CIP - Kataložni zapis o publikaciji Narodna in univerzitetna knjižnica, Ljubljana 75.036.2(497.4)"1890/1920"(083.824)(0.0234.2) SLOVENE impressionists and their time 1890-1920 [Elektronski vir] : a guide to the exhibition, 23 April 2008 - 8 February 2009 / text authors Mateja Breščak ... [et al.] ; editors Kristina Preininger, Andrej Smrekar ; catalogue photography Janko Dermastja, Bojan Salaj, archive of the National and University Library. - El. knjiga. - Ljubljana : National Gallery of Slovenia, 2012 Način dostopa (URL): http://www.ng-slo.si. - Prevod dela: Slovenski impresionisti in njihov čas 1890-1920 ISBN 978-961-6743-32-7 (ePub) 1. Breščak, Mateja 2. Preininger, Kristina 262685184 A Guide to the Exhibition Slovene Impressionists and their Time 1890–1920 Published by National Gallery of Slovenia, Puharjeva 9, Ljubljana, www.ng-slo.si, info@ng-slo.si for the Gallery Barbara Jaki Editors Kristina Preininger, Andrej Smrekar Text authors (Based on the exhibition catalogue) Mateja Breščak, Barbara Jaki, Mirko Kambič, Goran Milovanović, Tina Ponebšek, Kristina Preininger, Alenka Simončič, Andrej Smrekar, Sarival Sosič A Guide to the Exhibition Language editing Arven Šakti Kralj Szomi Proofreading Tina Ponebšek, Kristina Preininger, Andrej Smrekar Catalogue photography Janko Dermastja, Bojan Salaj Archive of the National and University Library Preparation of photographic material Ingrid Draksler, Mojca Jenko, Marja Lorenčak, Jassmina Marijan A Guide to the Exhibition Picture editing of reproductions Marko Pirnat, Tiskarna Pleško d. o. o., Ljubljana, Luka Hribar Design and page layout Luka Hribar, some design elements are based on printed edition (author Peter Skalar) © National Gallery of Slovenia and authors Exhibition Slovene Impressionists and their Time 1890–1920 National Gallery of Slovenia, Ljubljana, Cankarjeva 20 23 April 2008 – 8 February 2009 Project leader: Barbara Jaki Selection of material for the exhibition: Mateja Breščak, Barbara Jaki, Mirko Kambič, Goran Milovanović, Marja Lorenčak, Alenka Simončič, Sarival Sosič, Andrej Smrekar, Nadja Zgonik Exhibition set-up: Meta Hočevar Exhibition Responsible for collecting material from outside sources: Marja Lorenčak, Ivan Pirnovar, Alenka Simončič, Andrej Smrekar, Ferdinand Šerbelj Restorers: Tina Buh, Nina Dorič, Andrej Hirci, Miha Pirnat, Martina Vuga, Simona Škorja Organisation of educational programmes: Tina Ponebšek, Kristina Preininger Marketing: Dušan Benko Public relations: Bogi Pretnar Exhibition Organisation of multimedia presentations: Luka Hribar Responsible for interactive presentations: Nina Goršič, Andraž Kržič, Breda Mihelič, Klemen Smolčič Live performances: Boris Berguš, Andraž Kržič, Jan Plesničar, Jure Teržan Museum shop: Meta Stvarnik, Saša Urukalo Head of technical works: Jože Raspet Implemenation of technical works: Boris Ambrož, Jurij Marguč, Štefan Rojina, Andrej Rus The artworks were loaned by: ACH, d. d., Ljubljana; Antikvitete Novak, Ljubljana; Archive of the Republic of Slovenia; Bassin family, Ljubljana; City Museum of Ljubljana; Dolenjska Museum Novo mesto; Free Trade Union of Slovenia; Hest Gallery, Ljubljana; KD Holding d. d., Ljubljana; Krka, tovarna zdravil, d. d., Novo mesto; Maribor Art Gallery; Marko Gliha, Ljubljana; Matej Vozlič, Ljubljana; Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana; National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia; National Museum of Slovenia; Novo Mesto Milan Jarc Library; Sadnikar Museum, Kamnik; Slavonic Library, Ljubljana; Split Art Gallery; private owners; Zagreb Gallery of Modern Art; Zala Gallery, Ljubljana Expert committee: Prof. Dr. Tomaž Brejc, Dr. Anica Cevc, Elizabeth Clegg, Dr. Igor Grdina, Dr. Barbara Jaki, Mirko Kambič, Prof. Dr. Milček Komelj, Prof. Janez Koželj, Prof. Dr. Peter Krečič, Dr. Breda Mihelič, Prof. Dr. Jure Mikuž, Dr. Damjan Prelovšek, Dr. Andrej Smrekar, Dr. Nadja Zgonik Preparation committee: Dušan Benko, Mateja Breščak, Prof. Meta Hočevar, Dr. Barbara Jaki, Mojca Jenko, Marja Lorenčak, Karel Polak, Kristina Preininger, Bogi Pretnar, Alenka Simončič, Prof. Peter Skalar, Dr. Andrej Smrekar, Dr. Ferdinand Šerbelj This project was supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia The exhibition Slovene Impressionists and their Time 1890–1920 was also supported by the head sponsor UPC Telemach d. o. o. and the sponsors Mercator d. d., ACH d. d. Ljubljana, KD Holding d. d. Publicity was provided by Europlakat d. o. o., Pro Plus d. o. o. and Radiotelevizija Slovenija. Our grateful thanks go to all of them. Acknowledgements We are grateful to all the owners of the exhibited artworks who supported our efforts and lent them for the exhibition, thereby enriching it and making it more attractive. We carried out this extensive and organisationally demanding project with the help of numerous coworkers, for whose help, good advice and perseverance we are sincerely grateful. We owe special thanks to Dr. Anica Cevc and Prof. Dr. Špelca Čopič who helped and advised us in searching for and verifying information with their knowledge and experience. Thanks go also to the respected experts Prof. Dr. Peter Skalar, Prof. Dr. Meta Hočevar and Bogi Pretnar for accepting our invitation of cooperation. Without their experience, the exhibition and catalogue would not be what they are. Many of the ideas which brought about this exhibition, catalogue and guide are inextricably linked with the research carried out by Prof. Dr. Tomaž Brejc. Reading his texts and talking to him helped to inspire us in our work and for that we are very grateful. The curators of the National Gallery of Slovenia Contents Acknowledgements Contents Foreword Icons of Slovene Impressionism Ažbe and the Beginnings in Munich Genre Painting Turning to Nature The Birth Hour of Modern Painting The Human Figure in Landscape Painting The Križanke Series Intimism The Nude The Portrait Gallery Sculpture Illustration and Caricature Photography Avgust Berthold Film The Jakopič Pavilion Architecture in Ljubljana circa 1900 Glossary of Less Well-Known Terms 1. Matej Sternen, Street in Munich, (around 1904), National Gallery Foreword Barbara Jaki The years 1890–1920 saw rapid economic and technological development, social and political unrest, as well as a dynamic cultural life. Ljubljana developed into a modern urban centre, acquiring numerous features which befit such a centre. Already by the end of June 1890, the city water supply was built, bringing about a rapid improvement in health conditions, while the city experienced a real spate of development following the Easter earthquake in 1895 and the arrival of the dynamic and visionary mayor, Ivan Hribar, the following year. Careful planning directed the growth of the city towards the north and the west. Alongside historicist elements, the new architecture also introduced the Secessionist style, which can be seen above all in the construction of commercial and residential buildings. Improvements in city life came thick and fast. In 1897, Ljubljana got its first telephone exchange, in January 1898 electricity came to town, in 1900 the foundations of modern Slovene banking were set, and a year later the citizens of Ljubljana were able to travel by tram. In the same year Zmajski most, or the Dragon Bridge, was completed, and two years later Hotel Union, one of the largest hotels in the Empire at the time, was built. With the arrival of Hribar, Ljubljana also began to take shape as a Central European city. In terms of politics, people belonged to either the Catholic or the liberal camp, and this was reflected in the polarisation of the periodical press. Following the First World War and the foundation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the social situation consolidated to such an extent that we can talk about Ljubljana as a political, cultural and educational capital for Slovenes. New institutions helped to shape the identity of the nation. In the field of culture, it had all the necessary infrastructure, including Deželno gledališče (Provincial Theatre) (1982), a slovene university (1919), academy of music (1919), art gallery in the form of the Jakopič Pavilion (1909), which ensured a progressive outlook, and a national art gallery (1918), which took charge of a retrospective look at art. In March 1920, the National Gallery of Slovenia presented its permanent collection for the first time in five hired halls in the Kresija Palace. The nation’s confidence was also strengthened by the erection of monuments to important men from Slovenia’s past; the statue of Valentin Vodnik, made by Alojz Gangl, was unveiled in 1888, and in 1889 Ivan Zajec won a competition to create a statue of France Prešeren. The statue was finished and unveiled in a great ceremony in 1905. Two years earlier, Gangl’s monument to Valvasor was set up and Berneker completed the monument to Trubar at the edge of Tivoli Park in 1910. With the