The Art of the 1930s from Moderna galerija's collections

22.12.2006

Part Three (1938 - 1941)

Moderna galerija / Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana
22. 12. 2006 - 8. 2. 2007

Artists: Lojze Dolinar, France Gorše, Božidar Jakac, Gojmir Anton Kos, France Kralj, Stane Kregar, Peter Loboda, Miha Maleš, Zoran Mušič, France Pavlovec, Nikolaj Pirnat, Maksim Sedej, Gabrijel Stupica in drugi

Exhibition curator: dr. Igor Kranjc

This final exhibition in the series covers the period just prior to the attack of the Axis Powers on the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. In the tense political atmosphere, which drove the militarized Europe into confrontation between irreconcilable social and nationalist ideologies, also artistic creation increasingly became a "means" for gauging the social standing of art. Political elites in Slovenia strove for control over art, which resulted in demands for creativity with an emphatically social and national role, for art that is available to all social strata and at the same time stylistically and esthetically based on the canonized "universal" and "national" tradition of high art.

The prevalent styles in painting, graphic art and sculpture were (color, poetic, plastic) realism and naturalism; also the choice of subjects matched that, in particular genre motives. Conservatism in politics entailed also traditionalism in art. Modernist innovativeness, a critical relation to the chosen medium, individual expressive semantics were all frowned upon; instead, artworks were expected to express rootedness in the tradition and reflect the beauty of "nature" and life, even if only imaginary.

The exhibition curator, Igor Kranjc, PhD, will present the exhibition and its background; he is also the author of the introductory study in the catalogue that accompanies the show. The restoration work for the exhibition was done by Nada Madžarac, MFA, and Noemi Krese. All the exhibited works are presented in the catalogue, as is a chronology of the period with comprehensive biographical and bibliographical data on the artists compiled by the curators Jana Intihar Ferjan and Bojane Rogina and revised by Breda Ilich Klančnik. Mojca Štuhec assisted with the selection of the works, and the photo documentation is the work of Maja Finžgar and Ernest Breznik.