Božidar Jakac

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Božidar Jakac
Lyrical Realism, Symbolism
AwardsAVNOJ Award
1967
Prešeren Award
1947
Prešeren Award
1948
Prešeren Award
1980

Božidar Jakac (July 16, 1899 – November 20, 1989) was a

Ljubljana Academy of Fine Arts and the International Biennal of Graphic Art in Ljubljana
. Some of his work is on display in museums in Belgrade.

Biography

Jakac was born in Novo Mesto, which was then part of Austria-Hungary. He started painting in 1910 or 1911, when he was attending the Novo Mesto grammar school, and more seriously, when he was attending the technical high school in Idrija, which he finished in 1917. As he lacked money to continue the studies, he had to set off to the Isonzo Front to fight for the monarchy. In 1918, after World War I ended, Ivan Vavpotič, his former professor, introduced him to the prominent Slovene Impressionist painter Rihard Jakopič, who exhibited Jakac's paintings and became his first true tutor.[citation needed]

From November 1919, Jakac studied painting and

Academy of Fine Arts in Prague (under professors Jakub Obrovský and Franz Thiele). There, he came into contact with rich artistic tradition and versatile modern art movements that expanded his artistic horizons tremendously. During that period he also visited Paris and Bremen. He finished the postgraduate studies of printmaking under professor August Brömse.[citation needed
]

In 1920, Jakac returned to Novo Mesto and became the bearer of

fine arts, which included also the poets Miran Jarc and Anton Podbevšek, the painter Ivan Čargo and the composer Marij Kogoj. In 1924, he settled in Ljubljana. At first, he earned his money as a woodcut illustrator at the liberal newspaper Jutro and a professor of drawing at the Second State Gymnasium in Ljubljana. Three years later he gave up his work and became an independent artist. At that time he also travelled extensively, for example to Paris, Tunisia, the Americas and Norway, and married Tatjana Gudrunova, who profoundly influenced his work. In 1932, he published his memoirs and letters from America in the book Odmevi rdeče zemlje ("The Echoes of the Red Earth"), in cooperation with his friend Jarc.[citation needed
]

In September 1943, Jakac joined the

Ljubljana Academy of Fine Arts, which was realised in 1945, and then served as its dean for three terms (1945–1947, 1947–1949, and later in 1959–1961) and taught printmaking till his retirement in 1961.[citation needed
]

In 1949, Jakac became a full member of the

]

Jakac died in Ljubljana in 1989 and is buried in Novo Mesto.[citation needed]

Work

Jakac paints Peter II of Yugoslavia in 1934 at Bled
The 1962 Yugoslav stamp, designed by Jakac, to advertise the World Health Organization's campaign against malaria

Jakac's first steps in the arts were literary and musical in nature, since he was not sure yet which branch of the arts he preferred. However, as he discovered the fine art he was hooked on it once and for all.[

watercolors of scenes from nature and of the Novo Mesto landscape, distinguished by reduced Realism, Mood Impressionism and the exploration of light effects, as well as by discovery and establishment of his pastel technique.[citation needed
]

After the departure to Prague he progressed rapidly in his artistic development and incorporated many of the elements of Cubism, Expressionism and Abstract art in his works. Although he liked to picture the landscape of the Czech lands, he preferred the poetic landscape of his home region Lower Carniola (Dolenjska), full of shades and veiled atmosphere.[citation needed] On his travels abroad in the 1930s, Jakac photographed and painted what he saw, giving his work an important documentary value. His art slowly transformed itself into lyrical realism.[citation needed]

After the war Jakac continued to paint

colored woodcuts.[citation needed] Jakac was essentially a black-and-white artist. His favourite painting technique was chalk pastel, which appealed to him due to its mellowness and the possibility for quick painting during his numerous travels.[citation needed
]

Jakac was an excellent portraitist who depicted a number of prominent Slovenes and Yugoslavs, friends and very often also himself. In 1940 he painted a portrait of the Slovenian poet France Prešeren, which became one of the emblematic rafigurations of the national poet.[citation needed]

Between 1949 and 1974, his portraits and other drawings were used in a series of Yugoslav

Slovene cinema. He produced several black-and-white documentary vedutas of Novo Mesto, which made him the first Slovene master of camera.[citation needed
]

Today, many of the works of Jakac are permanently exhibited in

]

Awards and commemorations

Jakac received numerous local and foreign awards for his work. The most prestigious of them was the

Lower Styria
") in 1949, and for his rich exhibition activity in the past years and a vivid fine art presence in the Slovene and Yugoslav cultural space in 1980.

Jakac was named the honorary academician of

Accademia dell'Arte del Disegno in Florence (1965) and a full member of European Academy of Arts, Sciences and Humanities in Paris (1982). In 1959, he was the first person bestowed the title of the honorary freeman of Novo Mesto. Since June 2012, a bronze bust of Božidar Jakac, work of the academic sculptor Drago Tršar, stands in front of the University of Ljubljana.[3]

References

  1. .
  2. ^ "БЕЛЕШКЕ". Naša književnost (2): 65. 1 February 1947.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  3. ^ Beja, Boris (18 June 2012). "Odkritje spomenika Božidarju Jakcu" [The Unveiling of the Monument to Božidar Jakac]. Planet Siol.net (in Slovenian).

Further reading

External links