14. 5. 2026–15. 8. 2026 Ivan Kos from the UGM Collection

Ivan Kos from the UGM Collection
Slovenska Bistrica Castle Gallery, Grajska ulica 11
14 May – 15 August 2026
opening: Thursday, 14 May 2026, 18:00

curator: Andreja Borin

Maribor Art Gallery is collaborating for the first time with the Cultural Institute Slovenska Bistrica by presenting the touring exhibition Ivan Kos from the UGM Collection. At Maribor Art Gallery, we are committed to promoting and increasing the visibility of classical artists represented in our collection, especially those who are not widely known. We were therefore pleased to accept the invitation to collaborate.

Ivan Kos was one of the most important artists in Maribor during the 1920s and 1930s. The gallery holds around 150 of his works: paintings, drawings, watercolors, and prints. The exhibition presents a selection of the most representative works from the artist’s rich oeuvre: expressive prints from his time studying at the Prague Academy, outstanding paintings in the spirit of New Objectivity, an exceptional portrait cycle of beggars from the early 1930s, and masterful watercolors.Throughout his career, Ivan Kos moved through various stylistic orientations. While his early works up to around 1924 reflect echoes of Expressionism, the late 1920s saw the creation of some of his finest paintings, which are associated with the New Objectivity movement. This artistic direction sought to convey reality in calm forms and more controlled, rational, and emotionally detached imagery. His painting Girl with an Orange (1927) from this period is a kind of hallmark of the Umetnostna galerija Maribor collection and one of the finest portraits in Slovenian visual art.

Ivan Kos (1895–1981) was one of the most prominent visual artists in Maribor in the 20th century, and his significance extends beyond the local environment. He was born in Gornja Radgona, and in 1908 his family moved to Maribor, where he attended secondary school. He first studied painting at the academy in Vienna and completed his studies in Prague, where he befriended Ante Trstenjak, who introduced him to the secrets of watercolor painting. After graduating in 1924, he returned to Maribor, where he founded the “Klub mladih” (Young Artists’ Club) together with Nikolaj Pirnat and Fran Stiplovšek. In 1925, he undertook a study trip to Italy and in the same year began working as a drawing professor at the classical secondary school in Maribor. In the 1930s, he actively participated in organizing artistic life in Maribor. He was among the founders of the club “Brazda” and regularly exhibited his work. He was an active member of the Maribor Society of Fine Artists. For his forty years of work, he received the Prešeren Award in 1961 and the City of Maribor Award in 1966.