SRBAC RECEIVES VALUABLE ARTWORK AS A GIFT

The municipality of Srbac has been enriched with three valuable paintings by German artist A. V. Rüdt, thanks to a generous donation from pensioner Ilija Milaković from Kočićevo near Gradiška. These artworks hold not only historical but also cultural significance for the local community.

PHOTO: Glas Srpske

Rüdt, who was born in the late 19th century, was renowned for his landscapes, particularly those depicting marshes, rivers, and rural scenery. Some of his works, created in the 1920s and 1930s, capture the natural beauty of the Bardača nature reserve, which was once home to diverse flora and fauna before suffering significant degradation due to privatization and lake drainage.

Milaković left his homeland as a young man in search of a better life, first moving to Opatija and later to Munich, where he spent most of his working years. There, he became acquainted with a German family living on the same street and purchased the paintings featuring Bardača landscapes from them.

"I learned from them that Rüdt, with whom they had a close friendship, was of noble descent and frequently visited Karajzovci near Gradiška, where his aunt lived. From there, he would travel by horse-drawn carriage to Bardača for fishing, as the prominent businessman Viktor Burda from Galicia had already established the famous fishponds. The beauty of this region awakened his artistic spirit, resulting in these stunning works of art," Milaković explained.

With the rise of Nazism in the early 1930s, Rüdt’s family emigrated to Ottawa, Canada, taking some of his paintings with them.

"They opened a hotel that operated successfully for many years, with Bardača landscapes adorning its walls. In the early 1980s, they decided to return to Germany, bringing the paintings with them. A family from my Munich neighborhood acquired them, but having no heirs, they eventually decided to sell them, which is how they came into my possession," Milaković recounted.

Upon having the paintings appraised, Milaković discovered that some were worth several hundred to several thousand euros. Publicly available online records indicate that Rüdt's works have often been auctioned and sold in Munich and other German cities.

The donated artworks hold deep emotional and historical value for the municipality of Srbac, preserving the memory of a time when Bardača was a paradise for nature lovers. In its prime, the 3,500-hectare area was home to around 280 plant species and over 200 bird species. Today, however, fish farming in its 12 artificial lakes has been replaced by corn production.

"These paintings depict the origins of Bardača as we knew it and as we hope to see it restored one day. We have already taken steps to revitalize this area. This collection represents one of the oldest artistic testimonies of Bardača’s plant and animal life, as the famous Bardača artists’ colony was established six decades later. We are proud that these artworks will be housed in the new city gallery, alongside 741 other pieces from the colony’s collection," said Dejan Dević, President of the Srbac Municipal Assembly, who officially received the paintings on behalf of the local government.

Ilija Milaković, who comes from a family of artisans, returned to Lijevče after retirement before eventually moving to Banja Luka. Having no descendants, he later sold his apartment and now resides in a retirement home.

A lifelong collector of art, Milaković has previously donated valuable books to the Gradiška library, vinyl records to the local music school, and five lithographs depicting Kalemegdan to the House of Culture in Nova Topola. He also contributed financially to the construction of the Church of St. Peter and Paul in Kočićevo.