Difference between revisions of "Maribor Art Gallery"

Revision as of 15:29, 22 December 2010

With its collection of more than 3,000 art works by Slovene artist from the end of the 19th century up to present, the Maribor Art Gallery (Umetnostna galerija Maribor (UGM)) is one of the main museums for modern and contemporary art in Slovenia. Painting, sculpture and prints are joined by photographs, video art, multimedia installations and interactive art projects. UGM serves as a regional museum of modern and contemporary art in the area of the Municipality of Maribor, its founder, as well as in the greater area of North-Eastern Slovenia. The museum runs also the Rotovž Exhibition Salon and manages the Forma Viva Open Air Sculpture Collection in the City Park.

The construction of a New Maribor Art Gallery is one of the pillars in the Maribor, European Capital of Culture 2012 project. The international competition was won by the Hungarian architects Tamás Lévai in Ágnes Jószai. The works are due to begin in February 2011.

History and venues

By establishing the Maribor Art Gallery in 1954 as the first professional institution in the field of fine arts the town became again a relatively important centre of artistic and cultural development that goes back to the tradition of the Grohar Art Club, which was established in the 1920s and had a pioneering role in organised art life in Maribor. By moving into the building on the corner of Strossmayerjeva and Orožnova ulica, UGM acquired about 800 square metres of exhibition space, including the representative Knights' Hall and Pillar Hall. The main exhibition venues are located in the former manor house built in the first half of 19th century and the former church of Celestine monastery from the second half of 18th century.

By joining with the Rotovž Exhibition Salon in the 1980s, UGM acquired Department for Contemporary Art and additional space for presentation of contemporary visual art in the very centre of the town.

Programme

With its collection and the programme of approximately 20 exhibitions and events annualy – ranging from retrospective reviews of works by Slovene artists, through solo and group presentations of visual and new media artists to international festivals of contemporary art as well as architecture and design exhibitions – UGM importantly shapes both the art scene in Slovenia, regionally and internationally. The most important international event is the International Triennial Ecology and Art, organised by the Maribor Art Gallery since 1980. The museum collaborates also with other local organisers. In 2010, for example, it hosted the exhibition Twenty-six million minutes latter. New Tendencies, from the Collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb in the framework of the International Festival of Computer Arts (IFCA).

Collection

The collection contains works by major artists of modern and contemporary art, particularly by those from Styria (Štajerska region), Carinthia (Koroška region) and East Slovenia (Prekmurje region). Since 1999 UGM has held the first collection of video art in Slovenia. The collection of UGM comprises mainly works acquired through a systematic purchase policy, plus donations and legacies and also a small number of works of art transferred from the Maribor Regional Museum.

Paintings and sculptures

The collection of paintings comprises major historical styles of fine art of the 20th century and represents the core of the permanent collection of UGM. The features of the UGM collection are some complete opuses of selected authors from North-Eastern Slovenia, such as Janez Šibila, Maks Kavčič, Oton Polak and Zmago Jeraj. Another focus are certain art movements, especially Slovene Expressionism and New Objectivity: the collection contains a few excellent works by Tone Kralj and France Kralj, and Fran Stiplovšek, as well as the opuses of Slavko Tihec and painter Rudolf Kotnik, the pioneers and leading figures of Slovenian abstract art of the early 1960s.

The production of the recent decades is represented by the works of Oto Rimele, Darko Golija, Jurij Kalan, Marko Jakše, Zdenka Žido and others. The collection attracts attention also with the works of Zoran Mušič, an internationally acclaimed Slovenian painter who spent his youth and early creative years in Maribor.

Prints and drawings

Printmaking, drawing and other works on paper form a substantial part of the UGM collection, again based on the 20th century styles. Works on paper have been created by using different classic and experimental techniques and represent an interesting study material. The collection of prints includes works by all major Slovene artists; among those particularly interesting are Lojze Šušmelj's opus from the late 1960s, Bojan Golija's cycle of prints from the late 1950s that was inspired by Japanese prints, excellent works by the so-called Ljubljana Printmaking School, works by Bogdan Borčić, leading Slovenian printmaker of the older generation, as well as works by one of the most prominent printmakers of the younger generation, Samuel Grajfoner.

