Odysseus Visiting the Capitals of Europe

Marij Pregelj, Homer and the Muse of Poetry, 1951, ink wash on paper, 50 x 33.5 cm, Moderna galerija (573/1/R)

Exhibition: Marij Pregelj: Illustrations for the First Slovenian Translation of the Odyssey and translations of the Odyssey in languages of the European Union
14 - 23 November 2014

International Symposium: The Odyssey between Greece and the Latin West
14 and 15 November 2014

Moderna galerija / Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana, Cankarjeva 15, Ljubljana

You are kindly invited to the opening of the exhibition of Marij Pregelj's illustrations for the first Slovenian translation of the Odyssey and translations of the Odyssey in languages of the European Union on Saturday, 15 November, at 7 p.m. at the Moderna galerija, Cankarjeva street 15. The event will be a formal conclusion of the two day international symposium entitled The Odyssey Between Greece and Latin West, organised by the Department of Classics, University of Ljubljana, faculty of Arts in frames of the project Odysseus Visiting the Capitals of Europe.

The latter includes a travelling exhibition of the Odyssey in 24 official languages of the European Union was initiated by the Field Offices of Directorate-General for Translation of the European Commission. The 10th anniversary of EU membership celebrated by Slovenia and nine other countries in 2014 is thus an opportunity to appraise the contribution of languages and literatures of those countries, including translations of Homer and other works of Graeco-Roman antiquity, to Europe as a cultural unity.

The specific focus of the events taking place in Ljubljana in November is simbolically linked to Odysseus' journey from Greece to Italy, the two countries holding the presidency to the EU in 2014. The international symposium The Odyssey Between Greece and the Latin West and the presentation of the Latin translation of the Odyssey by the Renaissance scholar Andreas Divus from Koper will invite the visitor to reflect on the contribution of authors, scribes and translators who transmitted the poetic wealth of the poem to medieval Europe, to the European Renaisance and to the modern world.

The exhibition of translations and the symposium will be accompanied by the exhibition of illustrations for the first Slovenian edition of the Odyssey by Marij Pregelj (1913-1967).

Extensive and varied, Marij Pregelj's oeuvre is undoubtedly among the most notable modernist oeuvres in Slovenia and the former Yugoslavia, with illustration being its especially significant chapter. Together with his illustrations of the Iliad, Pregelj's illustrations of the Odyssey represent a turning point both in the development of his illustration and his entire oeuvre, having also a notable impact on the general understanding of modernism in postwar Slovenia. The human figure with its eloquent poses, gestures, and facial expressions also reflects - in addition to various West European references indicative of Pregelj's vast knowledge of art history - the artist's experience of World War II, as well as intimate questions of human condition that came to the fore in the postwar period. The exhibition of Pregelj's illustrations for the Odyssey, accompanied by a selection of his preparatory studies, thus sheds a special light on the selection of his key paintings, which are on view in Moderna galerija's permanent exhibition 20th Century. Continuities and Ruptures.

→   More about symposium and its program in the attachment.

Partners in the project:

European Commission Representation in Slovenia
ec.europa.eu/slovenija/index_sl.htm

Moderna galerija, Ljubljana

Department Department of Classics, University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts - www.ff.uni-lj.si

LINK:→   http://odiseja.eu/locations/ljubljana/?lang=en

Archive:

→   http://odiseja.eu/locations/ljubljana/photo-gallery/

→   http://odiseja.eu/locations/ljubljana/video-clip/