From Uvil Zajmi

Before the 90s, not only food was sold by the roll, but also paints for painters. At that time, there were no stores where you could go whenever you wanted and buy as much as you wanted. Everything was centralized. In a way, it was the state that decided how much you would create. Although at an advanced age, but still with a brilliant memory, Milika Nini, the well-known saleswoman of the Art Salon in Tirana, a noble and polite woman even today, preserves, remembers everything from the years when she worked in the famous shop where works of art were sold. Even recounting in detail the way when, with a list in hand, she supplied the artists of the time with paints. "From the People's Painters, Meritorious, to the younger ones, well-known sculptors, they received the materials that came from Italy, France, etc. from me. Once a year, mainly before exhibitions, according to a distribution list drawn up by the Writers' League.

It seems an absurd form today, but that's how it worked in those years, when they were notified that the paints had arrived at 'Milik's Shop' (that's how that art salon was better known).

A receipt, a signature, was enough to receive the 'credit materials', from paints, canvas, oils to the brushes assigned to each one. There were painters who remained debtors", Ms. Milika told us some time ago. She tells about the period of crisis, which also reached the ears of Enver Hoxha, who immediately sought a solution.

Ms. Milika, do you remember how you started working in that art store?

It was the end of the 60s, I was not even 30 years old. It was Zyra Kepi, a former finance employee, who proposed that job to me, since an employee was needed to serve as a salesperson in that shop-studio-art. Around the 50s-60s, the Art Works shop was next to the “Tirana” cafe. I worked there with the shop manager, Llazar Myzeqari, a painter from Berat. When the buildings were demolished, the shop was transferred to the “Colonial Palace”, on the former “Postal Road”. The first shop, on the first floor, above was the Directorate of the Fruit and Vegetable Enterprise. It stayed there for a short time, after it closed, to be transferred behind the Museum and then to the Bronze Casting Enterprise, near the Technologist.

What was sold in that store, just basic materials or also works of art?

There was only one such store in Tirana. The store-salon carried and sold works of art only by Albanian authors and depended on the Teaching Materials, then on the QRVA (Center for the Reproduction of Works of Art), which had its own warehouses. The works of art for sale came there from a commission composed of well-known painters, who selected the paintings made by different painters, who sent them to be exhibited and sold in the store. Later, such a commission functioned at the Tirana Executive Committee. But, not only paintings, sculptures, graphics, ceramics, etc. were also sold there. Only there, because as I told you, in other cities there was no such store for the figurative arts. That store also served as working materials for painters and sculptors.

Where did painters find or how did they get their paints?

Until relations with the Russians were good, materials, such as paints and canvas, came from Russia or were produced in the People's Democracies, as East Germany, Czechoslovakia, etc. were then called. Not Western, because they were made with currency, they were expensive. They were of high quality, with which the paintings of that period were also made. After the breakup with them, there was a crisis and a pronounced shortage, there were difficulties in finding them. In Mapo, Chinese paints and brushes were sold. Likewise, in an Art-Culture store, where, together with musical instruments, materials for painters were sold, but not of high quality. As canvas, painters used sacks, which they tore, then tied, stretched, sewed, and prepared them in this way. They painted on that fabric two or three times. The frames, which the painters made themselves or ordered from different carpenters, were also a problem. This whole situation had become a problem, a concern.

How was this problem solved?

This situation reached Enver Hoxha's ears. After an exhibition in the hall of the Writers' and Artists' League Club, next to the People's Theater, where national exhibitions were usually held at that time, in a small, quick, sporadic meeting with a group of painters, after evaluating some paintings, Enver asked Foto Stamon, then Secretary of the Writers' League, how are you with the paints?

And what was the answer?

Foto was courageous, "We don't have paints - he said. "Trade brings them from abroad with clearing, mainly from the countries of popular democracies. We can't from the West, they cost, we even cast Skanderbeg of Kruja in bronze in Hungary", Stamo told him.

How did Hoxha react?

"We must provide the painters with paints, and they must be of good quality, so that this art they create can last, live as long as possible, and not be damaged," Enver Hoxha replied. And he charged two officials, figurative artists of the time, Kujtim Buza and Foto Stamon, to leave for Italy and resolve the situation.

Did the paints come from Italy?