Photography

The Maribor Art Gallery primarily collects the works produced after 1960, when photography in Slovenia became an independent artistic medium. This was also the time when some Maribor-based photographers were acclaimed also in the wider area of the former Yugoslavia. The central part of the collection consists of works by members of the so-called Maribor Circle with Zmago Jeraj, Ivan Dvoršak, Branko Jerneić, and Janko Andrej Jelnikar who donated more than 140 photographs in 2009. The museum acquires also the works by younger artists who have established themselves through photography, among them Aleksandra Vajd.

Video and new media

In 1999 UGM was the first museum in Slovenia to collect works by Slovene video artists. The collection is conceived as a historical survey of Slovene video works from the 1960s to present time. It includes the works by the pioneers from the 1960s and 1970s (Nuša Dragan & Srečo Dragan, Miha Vipotnik), and by the most important video artists of the 1980s and 1990s, when the medium was established as an independent and equal medium of artistic creativity (among them Marina Gržinić & Aina Šmid, Marko Kovačič, Andrej Lupinc, Zemira Alajbegović Pečovnik & Neven Korda). The works from the 1990s by Nataša Prosenc, Andrej Zdravič, Jasna Hribernik, Franc Purg, and Ema Kugler are presented as well as the contemporary production expanding to new media (Vuk Ćosić, Igor Štromajer, Janez Janša, Apolonija Šušteršič, Damijan Kracina & Vladimir Leben, and Son:DA).

The new UGM

Within the Maribor, European Capital of Culture 2012 project one of first steps the Maribor Art Gallery did was the International Architecture Competition for the New Maribor Art Gallery (UGM), prepared in collaboration with the Architects' Society of Maribor and Chamber of Architecture and Spatial Planning of Slovenia (ZAPS). The project of the new museum on 14,800 m2 includes also the rejuvenation of the river Drava embankments, and the new foot bridge, adjacent to the historic Old Bridge. The international jury (Christoph Grunenberg, director of Tate Liverpool, and architects Peter L. Wilson (AUS), Jürgen Hermann Mayer (GER), Hrvoje Njirić (CRO), Stojan Skalicky, Matevž Čelik, Marko Studen) selected the proposal by Hungarian architects Tamás Lévai in Ágnes Jószai.

External Links

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 ===Prints and drawings===
-Printmaking, drawing and other works on paper form a substantial part of the UGM collection; like paintings, these works are following the main styles of history of art. The character of this part of the collection varied and includes works which accompany paintings or sculptures as sketches or studies as well as art works which have independently formed their own artistic expression and message. Works on paper have been created by using different classic and experimental techniques and represent an interesting study material. The collection of prints includes works by all major Slovenian artists; among those particularly interesting are Lojze Šušmelj's opus from the late 1960s, Bojan Golija's cycle of prints from the late 1950s that was inspired by Japanese prints, excellent works by the so-called Ljubljana printmaking school, works by Bogdan Borčič, leading Slovenian printmaker of the older generation, as well as works by one of the most prominent printmakers of the younger generation, Samuel Grajfoner
+Printmaking, drawing and other works on paper form a substantial part of the UGM collection, again based on the 20th century styles. Works on paper have been created by using different classic and experimental techniques and represent an interesting study material. The collection of prints includes works by all major Slovene artists; among those particularly interesting are [[Lojze Šušmelj|Lojze Šušmelj's]] opus from the late 1960s, [[Bojan Golija|Bojan Golija's]] cycle of prints from the late 1950s that was inspired by Japanese prints, excellent works by the so-called ''Ljubljana Printmaking School'', works by [[Bogdan Borčić]], leading Slovenian printmaker of the older generation, as well as works by one of the most prominent printmakers of the younger generation, [[Samuel Grajfoner]].
 ===Photography===