return of artists from other Central European countries in around 1900, the art scene moved to the home territory. The Society for Christian Art (1894) was joined by the Slovene Art Association (1899), and they together promoted and organised important exhibitions, ensured the continuation of the Slovene artistic past and also encouraged the international promotion of Slovene artists. Modern art established itself through more radical content and form – modern painting, sculpture, architecture, literature, music and theatre. The leading role among the fine arts was taken up by painting. Sacral art was replaced by secular art, which through the portraits of citizens set the founding metaphors of the middle class, and through images of the Slovene landscape built an archetypal image of the Slovene character. The whole practice of painting changed. Artists no longer took individual orders but sold their works to interested customers. The creative process came to the fore, to the place which was once taken up by the subject matter. In fine art, Modernism represented an alternative to the exhausted local painting and sculpture workshops and the increasingly stiff academic tradition. The most modern and progressive painters were a group of Impressionists, Ažbe’s students from Munich. The group, which also possessed large organizational potential, was formed in 1902 at the time of the second Slovene art exhibition, which was organised in the large hall of Narodni dom. The works of the Impressionists were not met with enthusiasm at first, as it seemed that they were destroying tradition. The first Slovene art exhibition, organised by the Slovene Art Association in 1900, was well received, while the second one met with opposition, which was only overcome a few years later. Their work and their abnegation of traditional Realism was energetically supported by proponents of modern literature, including Ivan Cankar and Oton Župančič, especially following the exhibition in Vienna at the Galerie Miethke in 1904. The examples of regional modernism were recognised in Vienna due to the fascination with the diversity of art and brought about encouraging responses throughout the Empire. There followed a series of exhibitions in European capitals and this gradually consolidated their situation. The painters turned to the landscape, which replaced historical painting as a programme for national art. In the works of the Slovene Impressionists, the landscape is connected with the impression made by the physical image, while at the same time it possesses symbolic content, not only of a personal nature as some of these works convey a national message, which has become universal as we experience these paintings as such nowadays. For the Slovenes, this period represents the birth of modern visual culture, which expanded from traditional genres to include film, photography, illustration, book and poster design. In the three decades which this exhibition, catalogue and guide focus on, Slovene visual art developed a critical response, while the works of the Slovene Impressionists made Slovene art known further afield. We have chosen this particular time period because of the events it contains which are important for the cultural and broader social life of Slovenes. In 1889, Ivana Kobilca prepared her own exhibition in a secondary school in Ljubljana and this was the first independent art exhibition. In 1890, Jakopič embarked on his training in Munich and a year later Anton Ažbe opened his own private school of painting there which was the place that brought together Jakopič, Grohar, Jama and Sternen. The 1890s were a period of training for all four painters, a time in which they became acquainted with French and German Impressionism, and a time in which each artist set out on his own path and conceived plans for the future. Their aims were clear from their time in Munich onwards: to create Slovene art for the Slovene nation. The upper time limit of our exhibition represents the consolidation of a new artistic generation which came about in the years following the First World War. Painters who trained at the academies in Prague and Zagreb directed their artistic work at the tragic experiences of the war. In the year of the plebiscite and the burning down of the Slovene Narodni dom (National Centre) in Trieste, this generation, led by Božidar Jakac in connection with progressive literature and music, and under the guidance of Rihard Jakopič, exhibited its works first in Novo mesto and then in Ljubljana. It set a new path for development which was recognised by critics at the end of 1920. The gradual expansion into local focal points meant the beginning of the dispersal of cultural strength. And in 1920 Jože Plečnik returned to Ljubljana. The four Slovene Impressionists are recognised as the main artistic phenomenon in the period between 1890 and 1920 by the vast majority of Slovenes as they are part of the Slovene general artistic knowledge. The concept of Slovene Impressionism has become a synonym for Slovene art and a synonym for artistic quality, so although it does not always perfectly fit the style of painting of Ivan Grohar, Rihard Jakopič, Matej Sternen and Matija Jama, we did not wish to avoid using it and have kept it as a technical concept. In the field of art, it encompasses a wide range of terms and an unusually broad spectrum of artistic movements which were present at the same time: pleinairism, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Symbolism, Intimism, Secession, Divisionism, early colour Expressionism, etc. In terms of content, the term modernism would be more suitable but in Slovenia this concept is tightly linked to literary Modernism so only expert circles use this term when discussing fine art. We meet the icons of the Slovene Impressionists in everyday life, in books, on stamps, in advertisements; the same is true for the works of some of their contemporaries, e.g. the slightly older Anton Ažbe, Ivana Kobilca and Ferdo Vesel, or the younger Maksim Gaspari and Hinko Smrekar. We have met these artists and their works at various different exhibitions and their works have been studied thoroughly. We usually call the contemporaries of the Slovene Impressionists their ‘fellow travellers’. Referring to them in this way suggests they are in a subordinate position but this is only partly justified. The works of Ferdo Vesel and Ivana Kobilca – the first two Slovene artists to participate in the Venice Biennale, Hinko Smrekar, Ivan Vavpotič, Milan Klemenčič, Avgust Berthold, Maksim Gaspari, the sculptors Franc Berneker, Ivan Napotnik and Lojze Dolinar have been sufficiently publicised. In terms of genre and style we classify them differently, but in their art we can recognise not only artistic ambition, but also an effort to raise the level of the national school of art. The exhibition and the accompanying guide shed light on the active years and the greatest achievements of the Slovene Impressionists in a panoramic view. The wider artistic, cultural and social context should give a better idea of the space and time in which they were active. Comparison with their artistic contemporaries and their works should highlight the exceptional nature of their work. Creating a national style manifested itself in the paintings of the Impressionists as early Modernism. In the works of some architects and Vesna artists, painters who joined together to form a group in Vienna in 1903, similar efforts proved to be approaching a national, ethnographic subject matter which was supposed to express the artistic desires of the population. Dialogue between the two and the simultaneous confrontation of both tendencies and other art movements besides are the main interest of our exhibition. In the large hall of Narodni dom, the most important artworks, the icons of Slovene Impressionism and Slovene art, are on display. They are complemented by great works of sculpture which were also produced at a similar time. Around the large staircase are collected the portraits which, as well as being important works of art, also show important persons of that time. Drawings, prints, illustrations and caricatures explain the social context, provide a social critique, and emphasise the close connection between literature and art. In the two rooms of the eastern wing, the period of training in Ažbe’s school in Munich is presented with works by the teacher and the earliest works of Jakopič, Sternen and Jama. The exhibition continues in the rooms of the eastern wing, where we present more or less complete iconographic series, beginning with genre painting. Genre painting meant the continuation of the Realist tradition which lasted well into the 20th century with the works of Vesel and Kobilca. For the Impressionists, leaving behind genre painting also meant leaving behind tradition and setting foot on a new path. There follow the