The collection of eleven works on paper is specific
for having been once owned by Zoran Mušič (1909–2005). The painter presented
the collection as an ancient treasure to his niece Vanda Mušič a few years
before his death. The donated works were initially veiled in aesthetic silence and
only gradually revealed their true nature: a mystical content related to India
and Japan. The distant lands, India in particular because it always attracted
the recipient with its rich cultural and spiritual heritage, symbolically
inhabit her life through the presented works. The origin of the collection,
which the painter handed over to Vanda with simple but meaningful words: “Here
you have it, so that you will have...”, still remains mysterious, as its beginning
and path to the artist's studio have not been explained. Regarding Mušič's
attitude towards Indian art, Vanda Mušič says: “Naturally, Mušič liked all old
things, he was a cosmopolitan and versatile painter with subtle sensibility; he
knew Indian art, but he did not show any particular interest in it.” The
collection thus remains an invaluable witness to their cordial personal ties.
In 2019, we documented the
works, but we were unable to define the motifs iconographically, stylistically
or chronologically, as the National Gallery only holds a few works related to
Indian or Eastern art. With Mušič having been the former owner of the
collection, and encouraged by the loving affection of his niece, we were stimulated
to take a closer look at the works and show them to the public as Mušič's
exotic gift. They have thus given visitors to the National Gallery a unique
opportunity to encounter Indian and Japanese art, and the Revelations also enrich the exhibition programme in the spirit of promoting intercultural
dialogue.
We turned for expert
assistance to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nina Petek from the Department of Philosophy,
Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana. We were jointly able to identify the iconography
of the motifs, and Dr. Petek contributed in-depth studies to the exhibition
that reveal the philosophical and religious background, the estimated time of
creation, and the geographical origin of the Indian works. Her comprehensive
descriptions of the Indian works are available at the exhibition via QR codes.
The collection consists of ten Indian miniatures of various kind,
painted on paper in watercolour and gouache (opaque watercolour), with small additions of gold or
silver. The
exhibited selection of Indian miniatures opens the door to an extremely rich
and multifaceted world of Indian religious, mythological and secular
iconography. There are depictions of key Hindu deities, such as the god of love
Kṛṣṇa, his chosen goddess of devotion Rādhā, the god of transformation Śiva,
and the river goddess of purification Gaṅgā. The central role is played by motifs
associated with the bhakti tradition. This spiritual path, based on
personal devotion and love for the deity, has transformed complex philosophical
concepts into emotionally accessible visual stories and enabled artists to
depict human closeness to the divine with unique subtlety. The lyrical aspect
of faith is most clearly expressed in scenes from the life of the young god Kṛṣṇa
and the longing goddess Rādhā in the circle of her companions, and the placid,
redemptive, yellow-clad goddess Gaṅgā on the makara vehicle. The god Śiva,
to whom the goddess Gaṅgā is iconographically related, is also presented in the
collection in a more human, family role, together with his wife, the goddess Pārvatī.
Quite often symbolic animal attributes appear in the scenes, especially snakes,
which in three different motifs are combined with the symbolism of the head. In this sense, the dynamic motif of a head on a
chariot with snakes stands out, which can be associated with the
mythological-astrological creatures Rāhu and Ketu, or with ritual snake
iconography. With three deeply moving scenes from Jain manuscripts the
spiritual spectrum reaches beyond Hinduism. They represent the afterlife
suffering of sinners in the hellish worlds, reminding us that every violent act
brings an inevitable karmic consequence, and they morally and didactically
direct us towards non-violence – ahiṃsā. Secular life and court culture are illustrated by a dignified, calm
portrait of a Sikh nobleman and a miniature from the rāgamālā cycle, whose
motif of an evening musical dialogue visually conveys selected melodic
atmosphere of Indian classical music.
The exhibited Indian works were made between
the late 18th and the end of the 19th, or the beginning of the 20th, centuries,
during the late heyday and stylistic transformations of traditional Indian
painting. In terms of geography, the collection takes us to the northern and
northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent. The core of the exhibition is made
up by works from the exceptional Rajput courts and regional folk schools of
Rajasthan and Gujarat, where both court art and precise Jain manuscript
production flourished. An important circle of influence came from the
northwestern Himalayas, or the so-called Pahari School, while portrait art reflects the unique cultural imprint of the Sikh Punjab.
Standing out in the collection is the Japanese colour woodblock print
which is associated with the famous Tōkaidōtravel series by Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858). It is a depiction of the 26th
station of Nissaka from a later
version, whose bold view from above highlights the dynamics of the steep
mountain pass and the strength of the group of porters. Even more interesting
is the printed school text about humility pasted on the back of the print, which
shows how popular graphic prints were transformed into everyday educational
material in 19th-century Japan.
The expressive power of the collection is demonstrated
in its clear formal language: vibrant colour and geometric-decorative accents,
uniform planar designs or a series of spatial bands, simple static, symmetrical
or dynamic compositions, and a direct address of individual motifs, which at
their core reveal the Hindu principles of dharma, bhakti,
purification, service, the Jain principle of ahiṃsā, and the Confucian virtues of humility and perseverance. All these
virtues and aesthetic elements merge into universal values that form the
timeless message of the former Mušič collection; its exhibition is an
expression of our deep gratitude and tribute to the donor, Vanda Mušič.