Sculptor Lojze
Dolinar (Ljubljana, 1893 – Ičići near Opatija, Croatia, 1970) mainly produced
realistic monumental works, both free-standing and architectural sculpture. His
rich oeuvre ranges stylistically from academic realism, symbolism, Art Nouveau
and picturesque Impressionist and neo-Baroque idiom, all the way to
Expressionist sculpture and programmatic Socialist Realism. His portraits,
nudes and dynamic figure compositions, conceived as contrasts between smoothly
and roughly rendered surfaces, are characterized by uneven body proportions. After studying under Professor
Joseph Müllner at the Vienna academy and for a brief spell at the Munich
academy, Lojze Dolinar subsequently lived in Ljubljana, i.e. between 1912 and
1917. In that period he produced portraits of a number of celebrities from
Slovenian cultural life. During the war he was mobilized, whereas in 1920 he
stayed in New York for a couple of months and went travelling through Italy and
visited Paris. After having received his first major commission from Belgrade, he
focused on architectural sculpture. In 1932 he moved to the Yugoslav
capital, where in 1949 he was appointed full-time professor of sculpture at the
local academy. He made a name for himself in Belgrade as a maker of
numerous public commissions.
However,
the sculptor’s oeuvre also includes a number of small-scale, informal
sculptures, to which the statuettes A Faun and Two Fauns belong.
The two pieces come from the biggest private collection of works by Dolinar
that was owned by the economist, publisher and art collector Hugo Uhliř, a Czech by
birth. In his Ruda Manor (Loka near Zidani Most), Uhliř kept a rich collection of
paintings and sculptures, mostly by native artists, the main part of which was
destroyed during the Second World War, when the manor was burnt down.
Among the thirteen works by Lojze
Dolinar that were exhibited at the 14th Art Exhibition in the Jakopič
Pavilion, Ljubljana, there were also the two statuettes presently discussed,
displayed shortly after they had been made. The lovely neo-Baroque figurines of
standing rotund baby fauns date from before the year 1917, when the sculptor
was mobilized and sent to Judenburg.
There were no public commissions during the war, so the artist devoted himself
to small-scale sculpture. Comparable among the works in the National Gallery’s
collection is his Boy with a Bee figurine that was exhibited in
1918 at the 15th Art Exhibition
in the
Jakopič Pavilion, under the title In
Fear. It shows a cute neo-Baroque chubby boy who
has leant backwards in fear of being stung by a little bee which has
just alighted on his right arm with which he is trying to protect his face.
Baroque-like plump
statuettes of fleshy rounded fauns, putti, boys, etc. were the motifs highly
popular with the sculptor. His primary aim was to turn the bodies of his
figurines in a variety of poses to test his ability to present emotions, such
as fear, joy, boastfulness, joviality, waggishness, etc. In the period of the
decreased purchasing power, these small-scale figure sculptures with such
well-liked motifs were widely bought by the public for the decoration of their
homes.