Staying at Home with Zbirka UGM / Ante Trstenjak - Portrait of Wife
Staying at Home with Zbirka UGM / Ante Trstenjak - Portrait of Wife
Ante Trstenjak, who lived alternately in Maribor and in Prague, where he completed his studies, later established himself in Paris. There he became a member of the Salon d'Automne and explored Lusatian folk traditions for the French Academy of Science and Art. Trstenjak’s extensive opus is as varied and fascinating as his life path. As a master of all painting and print techniques he only briefly followed the trends of European art prevalent in the early 1930s, particularly the then fading Expressionism and the New Objectivity. Nevertheless, the works marked by a particularly strong physical presence, among them Portrait of Wife, represent only a shorter yet noteworthy episode in his extensive opus otherwise dedicated in large part to Post-Impressionist treatments of the Slovenian landscape. In Portrait of Wife Trstenjak portrays his wife, who was of Czech descent. The painting depicts a confident young woman with fashionably cut black hair striking the pose of a modern Venus. Her head rests on her raised uncovered arms. The colour spectrum intensifies from the white cushion and the wife’s clothes over the pink tones and further into the dark, neutral background. Their personal connection and youthful creative zeal do much to contribute to the intensive expressiveness of the portrait.
