Bequest of Milena Jeftić Ničeva Kostić
Milena Jeftić Ničeva Kostić (b. 1943), painter, puppet creator, costume designer and scenographer, has been present on the art scene, both at former Yugoslavia and abroad, since the end of 1960s with many one person and group exhibitions.
The legacy, which Milena JNK presented to Belgrade Heritage House,
is a representative whole consisting of 30 works, leading us through
different periods and disciplines of her creation. Chosen works (oil on
canvas, works on paper) from
the cycles Dress-makers Studio, Repairing Stockings, Beasts, Heads,
Wheat Field - Ploughland - Treetops, Sky Pierced All Over and Blooming,
represent the whole opus of the artist.
Milena JNK articulated her initial ideas both through paintings and drawings and fought for the right to her own identification.
Starting with the early cycles Dress-makers Studio and Repairing
Stockings, through different phases of her work the artist has known
how to step out to a new and
completely different discourse. In her painting she has been developing
for years the great theme of the landscape, from the initial idea known
as "associative landscape",
through earlier mentioned "pointillist" paintings and drawings in
colour with a sample to the graphical structural drawings, to the
blooming bushes and trees, achieving the
quality of "imaginary landscape" and reaching the basic idea of
"abstraction" whose starting point can be any motif.
Milena JNK won prizes and awards among which are Purchase Prize of the Museum of Contemporary Art, October Salon, Belgrade (1982); Grand Prize of Serbia, ULUPUDS, given by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia (1992); Award for Drawing, IV Drawing and Small Plastic Biennial, Belgrade (1999) and October Salon Award, Belgrade (1999).
Works of Milena JNK are part of numerous collections both at home
and abroad: National Museum in Belgrade, Museum of Contemporary Art in
Belgrade, Museum of the City of Belgrade, Museum of Applied Arts in
Belgrade, Museum of Contemporary Art of Vojvodina in Novi Sad, Gallery
of Matica Srpska in Novi Sad, Museum of Contemporary Art in Yerevan,
Auditorium Benjamin Duhl in Tel Aviv, City Hall in
Sollentuna, Museum of Pastel in Saint Quentin, Silpakom University in
Bangkok etc.
Milena JNK is still a very productive artist living in Belgrade.