first Impressionist landscapes which came about after 1901 near Stranska vas, where Jakopič and Jama painted poplars and birch trees beside the Gradaščica stream. The exhibition continues with the Škofja Loka period, or as Brejc put it, the artwork in the next three halls represents the birth of the modern painting. The main problem becomes the portrayal of sunlight accompanied by the dematerialisation of the portrayed object. Numerous small works were at first not meant to be exhibited but only now are we discovering in them new artistic intentions. The clean landscapes are joined in the next room by the human figure. The images of ethereal women in a forest and the figures of bathers which blend into the surroundings are accompanied by people scything and ploughing – in the absence of any socially critical element. The series of paintings of the Križanke church in Ljubljana began to come about in 1907. This theme, which Jakopič painted from the window of his flat on Emonska cesta, became a recurring theme in his oeuvre for several years. Different days, atmospheres, feelings, colours and interpretations of light eloquently explain Jakopič’s relationship with his chosen subject matter. In the west wing of the building, Intimism and the later nudes are also featured. The new medium, film – the first frames were unrolled in Paris in 1895, is represented by the short recordings made by Karol Grossmann in 1905 and 1906, which are pleinairistic in style. Photography, meanwhile, is divided into two sections. The first one documents the dynamic intertwining of painting and photography, and presents some exciting discoveries, while at the same time possessing a documentary dimension which reflects the First World War – something that the painters hardly touched upon in their works. The second section is devoted to one man alone – the pictorialist photographer, Avgust Berthold and his atmospheric landscape photography. We have given him special attention with the intention of consolidating the opinion that Berthold is the artist who must be treated as the fifth Slovene Impressionist. The exhibition also draws attention to all the construction work currently taking place in Ljubljana, achievements in the field of urbanism and architecture, and the broader social context which we have captured with the help of contemporary media. All this is on view in the small hall where we have prepared a small reading room. 2. Ivan Grohar, The Sower, 1907, Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana Icons of Slovene Impressionism ‘There, look, is our homeland, as beautiful as paradise. There, look, the plain unfolds, bathed in sunlight; from the earth itself an infinite light springs forth, on the trees there by the road the rays have been left hanging, golden blossoms… the homeland looked itself in the face and blushed with joy…’ Ivan Cankar on Grohar’s Spring The works presented in the central exhibition hall constitute the recognised ‘icons’ of Slovene Impressionism. Through their special content, the way they came about or their unusual fate, they have become deeply engrained in the collective cultural and national consciousness. These are masterpieces which were most often written about because they open the doors to manifold experiences and ways of understanding nature and the human person. At the same time, they announce individual themes that feature in the current exhibition. Their value has also been confirmed through important exhibitions in the history of Slovene art. On 15 September 1900, the first Slovene art exhibition was opened in the large hall of the Mestni Dom (City Hall). It was organised by the Slovene Art Association, which had been founded the previous year. The exhibition met with an exceptional response – in the month and a half that it was open, it was seen by over 5,000 people – and it represented a turning-point for Slovenia’s artistic, cultural and political life. Young artists began to think about what Slovene art should be like. They were convinced that a young nation must identify itself with progressive and modern art. The second art exhibition in 1902, however, was vehemently rejected by the public. The main exhibits were small landscape paintings by Jakopič, Sternen and Grohar. Ivan Grohar displayed the painting Women Raking, which, despite its modern style, was accepted by critics because of its genre subject matter. Critics accused the artists of superficial artistic knowledge, of incomplete works and of following the example of foreign achievements. Ridiculed as ‘foreigners’, they left Ljubljana. The key exhibition which saw the acknowledgement of Slovene Impressionism took place in 1904 in the Miethke exhibition salon in Vienna. Bearing the name Association of Independent Artists ‘Sava’ (Slovene artists), four Impressionists presented their work, Ferdo Vesel, Luisa van Raders, Roza Klein and Peter Žmitek, as well as the sculptor Franc Berneker. Grohar’s Spring attracted the most attention. Ivan Cankar and Oton Župančič wrote enthusiastic reviews, which at last validated the role of the Impressionists in Slovenia’s cultural life and also described the elements connecting nature, the idea of national identity and artistic modernism. This was the first time that Matija Jama’s Shepherd and Jakopič’s Birch Trees were on display in Vienna. The same was true for Berneker’s sculptures, The Couple Washed Ashore and Solitude. In October 1907, at the third art exhibition, which took place at the Narodni Dom in Trieste, the star of the show was Grohar’s Sower, which triggered a wave of growing recognition of national content in the paintings of the Impressionists. ‘This painting really must become the most popular painting of our people; in it you can see not only a piece of our rural life, but in it is reflected also our soul, our being.’ Slovenec, 24 October 1907 The Impressionists again exhibited their work in Ljubljana in 1909, this time in the Jakopič Pavilion, the first purpose-built public exhibition space. With this exhibition, Jakopič brought to Ljubljana a more intense art life, including regular presentations of Slovene artists and guest exhibitions from other cultural centres. The pavilion and the Jakopič School of Painting, founded a few years later, together with the National Gallery Association, founded in 1918, laid the institutional foundations for Slovenia’s art. 3. Ivan Grohar, Spring, 1903, City Museum of Ljubljana 4. Ivan Grohar, Larch, 1904, National Gallery of Slovenia 5. Ivan Grohar, Herdsman, (1910), Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana 6. Rihard Jakopič, Birches, 1903, National Gallery of Slovenia 7. Rihard Jakopič, Winter, (1904), National Gallery of Slovenia 8. Rihard Jakopič, Memories, (1912), National Gallery of Slovenia 9. Matija Jama, Shepherd, 1902, Krka, d. d., Novo mesto 10. Matija Jama, Bridge over the Dobra River at Puškarić Selo, (1907), National Gallery of Slovenia 11. Matej Sternen, The Red Parasol, (1904), National Gallery of Slovenia 12. Matej Sternen, On the Couch, 1909, National Gallery of Slovenia 13. Franc Berneker, Solitude, (1903), Maribor Art Gallery Ažbe and the Beginnings in Munich ‘Nur fest! / Be bold!’ Inscription on the door of Ažbe’s school ‘The nude must be expressive and light, fleshy and alive, as if it wanted to get up right now and walk out of the painting. Nature has been our greatest teacher here, and that is why we painted the same nude many times over and never tired of it.’ Ferdo Vesel’s memories of Ažbe’s school In the last decade of the 19th century, Munich was an important centre for numerous artists from all around the world, including Slovene painters. The most important institutional centre was the art academy, where realistic painting in the spirit of the famous portrait artist Franz von Lenbach was privileged. At the same time the city was full of the revolutionary ideas of young people and new possibilities of expression for searching painters, who in 1893 separated from the older artists and exhibited their own work separately as the Secession. Popular with the many young artistic talents were private schools of painting, including the one which from 1891 until his death in 1905 was run with devotion and success by Anton Ažbe. Ažbe’s school specialised in the mastery of portrait and nude painting. His studio was a place of learning with real clothed or nude models, based on accepted academic practice but with attempts to surpass established attitudes. His students described Ažbe as a teacher who knew how to stimulate the creativity of talented young painters, even if it was not in line with his own aspirations. The chief principles of his painting classes were the so-called principle of the sphere (Kugelprinzip) and the crystallisation of colours (Kristallisierung der Farben), which he adapted from the practice of some of his more progressive academic colleagues. The unfulfilled artistic expectations of Rihard Jakopič and Ferdo Vesel at the Munich academy were also responsible for the foundation of Ažbe’s private school. Students from all around the world came to Ažbe’s studio, most of them from the eastern half of Europe but also from Germany and even the United States. They include names that later became famous, such as Wassily Kandinsky, Alexej won Jawlensky, Hans Hoffmann, the Burljuk brothers, etc. After 1897 they were also joined (in chronological order) by Matija Jama, Ivan Grohar and Matej Sternen. Sternen stayed there (with some breaks) until Ažbe’s death. From the preserved testimonies of painters we can see a respectful and friendly attitude towards teacher Ažbe, but he could not influence them as a painter. The works of Ažbe, Vesel, Jakopič, Jama and Sternen from the 1890s all strongly reflect the painting style prevalent in Munich at the time. There are similarities in the poses and the way they are lit, and sometimes we can even recognise the same models. The works of two generations also nicely reflect the changes on the art scene of ‘Athens on the Isar’ from the last decade of the 19th century. 