Art of Slovenia refers to all forms of visual art in or associated with Slovenia, both before and after the country's Independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. Art in Slovenia has been shaped by a number of Slovenian painters, sculptors, architects, photographers, graphics artists, comics, illustration, and conceptual artists. The most prestigious institutions exhibiting works of Slovene visual artists are the National Gallery of Slovenia and the Museum of Modern Art in Ljubljana.
Historically, painting and sculpture in Slovenia was in the late 18th and the 19th century marked by Neoclassicism (Matevž Langus), Biedermeier (Giuseppe Tominz) and Romanticism (Michael Stroy). The first art exhibition in Slovenia was organised in the late 19th century by Ivana Kobilca, who worked in realistic tradition. Impressionist artists include painters Matej Sternen, Matija Jama, Rihard Jakopič, Ivan Grohar, whose The Sower (Slovene: Sejalec) was depicted on the €0.05 Slovenian euro coins, and a sculptor Franc Berneker, who introduced impressionism to Slovenia. Expressionist painters include Veno Pilon and Tone Kralj whose picture book, reprinted thirteen times, is now the most recognisable image of the folk hero Martin Krpan. [1]
The renewal of Slovene sculpture begun with Alojz Gangl (1859–1935) who made the first public monument of the notable Enlightenment figure Valentin Vodnik and provided The Genius of the Theatre and other statues for the Slovenian National Opera and Ballet Theatre building. [2]
Modern architecture in Slovenia was introduced by Max Fabiani, and in the mid-war period, Jože Plečnik and Ivan Vurnik. [3] In the second half of the 20th century, the national and universal style were merged by the architects Edvard Ravnikar and Marko Mušič.
In 1841, Janez Puhar (1814–1864) invented a process for photography on glass, recognized on June 17, 1852, in Paris by the French Academy of Agriculture, Handicrafts, and Commerce. [4] Gojmir Anton Kos was a notable realist painter and photographer between the First World War and Second World War.
The first photographer from Slovenia whose work was published by National Geographic magazine is Arne Hodalič [5]
During World War II, numerous graphics were created by Božidar Jakac, who helped establish the post-war Academy of Visual Arts in Ljubljana.
Milko Bambič is known for the first Slovene comic strip Little Negro Bu-ci-bu , [6] an allegory of Mussolini's career, [6] and as the creator of the Three Hearts (Tri srca) brand, still used today by Radenska. After the WW II the comics drawn by Miki Muster gained popularity in Slovenia.
In 1917 Hinko Smrekar illustrated the notable Fran Levstik's Martin Krpan book about the Slovene folk hero. The children's books illustrators include a number of women illustrators, such as Marlenka Stupica, Marija Lucija Stupica, Ančka Gošnik Godec, Marjanca Jemec Božič, and Jelka Reichman.
Many generations of children have been educated by the technical and science illustrations created by Božo Kos and published in Slovenian children's magazines, such as Ciciban.
Recently, Lila Prap's illustrations gained popularity in Japan where children's cartoons based on her illustrations have been televised.
A number of conceptual visual art groups formed, including OHO, Group 69, and IRWIN. Nowadays, the Slovene visual arts are diverse, based on tradition, reflect the influence of neighbouring nations and are intertwinned with modern European movements. [7]
Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in southern Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short coastline within the Adriatic Sea to the southwest. Slovenia is mostly mountainous and forested, covers 20,271 square kilometres (7,827 sq mi), and has a population of 2.1 million. Slovenes constitute over 80% of the country's population. Slovene, a South Slavic language, is the official language. Slovenia has a predominantly temperate continental climate, with the exception of the Slovene Littoral and the Julian Alps. A sub-mediterranean climate reaches to the northern extensions of the Dinaric Alps that traverse the country in a northwest–southeast direction. The Julian Alps in the northwest have an alpine climate. Toward the northeastern Pannonian Basin, a continental climate is more pronounced. Ljubljana, the capital and largest city of Slovenia, is geographically situated near the centre of the country.
Johann Augustin Pucher was a Slovene priest, scientist, photographer, artist, and poet who invented an unusual process for making photographs on glass.
Ivan Cankar was a Slovene writer, playwright, essayist, poet, and political activist. Together with Oton Župančič, Dragotin Kette, and Josip Murn, he is considered as the beginner of modernism in Slovene literature. He is regarded as the greatest writer in Slovene, and has sometimes been compared to Franz Kafka and James Joyce.
