80. Still Life (Bells in a Bowl) [cca. 1899.]

Slava Raškaj (Ozalj, 1877. – Zagreb, 1906.) was a Croatian deaf-mute painter who faced many prejudices throughout her life as deaf-muteness was then considered a mental illness. She completed primary and high school in Vienna, where she also received her first painting lessons. I. Kršnjavi noticed her talent and with his support, Raškaj finished a course in artistic craftsmanship drawing with an excellent grade. Until 1902, she was also taught painting by Bela Čikoš Sesija, free of charge. She often portrayed the River Kupa, which flows through her native Ozalj, in watercolors. Everywhere she traveled, she created watercolors and drawings of the observed nature – in Zlatar, Lobor, Orahovica, Ozalj, and even Opatija, to where she went for tuberculosis treatment. She exhibited at the Croatian Salon in 1898, in St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Paris. In 1902, she ended up in a mental hospital in Stenjevec, diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. She spent less than four years in a mental institution and in 1906, at the age of only 29, she died of tuberculosis. Today, her name is carried by a primary school in her native Ozalj and the Center for Education who work with those with communication difficulties. Her most famous works are in a series named "Lopoči", which she created under the impression of Zagreb's Botanical Garden. Her later watercolors are bright, fluid, and light, they could be called pattern-watercolors, and she paints them outside, in the open from beginning to end. She also uses pastel for landscapes, but more for portraits and in these works, the influence of Čikoš-Sesija is visible. The watercolor on paper "Still Life (bells in a bowl)" was created at the end of the 19th century. It is typical of her smaller format and frequent motif – floral still lifes. She studied flower painting in Vienna, so it is not surprising that she later chose the same motifs. Blue and yellow flowers are in contrast, attracting further attention to this central motif – bells. The subtle, almost blurred background, dark in the style of Bela Čikoš-Sesija, further emphasizes the beauty of the flowers. The bowl with flowers is set in the center of the composition, on a white-red tablecloth. Raškaj uses denser and rarer pigments to enhance the impression of three-dimensionality and paints flowers with extreme realism, with almost anatomical precision. The watercolor is signed in the bottom right corner.

Dimensions

width 20.5 cm, height 24.5 cm

Description

watercolor on paper, signed lower right, in brown, ''S. Raškaj''

Research information

The work is reproduced and documented in the monograph by Josip Kovačić, "Dead ends in the life of Slava pl. Raškaj", Art Magazine Kontura, Zagreb, 2019., cat. no. 342.

Dating

cca. 1899.

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