Zoran Mušič(Bukovica near Gorizia, 1909 – Venice, 2005)
A Wayfarer
1995, felt-tip pen, paper, 502 x 352 mm
Dated lower left: 18 VI 95, Signed lower right: Music, Watermark upper right: C. M. FABRIANO
ZD 2016032, The Ljuban, Milada and Vanda Mušič Collection
The self-portrait, in which Mušič depicted himself in the spiritual image of the wayfarer, was produced in black marker on paper on 18 June 1995. Originally entitled in Italian, Il Viandante means equally pilgrim and secularly a person who has traversed an especially long path. It also denotes (e)migrants with no homeland and no borders to limit their travels. The drawing is from Mušič’s last creative period, when he was already over 85 years of age.
He reduced the image of his very self to an amorphous, monochromatic mess of a bust, with just the pilgrim’s hat and arms accentuated, which is a subconscious expression of the painter, who creates his own image out of the lines through blurred vision and with trembling hand. The whole figure is surrounded by a dark sheen. We sense from the outlines of the man staring back at us a traveler, one with a long and creative life journey behind him.