Maximilian Fabiani, commonly known as Max Fabiani was an Italian architect, born in the village of Kobdilj near Štanjel on the Karst Plateau, County of Gorizia and Gradisca, in present-day Slovenia. Together with Ciril Metod Koch and Ivan Vancaš, he introduced the Vienna Secession style of architecture in Slovenia.
Oton Župančič was a Slovene poet, translator, and playwright. He is regarded, alongside Ivan Cankar, Dragotin Kette and Josip Murn, as the beginner of modernism in Slovene literature. In the period following World War I, Župančič was frequently regarded as the greatest Slovenian poet after Prešeren, but in the last forty years his influence has been declining and his poetry has lost much of its initial appeal.
Slovene culture is the culture of the Slovenes, a south Slavic ethnic group. It is incredibly diverse for the country's small size, spanning the southern portion of Central Europe, being the melting pot of Slavic, Germanic and Romance cultures while encompassing the Eastern Alps, Adriatic sea, Panonian plain and a part of Balkan peninsula.
Ivan Vurnik was a Slovene architect that helped found the Ljubljana School of Architecture. His early style in the 1920s is associated with the search for Slovene "National Style", inspired by Slovene folk art and the Vienna Secession style of architecture. Upon embracing the functionalist approach in the 1930s, Vurnik rivaled the more conservative Plečnik's approach. The Cooperative Business Bank, designed by Vurnik and his wife Helena Kottler Vurnik who designed the decorative facade in the colors of Slovene tricolor, has been called the most beautiful building in Ljubljana. Vurnik has also drawn a number of urban plans, among these the plans for Bled (1930), Kranj (1933–1937), and Ljubljana (1935).
Gojmir Anton Kos was a Slovene academy-trained painter, photographer, and professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana.
Alenka Puhar is a Slovenian journalist, author, translator, and historian. In 1982, she wrote a groundbreaking psychohistory-inspired book "The Primal Text of Life" about the 19th century social history of early childhood in Slovene Lands, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The book was in 2010 the subject of a television documentary that was in 2010 televised on the national RTV Slovenija. Her grandfather was the photographer and inventor Janez Puhar, who invented a process for photography on glass.
Vitomil Zupan was a post-World War II modernist Slovene writer and Gonars concentration camp survivor. Because of his detailed descriptions of sex and violence, he was dubbed the Slovene Hemingway and was compared to Henry Miller. He is best known for Menuet za kitaro, describing the years he spent with the Slovene Partisans. In Titoist Yugoslavia he was sentenced to 18 years in a show trial, and upon his release in 1955 his works could only be published under his pseudonym Langus. He is considered one of the most important Slovene writers.
Vasko Simoniti is a Slovenian historian and politician. Between 2004 and 2008, he served as the Minister of Culture of Slovenia, being reappointed in 2020. He is an active member of the Slovenian Democratic Party.
The architecture of Slovenia has a long, rich and diverse history.
Martin Krpan is a fictional character created on the basis of the Inner Carniolan oral tradition by the 19th-century Slovene writer Fran Levstik in the short story Martin Krpan from Vrh pri Sveti Trojici. Published in 1858 in the literary journal Slovenski glasnik, the popularity of the story led to it becoming a part of Slovene folklore and made its lead character a folk hero.
Herman Gvardjančič, is a Slovene painter.
Marlenka Stupica was a Slovene children's book illustrator. She illustrated over one hundred books for children and is considered one of the top Slovene illustrators.
Marija Lucija Stupica was a Slovene children's book illustrator.
Milko Bambič also known by the nicknames Cvetanov and Banetov, was a prolific illustrator, cartoonist, caricaturist, inventor, children's writer, publicist, and painter from the Slovene minority in Italy (1920-1947). He is regarded as one of the most versatile Slovene artists and a prominent Italian Futurist painter. He published in both Italian and Slovene. He is known for the first Slovene comic strip Little Negro Bu-ci-bu, an allegory of Mussolini's career, and as the creator of the Three Hearts brand, still used today by Radenska.
Janez Vidic was a Slovene painter and illustrator, best known for his oil paintings of landscapes and people as well as his murals.
The Slovenian Radio and Television Big Band is a big band that appears on Slovenian National TV. It was established right after World War II by Slovene conductor and composer Bojan Adamič (1912–1995), assembling some of its members already in Slovene Partisans that made first public appearance in June 1945 as part of the reopening of Postojna Cave. Although orchestral jazz remained its major dedication, the band played also a number of film scores composed by Adamič for Slovenian films.
Helena Vurnik née Kottler (1882-1962) was a Slovenian artist born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, best known for decorative paintings on Cooperative Business Bank facade and its interior.
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