PERMANENT EXHIBITION

The history of perfume bottles can be traced back to the time of ancient Egypt. In the early modern age, these bottles were made in various shapes and from different materials, while in the 19^th century, a classic design was used in their production.

The miniature silver perfume bottle dating back to the late 19^th and early 20^th century is decorated with a motif of flowers in a cartouche, and it is closed with a metal, threaded applicator cap. The bottle, dating back to around 1900, is also small in size. It is made of ground glass, with a decorative metal cap, and it represents a typical female fashion accessory from this period.

The perfume bottles were preserved in the family of Radmila Popović Petković, PhD, (Belgrade, 1920–1976), an archivist and research associate at the Institute of History of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. In 2020, her daughter, Dragana Petković from Belgrade, donated these belongings to the Museum of Applied Art.

As a homage for the recently deceased multimedia artist Jagoda Buić (14 March 1930, Split – 17 October 2022, Venice), we are exhibiting the Fiesta as the Object of the Month.

The work of art was created at the end of the 60s of the 20^th century, in the decade when tapestry became the primary creative area and technique of Jagoda Buić. It is characterized by an abstract geometric composition, accentuated by the texture of woven wool thread and delicately coordinated bright colors, as well as ‘incised’ parts that, as a matching element, introduce the surface of the wall on which it is displayed as a whole. The tapestry is some kind of mediator between the first stage of the author’s artwork and her mature work, which has brought her the halo of a world-renowned artist.

The Fiesta received an award from the 1969 Zagreb Salon, and was also presented in Buenos Aires, as well as at the Lausanne International Tapestry Biennale – at that time the most important manifestation of contemporary tapestry art.

Postscript It was in our Museum that Jagoda Buić exhibited her tapestries for the first time, to be more precise, in 1963 at the Contemporary Yugoslav Tapestry exhibition, which showed the scope of this then favorite artistic discipline practiced in Yugoslavia only during the past ten years. One decade later, Jagoda Bujuć was included in the circle of the most important tapestry artists in the world who had changed the perception of this medium.