For
the National Gallery of Slovenia, the past decade has been a time of great
milestones and extraordinary wide-ranging successes. We based our work on the
guiding principle of the former Director Anica Cevc, who asserted that we borrowed
our legacy from the generations to come.
At
the end of 2015, we completed the three-year reconstruction of the Narodni dom
Palace. We connected the renovated building with the New Wing and the Entrance
Hall, thus preparing the premises for a new permanent collection of art in
Slovenia. In January 2016, we opened it to the public together with the
renovated premises. A carefully thought-out selection by the Gallery’s curators
realised a long-standing wish to connect two previously separate collections of
"Slovenian" and "European" art. The new permanent
collection is more extensive in terms of the number of exhibited works, it
covers a larger geographical area, completes some bodies of work and periods,
presents new authors and includes more names. Just a few months after the
opening of the new collection, in May 2016, we handed over to the public
another permanent collection – a donation of works by Zoran Mušič, entrusted to
us by the artist's niece Vanda Mušič.
In
the past decade, the national art collection has been enriched by 3,708 works
of art, all of which have already been entered in the inventory books. The
largest increase is recorded in the collection of works on paper, which is 2,815
units larger, followed by the collection of photographs with 482 novelties, and
the painting fund with 245 works of art, alongside 166 new sculptures. There are as many donated as purchased works
on account of the extensive collection of Jakopič's drawings, numbering 1,708
units. Most purchases are directly financed by the Ministry of Culture of the
Republic of Slovenia, with several works of art purchased using our own funds generated
from our commercial activity; these allow us flexibility in unexpected
opportunities, such as auctions abroad or in other extraordinary developments.
Among
the new acquisitions are several that we have been striving for a long time to
include into the permanent collection. The first are the genre portraits of
Fortunat Bergant’s The Fowler and Man with a Pretzel, which have been
missing for decades. After several months of negotiations and with the good
will of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia, the paintings were
incorporated into the holdings of the National Gallery. Shortly afterwards, we
received an offer from Canada for another of Bergant’s lost works – a portrait
of Capuchin Father Gabriel Schwizen; all these works were shown at the
monographic Bergant exhibition in 2021.
Some
works of art and the way they are obtained are complicated by various stories,
sometimes almost detective in nature. Such an example is the painting of
Almanach's The Peddlar, which was
bought for the National Museum at an auction in 1930 from the collection of
Edvard and Karl Strahl, but later disappeared. It appeared in London at an
auction in 2006, but we were too late. With the great affection of the staff at
Christie’s auction house and of the buyer, we were finally able to purchase the
painting and bring it into the permanent collection.
In
2015, we acquired a self-portrait of Zoran Mušič and a portrait of his wife Ida
at an auction in Trieste, and at the same time we were gifted a painting of
Elda Piščanec sold at the same auction. A long-standing desideratum was also a
brilliant painting by the Venetian painter Luc Carlevarijs. We saw Harbour by the Walled City at an
exhibition of European painters in 1993, and this time the painting, dated to
1705, is the oldest presented work. Similarly long awaited was Pernhart's
preparatory drawing for his vast alpine panorama from Veliki Klek
(Grossglockner).
Among
the sculptures we highlight several early Art Nouveau-modelled works by Lojze Dolinar
and two of his drawings. We should also mention a donation already presented in
a solo exhibition and with a catalogue – Mojca Smerdu donated several works of
her father Frančišek Smerdu to the National Gallery.
Photography
constitutes a special chapter. For many years, due to its heterogeneous nature,
it was divided between a collection of documents, documentary photographs and
other study collections. The pioneering expertise of the National Gallery in
the field of photography restoration, the ranking of August Berthold among the leading
Impressionists, photographs taken by Ivana Kobilca and Ferdo Vesel, and growing
interest in the history of photography were the main motives for establishing a
collection of photographs. Several donations followed. Tihomir Pinter donated a
series of portraits of artists in their studios, Tone Stojko donated an album
inspired by Svetlana Makarovič, and two albums of original photographs were
donated by Peter Kocjančič.
Some
new arrivals rounded off past acquisitions. These include the final works by
Bojan Kovačič, a gift from Elena Martello Kovačič. A large and surprising
donation by Metka Krašovec includes an extensive selection of drawings and
paintings. Among the more extensive donations, we should mention at least two
corporate collections. The successors of ACH, JSC, Axor Holding, JSC, decided
to donate the entire collection to the National Gallery during its division of
property. Abanka, JSC, acted similarly when they donated more than three hundred
works of art to secure their long-standing collection.
The
newly acquired works of art – from the Baroque to the 21st century – combine
scenes that do not seem related, but are bound by the fundamental idea of
enriching the national collection. We are aware that our collection is not made
of only objects, but also of values inherent in them. We want and hope that the
exhibition will be a beautiful experience for visitors, and provide welcome
information about the richness of our heritage for experts and a solid
foundation for further research.
The 2011–2021 works of
art were donated by
Abanka,
d. d., Ljubljana, Uroš Abram, ACH, d. d., Ljubljana, Agency of the
Republic of Slovenia for Public Legal Records and Related Services, Ljudmila
Amstetter Ravbar, Aleksander Bassin, Emerik Bernard, Ida Brišnik Remec, Anica
Cevc, Gregor Cevc, Matija Cevc, the Ciuha family, Neža Časl Škodič and Edvard
Škodič, Ljudmila Čebulj, Anja Dular, Nataša Golob, Ana Hinterlechner Ravnik,
Janko Košenina, Milka Košenina, Jani Kovačič, Brane Kovič, Metka Krašovec,
Devana Lavrenčič Cannata and Milenka Lavrenčič Lapajne, Dušan Ivan Lavrič, the
Mahkota family, Elena Martello Kovačič, Danica Mayer and Smiljana Mayer Škofic,
Silva Menart, Stanko Možina, Vanda Mušič, Mojca Oblak and Paul Crowther,
Valentin Oman, thePauer family, the
Petrovčič family, Luka Pintar, Tihomir Pinter, Ljubomira Marija Poličar,
Ksenija Rozman, Mojca Smerdu, Tone Stojko, Hana Stupica, Marlenka Stupica,
Maruša, Barbara and Martina Stupica, Miha Šengelaja, Sports Association Narodni
dom, Ljubljana, Zorka Šubic Ciani, Mladen Šubic, Jadranka Šumi, Renata Toš, Borut
Trekman, Marjeta Vidic, the Vidic family, Ignacij Voje, Kamila Volčanšek,
Institute for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Association of Deaf and Hard of
Hearing Societies of Slovenia, Krištof Zupet and by donors who do not wish to
be named.
We express our profound gratitude to all of those who, between 2011 and
2021, supplemented the Slovenian national collection of art.