Mica Todorović and Sarajevo art scene of the thirties of the twentieth century

Mica Todorović, radnom i životnom biografijom reprezentovala je u međuratnom periodu jednu od najmarkantnijih figura tadašnje najšire shvaćene jugoslovenske modernosti. Umetnički školovana u Zagrebu, gde je 1926. diplomirala slikarstvo u klasi profesora Babića, Mica je u narednih pet godina aktivno delovala unutar kolegijalnog kruga (bila je posebno bliska sa Ivanom Tabakovićem i Otonom Postružnikom), izgradivši krajnje specifičnu likovnu poetiku. Moderna i u potpunosti predana idealima savremenosti, životnim stilom stajala je u bliskoj vezi sa prepoznatljivim elementima tadašnjeg fenomena „nove žene“. Nadmašujući rodno motivisana ograničenja javnog prostora, biće nezamenljivim subjektom složenog umetničkog dijaloga s kraja dvadesetih, što je podrazumevalo i formiranje umetničke grupe Zemlja (1929.). Individualna po osnovnoj karakternoj crti, i podozriva naspram složenih socijalnih okvira, nije podelila iskustvo potpunog pripadanja Zemlji, i njenoj projektivnoj ideologiji, ali je specifično oblikovanim iskustvom flanera likovno postojala kao urbana dopuna prevashodno ruralnom pogledu na svet navedene grupe. (izložila je tri crteža kao gost Zemlje u Ljubljani 1930.). Među ikonografski istaknutije radove njenog zagrebačkog perioda ubrajamo „Ljuljašku“ i „Suzanu i starca“. Njihova provokativnost u tumačenju socijalnih ili rodnih predrasuda reprezentovala je vrhunski primer intelektualno predisponirane kritičnosti na tadašnjoj likovnoj sceni. Sve kompleksniji društveni odnosi nakon 1928. godine, naglašeno manifestovani porastom konzervativnih tendencija u javnom životu, primorali su je da tokom 1932. napusti Zagreb i da se konačno naseli u Sarajevu. Rane tridesete obeležene su specifičnim trenutkom u njenoj karijeri: napustila je slikanje, na čije je mesto nastupio linearni, kritičkim sadržajem obeležen crtež (izdvajaju se „Berta mondenka“, „Predsjednik društva za zaštitu životinja“, „Sijamski blizanci“, „Društveni događaj 1933.), i ta je tendencija opstajala sve do 1938. godine, kada umetnica odlučuje da se vrati izvornoj disciplini slikanja. Usaglasivši je sa Sezanovom idejom hromatije i kolorističkih bojenih polja, umetnica je obnovljenoj slici dodala i poseban empatijski sloj, onaj čijim je posredstvom bila u stanju da se prožima sa uskim mikro-ambijentom sarajevske periferije, upravo one u kojoj je i sama živela. Na taj način vlastita kuća postala je poetičko uporište, u istoj onoj meri koliko je to uporište nalaženo i u pojedinačnim fizionomijama ljudi sa margine. Uglavnom mlade, samosvesne žene, one 4 su u tematskoj celini Micinih radova s kraja tridesetih godina reprezentovale onaj neophodni element kojim je njeno autorstvo moglo neproblematično da izađe sa onu stranu platna, i da pri tome ne izgubi nijedan detalj vlastite likovne vrednosti (izdvajaju se „Cigančica“, „Bosanska djevojčica“, „Konobar“). Ipak, njeno učešće na kolektivnoj Izložbi slikara iz Bosne (Beograd, 1939.) nije naišlo na odobravanje lokalne kritike. Negativni stavovi Pavla Vasića i Đorđa Popovića svedočili su o sve većoj isparcelisanosti jugoslovenskog doktrinarnog pejzaža, i upravo će ta parcelizacija i biti suštinskim razlogom slikarkinog povlačenja u idejnu sigurnost od svakoga zapostavljene periferije. Kraj decenije obeležen je čvrsto slikanim delima, poput „Stolice sa voćem“ i „Bosanske devojke“, koje su nagovestile ikonografsku iscrpljenost modela, istovremeno sugestivno ukazujući na mogući novi pravac u Micinom likovnom životu. Nemački napad na Kraljevinu Jugoslaviju (6. april 1941.) presekao je nameravanu tendenciju, nasilno dovršivši međuratnu fazu njenog umetničkog stvaralaštva.With both her life and professional biography, Mica Todorovic represented one of the most spectacular figures in the period of after-war Yugoslav widely understood modernity. She gained her art education in Zagreb, where she graduated painting in 1926 in the class of Professor Babic. In the next five years Mica took an active part within the circle of colleagues (being especially close to Ivan Tabakovic and Oton Postruznik), and she created an exceptionally specific artistic poetics. She was modern and completely dedicated to the ideals of modernity, and she had a lifestyle compatible to already recognized elements of current phenomenon of a „new woman“. She overcame the basic limits of the public space and became an unique subject of a complex artistic dialogue in the late 1920s, and it also included establishing of the artistic group The Land (in 1929). Being individual by her basic characteristics and distrustful towards complicated social frames, she did not share the experience of total commitment to The Land and its projected idology, however, with her specifically shaped experience of flaneur she expressed herself artistically as an urban suplement of the rural view to the world of the mentioned group (she exhibitted three pieces of sketches as a guest of The Land in Ljubljana in 1930). Her works of art „The Swing“ and „Susanne and an Old Man“ are considered to be her iconographically recognized parts of the Zagreb period. Their provocative style in interpretation of social and generic prejudgement represented an ultimate example of intellectually predisposed criticism of the current artistic setting. Due to more complex social relations after 1928, that were especially manifested by the rise of conservative tendencies in the public life, she was forced to leave Zagreb during 1932 and to settle down in Sarajevo. The early 1930s were specific in her career because she quitted painting and embraced a linear drawing/illustration, which was determined by the critical content (recognized works of art are: „Fashionable Bertha“, „The President of the Society for Animal Protection“, „Siamese Twins“, „Social Event“ in 1933) and the tendency continued till 1938, when she decided to return to the painting as a discipline. She made it compatible to the Sezanne's idea of chromaty and colouristically painted fields, adding to her renewed painting a special empathical layer, that helped to permeate with the narrow micro- 6 ambience of the Sarajevo suburbia, the very similar to the one she lived in. In that way, her own house became a poetical stronghold – to the same extent as it was founded in the specific facial expressions of the people from the edge. That is Mica's 'paintings section' of young, self-conscious women, and they represented the necessary element that expressed her uniqueness that could come out of the other side of the canvas without any problems and still maintain the authentical artistic value (works of art „The Gipsy Girl“, „The Bosnian Girl“ and „The Waiter“). However, her presence at the collective exhibition of painters from Bosnia (Belgrade 1939) wasn't recognized by the local critics. The negative attitudes of Pavle Vasic and Djordje Popovic testified for the rising particularisation of the Yugoslav dogmatic landscape and that was the basic reason why the painter Mica Todorovic withdrew with her paintings in the ideological safety of the totally ignored suburbia. The end of the decade was marked by strongly painted works, like „The Chair with Fruit“, „Bosnian Maids“, suggesting the iconographical exhaustion of the models, but, at the same time, a possibility of a new artistic course of the author. The Nazi air-raid to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia on 6th April 1941 violently stopped the intended tendency and the overall 'between-wars phase' of her artistic creativity