Today is Vlaho Bukovac’s 167th birthday! Since 2022 is also the 100th anniversary of the death of our great painter, we celebrate this birthday differently than usual. As a present for Vlaho’s birthday, and to the joy of all of us, his painting Konavle weavers was brought back home, at the House Bukovac. We all bought this painting together, from the owner who resisted better offers from private collectors. The owner waited for us to raise funds so that the painting would end up in the museum and be publicly available to everyone. Funds for the painting were collected from donations and contributions slowly raised from April 20 of this year. A special account was opened solely for this purpose, while payments were made daily: from 10 HRK to 9 000 HRK, from individuals and entrepreneurs, from the local community and our expats, from regular visitors to individuals who found themselves in our museums for the first time.
Together we all bought Vlaho Bukovac’s Konavle weavers!
Vlaho Bukovac was diligent and dedicated to his work. During his life, he made a very large number of paintings. He lived from painting, commissions, as well as large compositions for public spaces, while at the time when pressure from clients was lesser, he painted family members, landscapes, and freer compositions. It is in them that we see real Bukovac, but also the less known Bukovac. We see his search for those more perfect painting forms and expressions. The works that do not have clients are those that are painted from some inner desire and carry the essence of the painter’s need. They represent what is important in painting. The motif serves as a tool in which the painting’s riddle is solved. Seen from heaven, and made from earth, i.e. only the most necessary for life to happen is presented. Exactly as Igor Zidić said in his examination of the painting Konavle weavers, this work of Vlaho Bukovac bears the traits of his painterly genius.
Besides, the painting motif in this work connects us directly to the homeland and the great weaving history of our area. Cavtat’s semi-professional weaving production died out a long time ago, while in the past it was once well known throughout the wider area. In the attic of every house in Cavtat a loom was located, where local women wove. Apart from the parts of the Konavle traditional garment, women from Cavtat wove canvases and cloth with different patterns, for civilian clothing. Unfortunately, we have nothing to remember this great activity, except for a couple of weaving looms that have been preserved in Cavtat, such as the one from House Bukovac where Vlaho’s mother wove.
Thus, in the museum, this painting will also be a monument to that tremendous lost craftsmanship and the female professionalism of the 18th and 19th centuries.
But more than anything else, this painting will be a monument of togetherness and solidarity, which brought us all together with a common goal to return it home, to the House Bukovac. In fact, we believe Vlaho Bukovac would like this the most. He is the one who constantly responded to the calls of the community throughout his life, who helped and gathered his fellow citizens in unity, and even suffered because of their disputes. So Vlaho, have a happy 167th birthday!