14. Anton Ažbe, Half-Nude Woman, (1889), National Gallery of Slovenia 15. Rihard Jakopič, Head of a Black Man, 1890, National Gallery of Slovenia 16. Matej Sternen, Redhead, 1902, National Gallery of Slovenia Genre Painting When traditional historical painting lost its persuasiveness, many artists tried to revive art with the help of a monumentalised genre. In official salons, such paintings drew most attention in the final quarter of the 19th century. Around 1900, Slovene painters, too, tried to make recognisable Slovene art out of genre painting. Everyday scenes were captured in the traditional realistic style by Ivana Kobilca and Ferdo Vesel, as Jurij Šubic had done before them. Various propositions for national genre painting can be found in the works by Ivan Grohar such as Brna at a Wedding and Hayrakers. Rihard Jakopič, Matija Jama and Matej Sternen also tackled genre subject matter. Jakopič tackled scenes of agricultural work in Mirje, while Jama and Sternen painted views from Mestni trg or from the market. The task was carried out particularly successfully by Peter Žmitek with the painting Beggar with the Little Church, which the literary historian and critic Ivan Prijatelj said was the most promising. This comment was also the beginning of the first serious polemic in Slovenia regarding art and it was victoriously concluded by Ivan Cankar. The young Impressionists were more interested in the formal aspects than in the content of the painting, although ideally it was the interweaving of the two which they were after. They soon settled for the open landscape, which best suited their aspirations, leaving genre to their slightly younger colleagues. The artwork of Maksim Gaspari, Gvidon Birolla, Hinko Smrekar and Saša Šantel, who joined together in 1903 in Vienna to create the artistic society Vesna, was primarily based on genre scenes. They drew their subject matter from domestic life, customs and habits, traditional love songs, folklore, etc. Their style gradually left the foundations of the Secession to approach pictorial realism. In accordance with the motto of the Vesna artists From the nation for the nation, their work is strongly characterised by rurality – the content often has just one meaning and is expressed somewhat randomly. Their works became very popular because they sought national identification through the projection of an idealised folklore world of the Slovene countryside. When the painters tackled works in the solid realist style, for example Ivan Vavpotič, then members of the bourgeoisie appeared in folk costumes striking parade poses and in modernised rituals. 17. Ivan Grohar, Brna at a Wedding, 1899, City Museum of Ljubljana 18. Peter Žmitek, Beggar with the Little Church, 1903, National Gallery of Slovenia 19. Matija Jama, Mealtime, 1899, private collection Turning to Nature ‘My aspiration to use only light colours of numerous hues was so great that I observed the landscape throughout the year and at all times of change; I particularly liked the early morning, when life is awakening, or in the evening when it begins to die away.’ Rihard Jakopič ‘… it was demanded that the painted canvas should make as direct and as harmonious and unique an impression as that same section of nature which the painter had just depicted…’ Matija Jama Painting in nature, directly in front of the subject, was the basic condition necessary for creating Impressionist paintings. Rihard Jakopič and Ferdo Vesel painted outdoors in Munich in the English Garden where they even experimented at night with an acetylene lamp. At home in Stranska Vas near Dobrova, they began to discover new subject matter already in 1898. That was when they began to encounter the Impressionist problems – sunlight, the instability of optical appearances, the changing of atmospheric conditions and how to record this on canvas. Jakopič regularly went to Stranska Vas for the rest of that decade. The paintings of poplars are most likely connected with this place. In the summer of 1901, Rihard Jakopič was joined by Matija Jama and that was when the first Impressionist paintings came about. They walked across many meadows, hills and woods, and descended to the Gradaščica stream which was overgrown with birch trees, willows, alders and poplars. Their subject matter was simple; they painted in different light conditions, at different times of day and in different weather conditions. The following summer, Jakopič and Jama continued their work and together studied the light variations in the idyllic country by the River Sotla. They were interested in the high, sinking clay banks with trees, the river and the deposited sands. Following the unsuccessful second exhibition, Jakopič moved to Škofja Loka permanently in the autumn of 1902. On a hillside on the way to Crngrob, he discovered his main motif: a group of birch trees, which he later incorporated into his figural compositions. 20. Rihard Jakopič, Poplars in the Morning Sun, (1901), National Gallery of Slovenia 21. Matija Jama, Birches in the Marshes, (1901–1902), private collection 22. Matej Sternen, Landscape with Water, (1901), private collection The Birth Hour of Modern Painting ‘I believe our character must be different from the character of German or French art… Different conditions, different effects. The landscape has a decisive effect on the character of a nation and its art.’ Rihard Jakopič ‘… Only one rule always applies: To achieve with the simplest means something so great and so elemental, as we can see in nature…’ Matija Jama ‘… if we wish to portray the winter in a naturalistic way, then we must also suffer cold, so that the viewer too will feel the cold…’ Matija Jama The year 1903 represents a turning point in the development of the modern Slovene painting. Jakopič, Jama and Sternen became acquainted with the basic principles of Monet’s Impressionism and spent the years up to 1906/7 intensively involved in the artistic exploration of painting. They were convinced that outdoors, in the contemplation of motifs, it was possible to create real modern paintings. They were accompanied by Avgust Berthold, who was interested in similar aspects in his photography. The time between 1904 and 1906, when Jakopič, Sternen, Grohar and Berthold spent much time together, is known as the ‘Barbizon of Škofja Loka’. Jama kept in touch with them through his intense correspondence with Jakopič. This period is characterised by very distinctive experimentation with the possibilities of painting landscapes and the search for suitable subject matter, often intimate corners in nature which stimulated impressions and synaesthetic post-impressions. Although they tackled the same subject matter, their achievements show exceptional diversity. A common motif, which appears in landscape paintings and later as a background for individual figures, are ‘kozolci’ (hayracks). Sternen in particular was interested in the architecture of these hayracks, Grohar decoratively absorbed the lines of the hayracks into the soft wavy lines of the meadows, while Jakopič’s hayracks and meadows optically dematerialise into pasty fields of colour contrasts and harmonies. Even when Jakopič and Grohar chose the same view of Kamnitnik covered by snow, their paintings are quite different. Jakopič’s approach is experimental throughout, bringing us directly into experiencing the motif during a heavy snow storm. Grohar’s Kamnitnik in the Snow, meanwhile, is monumentally composed and allows us to experience the painter’s mood. The most radical solutions in the exploration of the possibilities of painting were realised by Jakopič in the years 1903–1905. In his studies of the sun, he reached the very limit of the impression. With short brushstrokes of colour, he concentrated