|
|
Marij Pregelj (1913 - 1967)
Pregelj was born into the family of the writer Dr. Ivan Pregelj on 8 August 1913 in Kranj and died on 18 March 1967 in Ljubljana. He studied at the Zagreb Academy of Fine Arts (1932-1936; first drawing under Professors O. Mujadžić, J. Klajković, and then painting under Prof. L. Babić). After his return to Ljubljana he joined the Independents (Neodvisni) and began teaching in Ljubljana grammar schools (1938-1947, interrupted 1941-1943 when he was in German and Italian military prison camps) and at the School of Arts and Crafts (1947-1948). In 1948 he was named assistant professor at the Ljubljana Academy of Fine Arts (and in 1965 full professor of painting, a post he held until his death). He made several study visits to Paris (1940, 1952, 1963), London (1957, 1963), Italy (his works were included in the Yugoslav selection of the Venice biennials in 1954 and 1956; in 1959, he travelled to Italy on a scholarship from the Moša Pijade Fund; 1961, 1962, 1964). He was a recipient of the Prešeren Award twice (1958 and 1964), the Grand Prix at the Belgrade Triennial of Yugoslav Art twice (1964, 1967), the Levstik Award for Illustration three times (1949, 1957, 1960), and the Jakopič Award (posthumously in 1969). Since 1986, in compliance with the artist's last wishes and with the consent of his successors, the bulk of his legacy was left to the Moderna galerija of Ljubljana and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade. His artistic ouevre comprises paintings, drawings, graphic prints (after the war he transformed his personal tragic experience and the tragedy of the world into expressive confessions in the style of Picasso's Guernica and Bacon's deformations, but they preserved the artist's personal style, combining the impressions of intimate realism of the Zagreb School with the tragic epopee of humanity) and illustration (he "captured" both Homer and Boccaccio). He also created designs for a number of monumental mosaics, sgraffito and tapestries. He shared his outgoing temperament as a professor with his students and a productive member of various professional organisations.
|
|
