Staying at Home with Zbirka UGM / Franc Košar - Boy with Cigarette
Staying at Home with Zbirka UGM / Franc Košar - Boy with Cigarette
Franc Košar (1884−1952) was, in the early 20th century, one of the few academically educated painters (Graz, Munich, Prague) from northeastern Slovenia. His life was marked by war; and the consequences of gunshot wounds, consumption, and mental illness prevented him from developing his full potential as a painter. He was an excellent draughtsman (the Maribor Art Gallery keeps many of his drawings) as well as an insightful portraitist. Košar painted the Boy with Cigarette as a student at the Munich academy, which is made apparent, as he follows the typical brown and grey colour-palette and strong physicality that are integral to the larger principle of bringing out brighter elements from the darker background. Light comes from a single source, which emphasizes the boy's face and rough, working hands. His worn clothing, a cigarette between his fingers, and an oversized hat all appear in stark contrast to the symmetrical features of the boy's youthful face. Boy with Cigarette, perhaps the best work of the largely forgotten Franc Košar, is comparable with the best of European socially engaged realism, which was already announcing the arrival of post-war expressionism.