the shaking fragments of the sun’s energy, which pour out from the central source of radiation into the atmosphere in concentric circles. Winter impressions create a rounded-off group of paintings from the Škofja Loka period. The painters added melancholic emphases to their paintings in the hazy atmosphere of a winter morning or afternoon with a more uniform application of colour and with characteristic framing and by choosing to paint in a vertical format. On the other hand, the strongly sunlit scenes of winter offered them more opportunities for exploring the pure structure of the motif. They often painted the same scenes at different times of year, and searched for a suitable structure which would fit the changing face of the landscape. Summer impressions are characterised by more dynamic brushstrokes, while the motifs are more translucent and the narrative of the painting is stronger. Paintings done in the late afternoon, early evening or morning have more expressive or symbolic content, while those done in the middle of the day are on the whole very ordinary impressions. The best paintings have a light, relaxed feel about them. 23. Rihard Jakopič, Kamnitnik in the Snow, (1903), Free Syndicates Association of Slovenia 24. Ivan Grohar, Winter Morning, (1905), National Gallery of Slovenia 25. Rihard Jakopič, The Sun, a study, (around 1905), National Gallery of Slovenia 26. Rihard Jakopič, The Sun, a study, (around 1905), Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana 27. Rihard Jakopič, Autumn II, (1905), City Museum of Ljubljana 28. Ivan Grohar, At Gorajte, (1908), private collection 29. Ivan Grohar, Autumn Sun, (1908), City Museum of Ljubljana 30. Matija Jama, Early Snow, (1904), Art Gallery Split 31. Matija Jama, Landscape, (around 1904), Museum of Modern Art, Zagreb 32. Matej Sternen, In the Morning, (1908?), City Museum of Ljubljana 33. Matej Sternen, Duino, (1911), National Gallery of Slovenia The Human Figure in Landscape Painting ‘Around 1904, the technical apparatus of our Impressionism was set up. Reproducing nature satisfied neither me nor my colleagues. We tried hard to try to express the deepest revelations of the human soul with the acquired means.’ Rihard Jakopič After mastering the Impressionist style of painting, which he perfected in his landscape scenes, Rihard Jakopič again incorporated the human figure into the landscape. He searched for the ideal way to connect man and nature in painting. So his oeuvre from the years 1905 to 1916 contains images of women surrounded by trees entitled Under the Birch Trees, Amidst the Hornbeams, Amidst the Pine Trees, etc. He used photography to help him, and it is possible even nowadays to recognise the source of his inspiration and subject matter in the beech groves between Kamnitnik and Crngrob. The completed paintings appear to the viewer like vivid dreamt-up visions of fairytale beings or muses in the middle of lyrical, almost audibly rustling trees. Such artist’s visions give these paintings a touch of symbolism. The series Women Bathers, which Jakopič probably painted prior to 1900, represents a novelty in Slovene art. He admitted to painting the figures from his own imagination or memory, with the help of photographs or academic studies and sketches from Ažbe’s school. Jakopič was not only interested in light, which penetrates the tree branches and illuminates the bodies, but also the heat and energy of the sun which warms up the vegetation and invigorates the human figures. The whole series of Jakopič’s Women Bathers is characterised by the idea of a primeval dynamic vitalism which is expressed through intense colour contrasts and bold brushstrokes. In Bathers the inner tension between the elementary power of the sun and the intensified gestures of the figures reaches such a level that it almost forms an Expressionistic scene. 34. Rihard Jakopič, Amidst the Pine Trees, (1905), Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana 35. Rihard Jakopič, Bathers, (1905?), National Gallery of Slovenia The Križanke Series ‘This fog is the beauty of our Ljubljana. This shimmering, this sheer variety of light dispersed all around – and through the fog rise up the hardly perceptible formations of this or that block of buildings – here underlined, blurred over there.’ Rihard Jakopič Paintings done in series were typical of the Impressionists. In their desire to completely master content and expression, the Slovene Impressionists repeated certain motifs at a very early stage. The first such tendencies can be found in Jakopič’s Birches, Poplars and Kamnitnik pieces. Meanwhile, Križanke is the only completed series. Jakopič moved with his family from Škofja Loka to Ljubljana in 1906. He lived on the first floor at Emonska cesta 2. From his window he could see the building and the dome of the Križanke church with the surrounding wall and garden and the tall trees which in the warmer months partly restricted his view with their foliage. He began to paint Križanke in the winter of 1907. In just over two years, he succeeded in painting about 18 views of the church, and a further 10 paintings are known from his later years. They were concentrated in the mid-1920s. Jakopič most often painted Križanke in the winter sun or in the hazy light of the mornings or evenings. The morning and the evening, just like spring and autumn, were closest to his personal sentiment. Through his deliberate orchestrations of colour, which he vehemently applied to the canvas in distinctively thick layers, he depicted both the mood of nature and his own frame of mind. The view through the window, looking out from the inside, can serve as a useful metaphor for such a subjective approach to painting. The view of the outside world has awoken the inner experience of intense emotional states. The painter does not need to look for a motif – it is always there when he is at home. If Monet kept tackling the optical character of the changing motif, e.g. Rouen Cathedral, we could say for Jakopič that in Križanke, his best known motif, he explored emotional reflection – ‘the deepest movements of the soul’. 36. Rihard Jakopič, Fresh Snow (Križanke), (1908), National Museum of Slovenia 37. Rihard Jakopič, Križanke, (1909), National Gallery of Slovenia Intimism ‘You know, I love paintings which are like dreams. That is my favourite method of all. First of all I get an idea and then somewhere in the soul an image, like a vision, emerges. The painting must not hold out to me a tangible object. As it was born, in the same form it must pour itself out onto the canvas. These are dreams, somewhere at the bottom of the soul or man, lost in a hot reverie, brought to life from obscurity. All around, a world destined for the cradle is pouring out and somewhere in the painting an object is gazing out which is not tangible, but expressed and alive. The vision is seized in its width and in its depth, the dreams come alive.’ Rihard Jakopič The search for hidden corners in nature and experiencing them in a subjective contemplative way is only a step away from the Intimistic visualisations of the interiors of bourgeois houses. We come across them most often with Rihard Jakopič as they make up a large portion of his oeuvre. These are images of everyday domestic – and especially women’s – indoor chores, painted in a modern fashion based on the expressiveness of colour. Jakopič’s favourite models were members of his family while reading, drinking coffee, thinking, daydreaming, making music or busy doing some small task with their hands – activities which hardly require any movement and thereby open the doors wide to psychological dynamics, expressed through the complexity of the space, the intensity of the colours and a composition which emphasises gestures. By abandoning superfluous detail, using the effect of strong colours and dynamic brushstrokes, Jakopič opened up the images of figures in a bourgeois interior to the visualisation of different psychological states. This radiant world of colour conjures up feelings which in the series of paintings At the Piano synaesthetically combine with musical experiences. Jakopič was an enthusiastic singer and music-lover, and he very much enjoyed the concerts which were a part of the bourgeois etiquette at the time. Through their artistic and expressive characteristics, Jakopič’s Intimistic works come close to the starting points of Expressionism. The domestic figures of Matej Sternen remain in the more traditional framework of bourgeois portraits. Considering that he spent a long time living in Munich, was well acquainted with bourgeois culture and had perfected his drawing skills in Ažbe’s school, it is not surprising that he soon devoted his work to doing portraits and figural studies. His figures, even when they are in relaxed or melancholic positions, remain firmly composed, realistic and tangible because Sternen was a master of making people appear lifelike and of making textiles and other surfaces appear real. In some of his earlier attempts, the space was nevertheless filled up with a condensed atmosphere, which brought the painting closer to Intimism. In the same way, it comes close to Intimism through its Baroque abundance and the sensuousness of the drapery, for example in the visually luxurious dress of the girl in On the Couch. 