As far as I am informed, they went to Milan, to some well-known paint companies for painters, but without buying them, they only specified them. I remember that the paints, the materials did not arrive immediately. After they returned, they spoke to the ministry, the state intervened, communication with the company began, the well-known financier H. Sinoimeri went to Italy, also approving the financial value that was needed and that was required by the Planning Directorate at the Ministry. Then they were ordered directly from Tirana and arrived by the “Al Italia” plane.

What quality were they?

At first, they came in quality C, for schools and amateur painters. But, it was the Italians who recommended quality paints and after the '70s they were of the very well-known and famous brand, "Maimeri". The quality was good, as they were produced in the company's specialized professional laboratories. I remember that they were of "Germa A" quality, from the paints, brushes, as well as the canvas, along with various oils such as varnish, linseed oil, diluent, etc. In the '80s, French paints "Le Franc" also began to come, and then "Goya", "Pelican", "Winsor", these of English brands and were cheaper.

Did they come directly to the store or were they stored?

The paints were stored at the wholesale base in Durrës and from there they were brought and unloaded at the shop. Everyone was involved, I remember the directors S. Glina, after him S. Turku, of the Art Works Enterprise. I would get supplies, prepare them three weeks in advance, then I would notify the painters. I would keep them in the warehouse in the shop, arrange them in cardboard boxes, so that they would have them ready when they arrived. After they received them, they would leave by placing them in a bag, or a bicycle, according to their possibilities. I would wrap their canvas in a tube. I also did the same with the painters who came from other cities and traveled by train or bus. A ration, like a campaign, was that process for me and them.

You said; "as if it were a ration", how do we understand it?

Once a year, at the end or beginning of it, they were planned only for painters, before important exhibitions, or in the cases of exhibitions on jubilee anniversaries. It was a list that came to me, compiled by the Writers' League in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Culture. The list included painters throughout Albania, who had to be members of the League and who would prepare a painting for the exhibition. There were many requests, since there were about 2000 painters in circulation, including those who graduate every year from the "Jordan Misja" Artistic Lyceum, the night one, along with students from the Higher Institute of Arts. The list that came to me was reduced from 100 to 200 painters.

How did you get "materials on credit"?

I had the list and with a receipt I did the actions. “Credit materials”, that’s what they were called, of course not with cash, only with a signature that the painter would put on the exit block, proving that he had withdrawn the material. It was done the same for everyone, the color series were defined. I remember that white was the first, the most preferred color. There were large tubes, zinc and titanium. With them also 2 meters of canvas 2.2 m wide, which I would wait for in the store. A little differently with the names, authority, personality of the painter and his commitment. Those who were in a free profession, were given one to two more sets of paints. This also for painters who would create large paintings, there was a differentiation in paints and canvas.

How did the painters dispose of the paints, or were they free for them?

It seemed like they were given for free, but no one forgave anything. After the exhibition closed, the works, paintings were sold to various institutions, companies, etc., at prices determined by an exhibition evaluation commission. That was what it was called and as such it functioned, always based on the regulation determined by the VKM (Decision of the Council of Ministers) on copyright. I received a list of the works sold and the prices alongside them. I attached the invoice with the financial value of the materials he had received, I sent it to the finance office at the ministry. They were deducted from the amount of the painting's evaluation.

What about those painters whose work did not sell, what was done?

It happened that many painters did not participate in the exhibition, given the selection that was made of the paintings before its opening and his work was not accepted. Either when it was not later evaluated by the commission to be sold, or they set a price that did not reach the financial value of the materials he had bought in the store. I had the list and he remained a debtor painter. It felt bad, but that was how it was done and he had to wait for the next activity to settle the financial obligation with the store.

Did you like the colors, their quality?

Of course, the painters were pleased that I listened to them when they received them, I talked to them. By now I had also become a specialist. According to them, they increased the range of colors, they were among the best and of very high quality. The state paid 70%, while the painters only 30%. Even for the sculptors, some materials came from abroad, such as clay, plasticine, chisels, tools, etc.

Were there claims from painters?

I remember when two or three of them who were not from Tirana had claims when they came to collect the paints, asking for more than what was due to them based on the accompanying list of “credit materials”. “Milika treats painters from Tirana better than those from other cities” - they said. In fact, this claim raised by them became a problem all the way to the ministry, when the minister called me. But, everything was clarified, since nothing was wrong, because the distribution did not depend on me. I valued and respected everyone equally.

