Staying at Home with Zbirka UGM / Maks Kavčič - Little Rihtar
Staying at Home with Zbirka UGM / Maks Kavčič - Little Rihtar
Maks Kavčič, painter, pedagogue and internationally acclaimed stage designer, was one of the central figures of Maribor’s art scene after World War II. After Zoran Mušič left Maribor, Kavčič, another graduate of the Zagreb Fine Arts Academy, continued the master’s mission and brought the fine arts of the region – which drew mainly on the tradition of Colour Realism – in line with contemporary fine arts movements. In the 1960s, the painter focused his attention mainly on numerous coastal motifs, marked by their sophisticated Mušičesque colourful richness and on figurative art. He painted musicians, invalids, interesting characters and marginalised people. The little “rihtar”, the village crier, was one of them. He stands with his legs apart, addressing his audience. Kavčič effectively used the Picassoesque method of reshaping the crier’s head into an upwards turned split form. The head thus rather resembles a large, gaping mouth screaming out its message. Intense colours captured in the large planes that criss-cross along the vertical axis of the figure and the horizontal axis of the ground further enhance the dramatic nature of the scene.