38. Rihard Jakopič, At the Piano, (1907), City Museum of Ljubljana 39. Rihard Jakopič, Behind the Red Curtain, (1912), City Museum of Ljubljana The Nude ‘I find the figure more interesting than the still life, the very distinct life in the figure: the Object attracts me, but not in such a way that it is copied, but that it has tangible and visible life in it.’ Matej Sternen ‘If only one could do something in this boring Ljubljana, but what can you do without a model … we are spoilt by models.’ Matej Sternen Matej Sternen cooperated closely with Anton Ažbe until the latter’s death. Through academic study and Ažbe’s example, the nude became one of his primary tasks. If the nudes of those times were fairly conventionally positioned and naturalistically interpreted, then after the middle of the first decade Sternen developed a special enthusiasm for the subject. At first, he used prints to interpret and imitate the nudes of symbolist artists such as Félicien Rops and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec or Max Klinger. In his canvases, however, we can feel the authority of Lovis Corinth. The nudes produced between 1910 and 1914 represent real artistic advancement and the greatest contribution to Slovene modern painting. In these nudes, the composition and poses more directly express a naturalistic sensuousness and an erotic note, which we sometimes feel as compensation for voyeuristically motivated intentions. With well thought out colour contrasts and a sensuous materiality of colour, the physical presence of the body, its weight and curves are accentuated to such a level that we can almost detect the scent of the depicted figure. By painting nudes, Sternen kept up his artistic routine and developed his own theoretical views. Throughout he stressed the importance of the drawing, with which the artist is tied to the object while colour gives it life. In the bourgeois society of Ljubljana following the earthquake, it was difficult to find models who would be prepared to pose. Sternen resorted to copying the old masters as well as buying photographs or obtaining amateur photographs from studios in Munich. Considering that Jakopič and Jama both took photographs themselves, it is possible that Sternen also did the same. It is also known that Jakopič once displayed one of Sternen’s nudes behind a curtain in his pavilion and that it could only be viewed by select visitors. 40. Matej Sternen, Nude with Black Stockings, (1910), private collection 41. Matej Sternen, Nude, (1914), National Gallery of Slovenia 42. Matej Sternen, Lying Female Nude, (around 1915), National Gallery of Slovenia The Portrait Gallery The painters’ and sculptors’ portrait gallery presents well-known figures from the political, cultural and social life of the first two decades of the 20th century. They were depicted for the sake of art and to consolidate the national importance of meritorious politicians, founders of associations, patrons, critics, painters, musicians and writers or their close family members. Portraiture was an important and, more or less, the only certain source of income for artists. That is why Matija Jama and Ivan Grohar devoted the beginnings of their careers to it, while Matej Sternen was focused on portraiture throughout his successful career. Frequently motivated by a client’s expectations, the portrait is much less open to experimentation and innovation. That is why the paintings on display include some splendid examples of Slovene Realism while the more modern ones go beyond the traditional parameters of this genre. In their portrait work, artists would often work with the aid of photographs. In the portrait of her niece, the painter Mira Pintar, Ivana Kobilca was more relaxed in her brushstrokes and with a choice of very light colours created a confiding and sincere atmosphere. She concentrated all her skill and talent in a wonderful depiction of her young, intelligent relative, who later became Jakopič’s student. As a believer in Realism, Ivan Vavpotič knew how to conform to the taste of his bourgeois clients and painted representative portraits of the Slovene bourgeoisie. With confident drawing, lifelike modelling and respect for proportions, he followed the Realist tradition, even when faced with questions of light and colour, which are evident in the representative outdoor portrait of the provincial governor Fran Šuklje. Artists could allow themselves more creativity in expression and demand more creative poses from their sitters when they were painting portraits of friends or family members. Jakopič made a very modern Portrait of the Engineer Czerny (his father-in-law to be), with emphasis on a frontal, direct view, even before the turn of the century. In a similar way, in the portrait of Leon Souvan, Jama loosened the stiff realistic norms of portraiture, due to his friendly relationship with the successful Ljubljana merchant and cultural patron, and painted him in a relaxed pose in a particularly bright, Secession-style interior. In the Portrait of Roza Klein, Sternen followed examples from German Impressionism. He played down the spatial dimension and directed all his attention to bold, suggestive brushstrokes and a carefully considered choice of colours to create the image of a self-confident woman who rises above the viewer. 43. Rihard Jakopič, Henrik Czerny, (1889), National Gallery of Slovenia 44. Matija Jama, Leo Souvan, 1900, private collection 45. Ivana Kobilca, Mira Pintar, (1913), National Gallery of Slovenia Sculpture The generation of Slovene sculptors, which was active in the period between 1890 and 1920, trained at the academy in Vienna in the last two decades of the 19th and the first decade of the 20th century. After gaining some knowledge and skills in sculptors’ workshops, Vienna was for sculptors (as Munich was for painters) the first step towards becoming acquainted with contemporary artistic trends, realistic style concepts, mastering stylisation, anatomy and implementing the formal characteristics of the Secession. Those who trained in Vienna include Alojzij Gangl, Alojzij Repič, Franc Berneker, Ivan Zajec, Ivan Napotnik, Alojzij Progar, Jožef Ajlec, Svetoslav Peruzzi, Josip Urbanija and Ivan Napotnik. Lojze Dolinar attended the academy in Munich, and Anton Štefic, meanwhile, gained his knowledge from his relative, Alojzij Progar, in Klagenfurt. Many of them later passed on their knowledge to others as teachers and professors. Despite attending the academy in Vienna together, Slovene sculptors followed their own individual artistic paths, trying out different types of sculpture, visiting different places and did not have any sculptural methods or styles in common. In the same time frame, sculptors who created monuments and gravestones, as well as those who did portrait or figural or genre compositions, had to deal with very diverse formal characteristics. They all in their own time and way tried their hands at styles of academic Realism, neo-Baroque and neo-Classicism, and all mastered Secessionist or Modernist approaches. Sculpture, which is technically more demanding than painting, was not particularly valued as a form of art production at the time. Individual sculptors were only able to present their work together with other artists at group exhibitions and were unable to hold solo exhibitions or exhibitions devoted solely to sculpture. Things would have been rosier if the public and the critics at the time had been more open to the Modernist attempts of Slovene sculptors. As it was, they had to live in miserable conditions and die in poverty, or alternatively try to gain acclaim for their artistic achievements abroad. 