Milika, but those who were not members of the League did not have the right to receive any material?

The remaining colors, not my favorite, or when I had the opportunity, I tried to secure, I would share some tubes to help young painters, those amateurs, not members of the League, who were not on the list, to whom I would distribute "secretly". Simply to minimally fulfill their requests, their desires. A little canvas, some tubes, panels, oils. The Artistic Lyceum, the Higher Institute of Arts, received paints for painting students with planning. There was also an addition for Kosovar painters.

Who brought works to sell in the store?

Every artist had the right to bring work to the shop, even the most famous ones, it was enough to be a member of the League. Of course, more paintings, less sculptures, along with drawings, watercolors, graphics. I would forward it to the Evaluation Commission, which would decide whether to exhibit it or not, along with the price. The author would not take that painting back. The paintings would hang on the wall for a while, then they would be taken down, put in storage, then put back up, so they would circulate. Every citizen could buy a work of art in the shop with cash, accompanied by a sales receipt.

How much did a painting cost at the Art Works store?

Landscapes, still lifes, had reasonable prices, it was different with the compositions, which cost more, I remember those of Sali Shijaku, Kel Kodheli, etc. Many foreigners came, mainly embassy personnel, or foreigners who lived and worked in Albania, especially those in Tirana. But also foreign officials who were there for work as well as French diplomats, former personnel of the Yugoslav embassy, ​​etc. Italians were the ones who frequented the salon most often. The original work reached a value of 3.000 to 6.000 lekë, (old) a good monthly salary. Tourists, or foreign visitors, when they entered the shop, stayed for a long time, were curious, tried to photograph them, while I tried not to let them. Out of fear and the idea that they might copy them.

When a foreigner wanted to buy a painting, how did he proceed?

They only bought them through the Hotel “Dajti”. I would make him a check-out receipt, which I would forward to the hotel’s finance office. There I would write the painting, the price, they would convert it into dollars and keep the money in his personal account before he left. While I was packing it, I would put it aside until he came to pick it up, after it had been settled with the hotel. The same was done for embassy personnel. The shop did not sell in cash to foreigners.

How have your relationships been with the artists?

At first I had difficulties because I didn't know them. Over the years I became friends, I was polite and careful in my relationships with the artists, I never exchanged words with them. They would wait at the door when I opened and closed the shop. They would come not only for paints, but also as a spiritual communication, since the environment was spacious, with neon lights, large windows, lots of light, intentionally to see the works of art exhibited there well. They would look at the paintings hanging on the wall, comment, discuss with each other about the artistic realization.

Do you remember who came there most often?

Being in the center, I remember that it was frequented by everyone, from Abdurrahim Buza, Odhise Paskali, Andrea Mano, Janaq Paço, Guri Madhi, Kel Kodheli, Sadik Kaceli, Foto Stamo, Hysen Devolli, Nexhmedin Zajmi, Sali Shijaku, Janaq Kilica, Danish Jukniu, Ismail Lulani, Nestor Jonuzi, Trebicka, Zef Shoshi, and many others, it's hard for me to remember them all. Many of them have exhibited their work there. But also from other cities. Or even famous writers, from Dhimitër Shuteriqi, Dritëro Agolli, Petro Marko, singers, actors, composers, or from other professions, famous personalities of science, academics, architects, doctors, professors, they would pass by, stay there. There were times when they would even buy.

What memories do you have from those years?

For the painters, sculptors, artists of those years, I sacrificed my home, my family. Twice a day I opened and closed the shop, it was my home. I spent more time there than at home. My first daughter raised my two sons who were born after her. I still maintain friendships with the families of the painters, their children, who have not forgotten me. My parents accompanied me when they came to see me. I have some paintings that they gave me, I keep them as precious memories from Guri Madhi, Foto Stamo, Dhimitraq Trebicka, etc.

How long have you worked at that store?

I worked there for over 20 years. Twenty years, it seemed like twenty days to me. September 1991 was when I handed over the shop, I retired. On September 1 of this year I will be 85 years old and it has been 30 years since I left that art salon, very special for the time, the artistic life of Tirana mainly, but also for those who came from other cities. I feel the smell of paints and it is as if I still communicate with those painters and their generation./ Memorie.al