1931 Nikšić / Lives in Sutomore, Montenegro
One of the key moments in the formation of Mijo Mijušković as a sculptor was a lecture by Tor Bergeron, a great meteorologist of world renown, who ran a course in which Mijo discovered the connection between art and nature. Furthermore, in the lectures by Pavle Vujović about the forms and beauty of clouds, Mijo started to think about the close ties between artistic creation and his vocation. Between his trips to places all over the country, aside from his regular duties at the station,
Mijo spent his days sculpting, carving and polishing his sculptures, up until 1990s, when he, “pressurized” as he says, steps down. In this period, notably in 1992, he receives the13th July Award and goes into retirement. After retirement, he goes to Suvi Potok, Sutomore, where he currently lives and works, still fanatically devoted to sculpture. Mijo’s works are found in most museums and galleries around Montenegro, in many important cultural institutions of former Yugoslav republics, as well as in the collection of artworks of the Metro Goldwyn Mayer production company, Museum of the National Geographic publishing house, Museum of Puppetry in the Czech city of Chrudim, children’s theatres in Budapest and Saint Petersburg, B.I.Centre of Cambridge University, and so on.
Photo credit: Author (This is the photo of the artist and his sculpture made of meteorite stone from space)
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Mijo Mijušković completed primary and middle school in Nikšić. During the occupation of the country in WWII, he lived in his hometown, becoming a partisan courier at the age of thirteen. With the end of war in 1945, he was sent to Bulgaria together with other children from various parts of Yugoslavia. A year later he returned to Yugoslavia, to Vrnjačka Banja. In 1947 he moved to Belgrade, enrolling in High School of Hydrometeorology. Having graduated from high school, he applied at the Maritime College in Split, but he dropped out of it in 1950, returning to Cetinje at the age of nineteen to work for the Hydrometeorological Service, spending five years in this town. In the course of his stay in Cetinje, in addition to organizing the work of the meteorological service, he met and associated with a large number of important and, in Mijo’s words, “outstanding people“, such as: Ranko Đurić, Leso Ivanović, Marko Borozan, Gojko Berkuljan, Dado and Puro Đurić. Subsequently, he was transferred from Cetinje to Podgorica, former Titograd. With the Meteorological Service, he joined projects for the construction of large-scale hydropower systems, which were a significant part of the economic strategy of Yugoslavia; as a permanent collaborator, he took part in the project of transferring Piva Monastery, where he performed regular and special measuring of microclimatic changes at all altitudes in the monastery, from the moment when the fresco assemblages were removed from the walls.
One of the key moments in the formation of Mijo Mijušković as a sculptor was a lecture by Tor Bergeron, a great meteorologist of world renown, who ran a course in which Mijo discovered the connection between art and nature. Furthermore, in the lectures by Pavle Vujović about the forms and beauty of clouds, Mijo started to think about the close ties between artistic creation and his vocation.
Having been appointed Acting Director of the Hydrometeorological Institute of Montenegro, Mijo advocated the setting up of a weather station for maritime needs in Bar and a special observatory in Nikšić. In the foundation and construction of the observatory in Nikšić, he was substantially helped by Pavle Vujović who was the frst associate of the great scientist Milutin Milanković, and in the 1960s was appointed director of the observatory. In the meantime, in 1968 he became a member of the Association of Fine Artists of Montenegro. His desire to learn as much as possible and to familiarize himself directly with the current trends on the international art scene from the very beginnings of his creative work made him travel and spend time in the world’s large cultural centres, often borrowing money for this: Rome, Venice, Paris, Cannes, Cairo, and other places. During these study visits, while making tours of museums and galleries, Mijo became acquainted with the works of great artists, including Alberto Giacometti, Constantin Brancusi and Henry Moore.
Most of his working life at the Hydrometeorological Service Mijo spent in Nikšić, at a station symbolically called Meteor, erected thanks to his own efforts and with the support of some companies based in Nikšić. In the course of Mijo’s management, the station was a cult meeting place of artists, students and a large number of important people from the world of science and culture. It was also a place that passers-by stopped by eager to meet the man who lived and created “odd” sculptures. The Meteor weather station was characterized by a special spiritual atmosphere. In it, Mijo created his sculptures, collecting and storing works by great Montenegrin and foreign artists, including: Uroš Tošković, Mirko Kujačić, Dado Đurić, Aco Prijić, Miro Glavurtić, Miloš Kontić, Karlo Hidalgo and others. Many noteworthy people left on wood their impressions about this meteorologist and sculptor and about his generous hospitality as notes dedicated to Mijo. The ones standing out among them were: Paul Philippot – Director of ICCROM (International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property), one of the major Spanish poets Rafael Alberti, Desanka Maksimović, Oskar Davičo, Radovan Zogović, Branko Ćopić, Vesna Parun, and many others.
Between his trips to places all over the country, aside from his regular duties at the station, Mijo spent his days sculpting, carving and polishing his sculptures, up until 1990s, when he, “pressurized” as he says, steps down. In this period, notably in 1992, he receives the 13th July Award and goes into retirement. After retirement, he goes to Suvi Potok, Sutomore, where he currently lives and works, still fanatically devoted to sculpture.
Mijo’s works are found in most museums and galleries around Montenegro, in many important cultural institutions of former Yugoslav republics, as well as in the collection of artworks of the Metro Goldwyn Mayer production company, Museum of the National Geographic publishing house, Museum of Puppetry in the Czech city of Chrudim, children’s theatres in Budapest and Saint Petersburg, B.I. Centre of Cambridge University, and so on. A large number of his works have found place in national and foreign magazines, books of prose and poetry, and professional publications. The sculpture called Black Mountains was presented in 1992 in Vasteras to the Swedish poet Tomas Transtromer as the European Poetry Prize “Petru Krdu”, awarded by the Literary Community of Vršac. Mijo has also created the statuettes presented at the International Festival of Children’s Theatre in Subotica, in several categories.
With his wife Olja, Mijo has three children: daughter Hana and sons Teo and Marko.
note
(this text is taken from the monographic catalog about Mijo Mijuškovic. Published by National Museum of Montenegro)