Art Exhibiting in Slovenia: Gašper Cerkovnik on Christian Art Society of Ljubljana

Together with the Department of Art History of the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana we cordially invite you to attend the new series of public lectures under the title Art Exhibiting in Slovenia, from the Early 19th Century to Today.
Within the seminar we are examining the development of exhibition practices and art institutions in Slovenia and Central Europe, as well as in the wider international context. Last year we began in the first half of the 19^th century with the start of modern exhibition-making in the Slovene lands; this year and in the following years we then move through the evolution of exhibition-making and the institutionalization of the art field right up to the present day.

Monday, 23 October 2017, 12 am,  Faculty of Arts (room 343), Aškerčeva 2, Ljubljana

The Christian Art Society of Ljubljana (1894–1931) is certainly one of the less known chapters in Slovenian art history, even though its operation can be more or less directly related to the beginnings of institutional art history in Slovenia in the first quarter of the 20th century. Soon after its foundation the society gained notable members among its ranks, which included most of the pioneers of art history in Slovenia, such as Janez Flis, Viktor Steska, Josip Dostal, Josip Mantuani, France Stelè, and Izidor Cankar. In view of the needs at the time the Society had several tasks, but it focused especially on the protection of older church art and the management and supervision of new church commissions. The initial élan was soon subdued by a chronic lack of funds, but, under the Society’s leadership, the Diocese of Ljubljana at the time obtained the diocesan museum with an enviable collection of artefacts and artworks. The lack of awareness about the Society’s operation and achievements is not only the result of underfunding, which made it impossible to realise most of the initial plans, but also the loss of the Society’s archive and the dispersal of the museum’s collection among the various public collections such as the National Museum of Slovenia, the National Gallery of Slovenia, and the City Museum of Ljubljana.

Gašper Cerkovnik is employed at the Department of Art History, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, where he also obtained his PhD in 2010. His research focuses primarily on the art of the late Middle Ages and the early modern period in Slovenia and the broader, especially Central European space, with a special emphasis on the role of graphic arts. He concurrently also researches the history of Slovenian art history.

MORE ABOUT THE PROGRAMME

Organized by: Igor Zabel Association for Culture and Theory; Department of Art History, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana