Ante Trstenjak from the UGM Collection
Ante Trstenjak from the UGM Collection
Gallery of The Jožef Stefan Institute, Jamova cesta 39, 1000 Ljubljana
18 March 2024-18 April 2024
opening: Monday, 18 March 2024, 15:00
curator: Andreja Borin
The painter and graphic artist Ante Trstenjak (1894 - 1970) was a cosmopolitan who, after studying painting in Vienna, Zagreb and Prague, settled in the Czech capital and lived there until 1950, when he returned to Maribor. He was mainly a painter of classical motifs: landscapes, cityscapes and portraits. The exhibition presents his characteristic works: study prints and drawings, Parisian and Italian watercolours, a series dedicated to Lusatian women in national costumes, the excellent series At the Toilet, drawings and watercolours made during his travels at home and abroad, and, of course, paintings, including two Self-Portraits. Ante Trstenjak was primarily a painter, but this time we also meet him as a superb watercolourist and virtuoso draughtsman, equally convincing in his depictions of the countryside, seascapes and cityscapes. Alongside his paintings, a selection of his pencil and charcoal drawings will be on display, revealing a spontaneity and softness that is not often apparent in his paintings.
At heart, Trstenjak was a traditional painter. In some periods, he approached some of the current artistic trends of the 20th century, but he soon returned to the established paths. He was a respected painter in Slovenia, but he never received much attention, because in the era of the prevailing modernist tendencies he remained committed to tradition and placed colour balance and harmony first and foremost.
Trstenjak's works in the exhibition are from the Collection of the Maribor Art Gallery, which holds around 270 of the artist's works: paintings, prints, drawings, sketches, illustrations and watercolours.
