9. 4. 2020–8. 11. 2019 Staying at Home with Zbirka UGM / Franjo Stiplovšek - Old Maribor

Staying at Home with Zbirka UGM / Franjo Stiplovšek - Old Maribor

Franjo Stiplovšek was one of the intellectuals from the Primorje region who came to Maribor in the milestone year of 1918, when the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy disintegrated and greatly impacted Maribor’s identity. They introduced an awareness of Slovenian national identity and culture to a town where only the common people spoke Slovene. Two series of woodcuts entitled Old Maribor and the paintings created in the same period represent two peaks in the work of Franjo Stiplovšek.
Woodcut depictions of Maribor take us along the dark and narrow streets leading from the city’s main square and the Koroška Street towards the Drava river. The town, as it was in the 17th and 18th centuries, comes alive before us. The thick walls, skewed under the weight of time, are awoken in sharp interlacing shadows, where darkness and light meet, and the streets swirl in a mysterious nocturnal dance. The artist closely followed the actual shapes of the streets and buildings; nevertheless, the dark atmosphere of the streets leaning towards the river and the clustered buildings that obscure the memories of distant lives, of tradesmen, craftsmen, Jews, brings them - contrary to Stiplovšek’s paintings – closer to the spirit of the now waning expressionism.
After World War II, Stiplovšek worked as a museum professional. As the life-long director of the Posavje Museum in Brežice he was a pioneer of his profession in the Posavje region.