Towards Zero Gravity

Tone Kralj (1900 - 1975)

Kralj was born on 23 August 1900 in Zagorica near Dobrepolje, and died on 9 September 1975 in Ljubljana. He received his first art instructions from his brother France and was encouraged by Prof. G. Porenta of the Classical Grammar School of Šentvid nad Ljubljano. He was drafted and didn't manage to graduate until after World War I. He studied sculpture at the Prague Academy (1921-1923) under Prof. J. Štursa, leaving the Academy after his death. He furthered his knowledge in Vienna, Paris, Venice, Rome and Ljubljana, where he also studied architecture. Until 1927 he worked in close cooperation with his brother and the Club of the Young (Klub mladih), after which time he became independent and started a series of large-scale church frescoes (mostly in the Primorska or coastal area, which was a part of Italy until 1945, due to which his works are often pro-Slovene in their social significance). After the war he dedicated most of his time to graphic art and book illustration. He exhibited at the Venice Biennial several times (1926, 1928, 1930, 1954), receiving an award a the Venice Biennial in 1928. In 1950 he received the Levstik Award for Illustration and in 1972 the Prešeren Award for his life achievements. In late 1974 a display of the permanent collection of his works was opened in Kostanjevica na Krki, while on 2 July 1994 a permanent exhibition of his woodcuts from the "Earth" series was mounted at the primary school in Dobrepolje. His art encompasses sculpture, painting (his early expressionist style later changed and developed in the direction of monumental and socially engrossed realism), graphic art and illustration.