46. Ivan Zajec, Snake Tamer, 1900, National Gallery of Slovenia 47. Franc Berneker, Victims, (1906), National Gallery of Slovenia 48. Lojze Dolinar, Rihard Jakopič, (1912), National Gallery of Slovenia Illustration and Caricature Illustration and caricature are two special art genres which were overlooked by both art and literary critics. In the artwork in books from the three decades we are focusing on, we can observe a gradual transition from mechanical patterns to original illustrations. The external appearance of the books also reflects the period. Much credit for the modern design of books should go to the publisher and merchant from Vransko, Lavoslav Schwentner – the ‘official publisher of the Slovene modern’, who set an example for other publishers. In Slovenia, the decoration and illustration of various periodicals and books was closely connected not only with Matija Jama, but also with younger devotees of the Impressionists – Sašo Šantel, Hinko Smrekar, Maksim Gaspari, Gvidon Birolla, Ivan Vavpotič and Anton Koželj. As a result of their talent for drawing, illustrators were sought after and they contributed to many literary works by older and contemporary authors. They combined a typical Secessionist style with folk elements, and revived some already forgotten and disappearing ethnographic curiosities. In order to survive, they had to do various kinds of work – designing posters, flyers, advertisements, calendars and postcards – and it is in this way that they entered our homes and remained in our memories. Cartoons and satire were a very important part of the cultural, social and political life of the beginning of the 20th century and now bear witness to a world that has disappeared. The above illustrators and painters were chroniclers of the time they lived in, and they took notice of events both at home and abroad. They were pitiless even to themselves in their drawings. They were the bad conscience of society, but they also drew attention to ideals and the path to a better future. 49. Hinko Smrekar, Masquerade by the Slovene Painters and Sculptors, 1913, National Gallery Back row from left to right: Pavel Gustinčič as someone knocking down stars from the sky, Fran Klemenčič as an iron knight, Maksim Gaspari as Don Juan, Svetoslav Peruzzi as an Imperial and Royal Professor, Ferdo Vesel as a revolutionary, Rihard Jakopič – a great thundering orator – sits on a throne, his pavilion, as the best among the best and on his lap on the right sits Lojze Dolinar – Ganymede, a heavenly barman with a bottle and a glass in his hands, and on the left and pulling at his beard sits Peter Žmitek, king of the artists. Matija Jama is depicted as Buddha, the already deceased Ivan Grohar is depicted with wings like a heavenly spirit, Matej Sternen is elegantly dressed, Saša Šantel as a good family man is depicted with a child, and Hinko Smrekar, the caricaturist is a monk – preaching about the transitory nature of everything in this world. At the bottom, from left to right: Prof. Ivan Franke as Triton, Ivan Zajec as an agile baker and Ivan Vavpotič as a Parisian lady. Photography The rapid and successful development of photographic technique and its artistic possibilities meant that by the end of the 19th century photography had been acknowledged as an art. Amateurs of various professional backgrounds who formed associations can also be credited with this. The first association of Slovene amateurs was founded in 1889 and artists were also among its members. After 1890, an important role was also played by photographic exhibitions. The exhibition of art photography by Dr. Rado Frlan in 1901 gained much publicity. Avgust Berthold became famous after him. The central event for art and photography was the exhibition in 1911 in the Jakopič Pavilion, where the photographer Josip Kunaver presented new methods. One of the members of the jury was Rihard Jakopič, an amateur photographer himself. Among artists who were also photographers, Milan Klemenčič stood out. He succeeded in combining both media and introduced colour photography to Slovenia. During the First World War, Impressionist-style photographs were taken by Jela Repič, who was a friend of Ferdo Vesel. Matija Jama was asked to take photographs by the editor of Dom in svet (Home and Abroad), Dr. Frančišek Lampe, another exemplary amateur. The Impressionist painters and photographers were drawn together not only by artistic ambitions, but also by an awakened sense of national belonging. Slovene Impressionism is an echo of simultaneous global events. An important role was played in the 1890s by the large photographic exhibitions which were also connected with painting (Vienna, Hamburg, Paris, Washington, etc.). Munich and Vienna were particularly influential focal points for Slovenia. In Europe and the US, there were lively discussions about Realism, Impressionism, Art Nouveau and the Secession. A decisive role was played by printed publications with outstanding reproductions of images, e.g. Camera Work in the years 1902–1917. Avgust Berthold Avgust Berthold (1880–1919) was the first Slovene photographer whose photography made the transition from simple craft to a higher level, comparable to that of other European photographers. A companion of the Slovene Impressionist painters, Berthold was active at the beginning of the 20th century, at a time when the concept of art photography was taking shape. This photography tried at least visually to approach painting; its subject matter was presented slightly blurred, and above all in a softer tone so that the images made an impressionistic effect by expressing the brief visualisation of nature. Such photography could also be termed pictorial photography. A style of photography developed which was based on the relationship between light and colour, on softening sharp lines and especially on the mastery of detail in order to give the effect of an impression. Avgust Berthold actively cooperated with the Impressionist painters and created a number of important photographic works (The Sower, Portrait of the Painter Rihard Jakopič, Ivan Cankar, Ivan Grohar, various landscape and genre scenes, nude photography), which are appropriately positioned at the pinnacle of Slovene fine art at the time. Following a review and analysis of his work, we can say that he too was one of the Slovene Impressionists who helped place Slovene art alongside the European art of the time. 50. Avgust Berthold, The Sower, (1906), private collection 51. Avgust Berthold, Landscape with Birches II, (1906), private collection Film The available sources do not tell us much about the attitude of the main Slovene Impressionist painters to film, but they nevertheless make it clear that in the time of Impressionism, films were often made in Slovenia. The fact that the first itinerant cinematographers used to show their films very close to where the Jakopič Pavilion once stood (close to where the National Gallery now stands), shows that there was an inherent connection between these two simultaneous phenomena. The people who became involved with film were mainly those who already had experience with photography. One such person was the lawyer from Ljutomer, Karol Grossmann, who left an indelible mark on the development of cinematography with his films Leaving Mass in Ljutomer (1905), The Fair in Ljutomer (1905) and In My Garden (1906). In the beginning of the twentieth century, the first real cinematographers appeared in Slovenia, and film was soon used as a means to spread ideological propaganda. As a reaction, there followed the response of Slovene patriots, who also manifested their attachment to the nation with the help of film. We can see this in the film Ljubljana, which was made in 1909 and is the oldest surviving film record of the city. The reason for making the film was a celebration marking the 25th anniversary of the Slovene workers’ choir Slavec, of which the tragically deceased Rudolf Lunder was a member. Before 1920, another important event in the development of Slovene cinematography occurred. Ignacij Borštnik was someone who, during the last years of his life, became actively involved in producing films which combined elements of film and theatre. He acted in four films and was also the scenarist and main actor in the film Brišem in sodim (1909). In this film, which has unfortunately not been preserved, the Slovene Alps and the surroundings of Bled were used as a backdrop for the first time. The mountain landscape as an icon in Slovene film has been present throughout its history, even to this day. The Jakopič Pavilion ‘This pavilion fulfils the wishes of the Slovene public, which will from now on have the opportunity to educate its sense for the visual arts and should with time achieve real artistic understanding.’ Rihard Jakopič In 1908, the painter Rihard Jakopič (1869–1943) made a great organisational effort and invested his own money to set up in Tivoli Park the first public and purpose-built art exhibition space in Slovenia. It was the architect Maks Fabiani who drew up the plans for it in the shape of a pavilion. It hosted almost 300 different Slovene and foreign exhibitions of art and – very early on, in 1911 – photography. In organising and running the pavilion, Jakopič followed the examples he had seen in Vienna and Munich. In the central section of the pavilion there was a lobby with a large hall (large studio), on the left there was a space for permanent exhibitions and a small studio, while on the right there was room for a drawing and painting school, which Jakopič transferred to the pavilion from his flat at Emonska cesta 2 in 1911. The pavilion also served as a commercial gallery. The works to be displayed in the pavilion were usually not chosen by a committee, but it was Jakopič himself who decided what to put on show. Jakopič was given the land on lease from the municipality for a period of seven years for a symbolic price. The pavilion was officially opened on 12 June 1909 with an exhibition of works by Slovene artists. Jakopič soon ran into financial difficulties. In 1923 the pavilion was bought by the municipality and given to the National Gallery Association. Artists were able to use the pavilion until 1954, when it was renovated. However, the Jakopič Pavilion had to be demolished in 1964, due to the construction of the underpass and the shifting of the railway lines. Today, a statue of Rihard Jakopič, the work of sculptor Bojan Kunaver, is a reminder of the former pavilion. It stands beside the concrete underpass leading to Tivoli Park. Slovenia lost an exceptional architectural, cultural and historical monument, and has not yet built a suitable contemporary exhibition space to replace it. 52. Maks Fabiani, The Jakopič Pavilion, Ljubljana, (today demolished), Historical Archives Ljubljana Architecture in Ljubljana circa 1900 ‘... he [emperor] was very pleased to confirm my approval, because he had only heard good things about me and he is convinced that Ljubljana has in me a mayor, who with his diligence and energy is entirely capable of raising it up from its ruins.’ From the Memoirs of Ivan Hribar, on visiting the emperor in Budapest Following the Easter earthquake in Ljubljana in 1895, architecture gained a new impetus. The external appearance of Ljubljana changed dramatically. Everything was new: the tram and city urbanism, the sewage system and electricity. Slovene modern architecture begins with Maks Fabiani (1865–1962) and Jože Plečnik (1872–1957), two architects who were closely linked with the Viennese modern and also helped to create it. Following the earthquake, the mayor Ivan Hribar engaged the architect and professor Maks Fabiani to help reconstruct Ljubljana. Jože Plečnik did not have such luck, even though he became known in Vienna as one of the most promising students of the architect Otto Wagner. In Slovenia, there was no wealthy bourgeoisie with a refined taste in architecture. In this period, the architecture of late historicism was still predominant – the new Secession was late in coming to Ljubljana. The architecture of Maks Fabiani in Ljubljana was, alongside his urban plans, the highest quality architecture in the city until the end of the First World War. A number of buildings with typical Secessionist ornamentation, which were contemporaneous with the flowering of Slovene Impressionist painting, were constructed in Ljubljana. Some of the most obvious examples of nascent Modernism include: the Urbanc House, which was built according to plans drawn up by the architect from Graz, Friedrich Sigmundt; the City Savings Bank (Mestna hranilnica); the Hotel Union and the People’s Loan Bank by the Croat Josip Vancaš; several buildings by the native of Ljubljana, Ciril Metod Koch and Robert Smielowsky who was born in Galicia. A work of particular quality is the Jubilee (Dragon) Bridge across the Ljubljanica, a pioneering work with its iron construction, designed in 1900 by Jurij Zaninović, a student of Wagner from Dalmatia. 53. Josip Vancaš, Hotel Union, faşade, 1903–1905, Ljubljana, Ministry of Culture, INDOK, photo: INDOK 54. Friedrich Sigmundt, Urbanc House, 1902–1904, Ljubljana, Ministry of Culture, INDOK, photo: Dunja Wedam Glossary of Less Well-Known Terms abstraction what is beyond the reach of the senses; in art, it is a form of depiction which adapts to, replaces or connects the external appearance of objects with the impression of their internal characteristics, in this way creating a new artistic reality academicism art teaching in academies which adheres to traditional methods; in Modernism it has negative connotations and denotes the rigid imitation of patterns Art Nouveau the name of a decorative style, which in the years 1885–1915 favoured sinuous, asymmetric shapes colour contrast mutual contrasts between different primary colours complementary acting as or providing a complement (something that completes the whole) critique the evaluation of something crystallisation of colours one of the teaching principles of Anton Ažbe which favoured painting with ‘clean’ colours, taken from the palette with the brush in such a way that they were left unmixed one next to the other. Paintings made in this way with wide brushes gave the impression of ‘mothers of pearl’, wrote one of Ažbe’s students. If a student carefully arranged the paints on his brush in this way, he could paint a forehead or an arm with just one stroke; with a few strokes he could paint a head or even an entire nude daguerrotype invention, image and photographic process using a silvercoated metallic plate; it was practised from 1839 until circa 1860; L. J. M. Daguerre, who continued Niépce’s work, made the process suitable for practical use dating an estimate of when a work of art was created judging by the year written on it or when it was known to have been created, or following an analysis of its style Divisionism a branch of Post-Impressionism in which colours are treated from a scientific point of view and are divided into their components, then applied in very small quantities/strokes onto the canvas Expressionism art in which the artist expresses what he or she feels using shape and colour Fin de siècle literally ‘end of the century’; it denotes an artistic style typical of the culture of large cities until the First World War genre painting depicts aspects of everyday life by portraying ordinary people engaged in common activities gum bichromate photographic printing process a layer of gum arabic and bichromate, mixed with colour, is applied to the paper; the exposed parts and the colour harden when the negative is copied, the shaded parts dissolve in water and the paper remains clean, showing the white parts of the image Historicism a term denoting art which draws its inspiration from copying historic styles impasto the application of thick paint with a brush or palette knife; the technique allows the surface of the painting to be given a structure impression whatever comes up in the human consciousness as a consequence of a rapid, normally emotional reception of the outside world Impressionism a way of depicting objects and figures as they appear in the changing light Modernism The deliberate departure from tradition and the use of innovative forms of expression that distinguish many styles in art at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century modernism modern thought, character or practice palette knife a spatula used by artists for applying oil paints pentimenti the artist’s alterations to an already painted composition due to his searching for improvements, e.g. in the movement, drapery, etc. pleinairism painting in outdoor daylight Pointillism a Post-Impressionist school of painting characterised by the application of paint in small dots and brush strokes principle of the sphere (Kugelprinzip) teaching method used by Anton Ažbe to facilitate the understanding of shapes in art. According to this principle it is possible to create any object out of the ideal rounded figure – the sphere. Students first learned how to draw a sphere, with its lustre, light, shadow and its own shadow. Only then could they master the drawing of the head, the nude, a tree, drapery, etc. Savani the Slovene Impressionists (Ivan Grohar, Rihard Jakopič, Matija Jama and Matej Sternen) and other Slovene artists (painters Luiza Jama, Roza Klein, Ferdo Vesel and Peter Žmitek, and sculptor Franc Berneker) who joined together in 1904 to form the Sava club because the art dealer Gustav Miethke, who organised their exhibitions, wanted them to be an organized group Secession literally the act of separating, this term is used to denote several groups which at the end of the 19th century separated from the established and conservative artistic associations; the term can also refer to one of the styles of Fin de siècle art signature the artist’s signature, initials or other characteristic marking on the work of art stretcher the frame onto which the canvas is attached subject matter the source of inspiration for the artist Symbolism an artistic movement, especially in literature and painting, which at the end of the 19th century took shape in France and tried to express abstract or mystical ideas synaesthesia a sensation that normally occurs in one sense modality when another modality is stimulated tactile perceptible to the sense of touch; tangible technique the way in which the fundamentals of an artistic work are handled texture the quality given to a piece of art by the interrelationship of its elements Vesnani members of the Vesna art club, which was founded in 1903 in Vienna; their motto was From the Nation for the Nation