelni prikaz obrazuju najzastupljenije delatnosti Vršca i okoline: u sredini je berba grožđa, sa leve strane je trgovina, a sa desne žetva. Naslikane ličnosti, koje obavljaju ove poslove, lišene su etničkih osobenosti, odevene su u tipičnu banatsku nošnju, koju su nosili svi žitelji sela, osim jednog učesnika u trgovniskoj razmeni, koji nosi građansko odelo. Idealizovani prikaz suživota naroda u južnoj Ugarskoj jeste umetnička konstrukcija, ne samo u estetskom već i u značenjskom pogledu. Vešto izbegavši kreiranje istorijske slike koja nema uporište u nacionalnoj prošlosti Mađara, vršačke vlasti su se odlučile za politički neutralnu, ali ipak ideološki određenu sliku, ako se u obzir uzme kontekst nastanka i izlaganja dela.

An analysis of the painting Vršac Triptych by Paja Jovanović, created for the purpose of representing the free royal town of Vršac at the Millennium Exhibition held in Budapest in 1896, encompassed different aspects within itself. The composition consisting of three paintings: Market, Grape Harvest and Grain Harvest was ordered by Vršac Municipality in 1895 from Paja Jovanović, who himself was born in this town in the region of South Banat. Taking into account that the painting was created on the basis of a concrete event, attention was paid to the ideological foundation of the celebration of the Millennium, by which Hungary marked one thousand years since the arrival of Hungarians to the territories of the current homeland, as well as to the cultural action and the implementation of such projects in the second half of the 19th century. It was particularly important to look at the Fine Arts Pavilion of the Millennium Exhibition and the exhibition strategy followed by the other regions and towns in south Hungary to see the specificity of the selected topic and the motifs shown in the Vršac Triptych painting. A large number of representatives at the exhibition showed paintings with historical themes that celebrated the Hungarian nation or the relations of other nations with the Hungarian state. This is shown by the painting Migration of the Serbs which Jovanović did in parallel with the piece in the centre of the interpretation of this paper. Although it was never sent to Budapest, the notional and aesthetic differences between these two paintings are an excellent indicator of the intentions of the ordering parties, as well as the painter's skills. Jovanović painted the allegorical depiction of the most customary activities of the town of Vršac and its environs using a lit palette with certain orientalised details that may find their base in the paintings of Jovanović's teacher Leopold Carl Müller. The often emphasised plenerism of the Vršac Triptych and the modern painting technique serve for creating specific atmosphere in each one of the individual depictions of this tripartite composition. The idealised depictions of the work in the countryside, as well as the scenes of the topos of the town of Vršac and its surroundings are related to the realistic visions characteristic of Jovanović's orientalist opus through which the artist while using a veristic painting technique still creates an imaginary picture. The multiethnic composition of the population in Hungary at the end of the 19th century, as well as the rising Hungarian nationalism, not only caused the avoidance of the national differentiation of the figures painted in the Vršac Triptych, but also the scenes in Grape Harvest and Grain Harvest are painted in such a way as to sublime the topos of Vršac without any concrete time designation. Market, on the other hand, contains monumental and architectural details that nonetheless put the scene from the market into the contemporary moment, which is reflected in the figure of the man dressed in urban clothes. Despite this, the accent lies on the atmosphere, the painter insists on the harmonic coexistence of different ethnicities in the town of Vršac located on the periphery of the Kingdom of Hungary. The political iconography enabled us to analyse the painting additionally from that aspect as well, since the ordering entity and the purpose of the painting are known, which to a large extent determined the outcome. The 19th-century art often approached ideologisation and politicisation of the concept of work through visual arts, thus the paintings are characterised by different discourse, while in Jovanović's painting it is possible to recognise the evoking of the golden age reached in the past that may still be revived in the future - which is at the same time in contrast with the idealisation of the industrialised society. The painting Vršac Triptych by Paja Jovanović stands between the orientalist and the national phases in the opus of the artist and for this reason its significance is seen from several aspects: the context of creating and exhibiting which is in connection with the Millennium Exhibition, then the local aspect of the town of Vršac and finally the positioning of the painting within the scope of the opus of Paja Jovanović.