Veno Pilon (1896 - 1970)

Pilon was born on 22 September 1896 in Ajdovščina and died on 23 September 1970 in the same town. He attended vocational grammar school in Gorizia and was then drafted into the army and spent two years in Russian prisons. After World War I, he studied at the art academies in Prague (1919-1920, professors Loukota and Oborsky) and Florence (1920-1921, accepted to the fourth year of studies, he completed a course in copper-plate engraving under Prof. Celestini), and at the Graphic Art Institute and School of Art and Crafts (evening classes in drawing and painting nudes) in Vienna (1921-1922). He travelled around Germany (1922), Italy (1929-1930) and visited Paris several times, moving there in 1930 (until 1967). He created his best works in the 1920's in Ajdovščina, where he took over his father's bakery. During this time he was active as a Slovene and Italian artist (at the Venice Biennial in 1924 his works were exhibited in the Italian pavilion). He collaborated with the Club of the Young (Klub mladih). When he moved to Paris, he virtually abandoned painting, but did establish ties with the Montparnasse art circle and took up photography. After World War II, he became a liaison between artists from Slovenia and Paris (among other things, he helped establish ties between artists in organising the International Graphic Art Biennial in Ljubljana) and also participated in the making of the first Slovene feature film (1947). In 1970 he received the Prešeren Award. In September 1973 the Pilon Gallery which holds a large part of the artist's legacy was opened in Ajdovščina. His opus includes paintings (water colours and pastels from the period of his imprisonment; in 1923 he first exhibited his oil paintings characteristic of which is the sharp realism of Neue Sachlichkeit in 1923), graphic art (with a critical social note), photography (including his photographies of famous artists in Paris) and illustration. He was also a writer (he wrote about exhibitions and his life) and a translator.