MAKS KAVČIČ, PAINTINGS
UGM | Maribor Art Gallery, Strossmayerjeva 6An exhibition of oils by academic painter Maks Kavčič was recently opened in the Knights' Hall. The exhibition marked the centenary jubilee of the artist's birth. Painter, scenograph, restorer and pedagog was considered one of the leading artists of post-war era in Maribor. His expressiveness - a constant of his opus – was conveyed in painting by means of radical generalisation of object shapes. The basic forms are outlined by dark contoures applied with brush stroke, a trade mark of the painter's works in the 1950s. Thus the author emphasised the structural scheme of vertical and horisontal composition directions which enclose the chromatic fields. His liberal approach to colourist solution is constructed on the entirety of noble colour harmony.Maks Kavčič was born in 1909 in Zgornji Porčič in Slovenske gorice. In 1915 his family moved to Maribor. In 1933 he enrolled into the Zgreb Fine Arts Academy and in 1937 graduated under Marino Tartaglia. After returning to Maribor he became a member of the Brazda Art Club. Apart from his pedagogical work - first he taught at the College of Education, and then at the Fine Arts Department of Pedagogical Academy - he was professionally engaged as a scenographer and restorer. He is known as author of 65 scenographies for the Maribor theatre and Ljubljana opera and ballet stage. In 1946/47 he began specialist studies of conservation and restoration in Prague, which he completed successfully in 1948. He restored a number of church frescoes in the vicinity of Maribor, but his most important task was restoration of the ceiling painting in the Knights' Hall of the Maribor castle. For study purposes he travelled extensively in France, Italy, the Netherlands and Germany. He was awarded in 1970 with the Prešeren's fund prize for his painting opus. He died in Maribor in 1973.Curator: Milojka Kline, museum councillor at Maribor Art Gallery
