Elda Piščanec, Nativity Scene (1940–44)

Slovenian academic painter Elda Piščanec (1897–1967) was known for her landscapes, still lifes, nudes, portraits, and sacral motifs. She worked extensively in oil painting, watercolour, drawing, printmaking, and mural painting, while also engaging to a lesser extent in clay modeling and the applied arts.

In 1940, she reached an agreement with the parish priest in Štepanja Vas to create a nativity scene for the local Church of St Stephen. She sculpted it using a special cement mixture, shaping the figures with strokes that, through their naïve expression, evoke a deeply expressive experience.