(Virmaše, 27.4.1907- Ljubljana, 1.8.1998)
France Mihelič was an outstanding painter and first-class graphic artist. After finishing school, between 1923 and 1927, he attended a teacher training school in Ljubljana, and then enrolled at the Zagreb Academy, where he graduated in 1931. He is a representative of the younger generation of artists who no longer went to Vienna or Munich to study painting, but chose the newly formed Zagreb Academy. The early phase of Mihelič's work was influenced by the group Zemlja, which consisted mostly of Croatian but also Slovenian artists. He soon developed his own artistic expression and freed himself from previous models. During the Second World War, he participated in the resistance movement, and later taught drawing and composition at ALU. The horrors of the war left a terrible mark on the artist. Based on what he experienced, a cycle of prints was created, which he published in 1944 together with N. Pirnat in the graphic folder Our Struggle.
A year later, another one was released, entitled Blood Brotherhood. Mihelič's compositions combine the real world with fantasy. He included people and animals, his surroundings and customs, and childhood memories. His works do not promise the viewer a better future, but with dimmed light, a veiled sky and very different motifs, they remind him of the transience of man in this limitless and timeless world. Mihelič mainly painted the environment in which he grew up. The Ptuj landscape appears on many works of art, which he furnished with mythological and folklore motifs. In them, he also emphasized the emotions he experienced during the horrors of war. At the beginning of his career, he mainly painted villagers, farmers and beggars, but gradually the people were replaced by the contemporary. This does not bring hope and spring, but as a totem predicts the imminent death of a person. It is imbued with the melancholy and horror that comes with facing the real world and looms ominously over us all. After the war, he saw the path of salvation from tragic experiences in painting. His images radiate traumas and terrible mental states. In style, he goes from early expressionism and new reality to fantasy compositions, commenting on Russian social realism and American abstraction. He reached the peak of his creativity in the 50s, when he devoted himself entirely to graphics. The graphic technique was perfected in the partisans, as they urgently needed it for the needs of information and propaganda.
After the war, it was considered a particularly popular medium among artists, through which they conveyed a new message to the public. In his post-war compositions, Mihelič intensified expressionism and symbolism. He created monsters and abstract figures that systematically destroy human beings. The only solution is offered in colour, which suggests that there is still something human in this terrible universe, and the artist is trying to keep us alive. He used various techniques for his creations. Most of them are graphics and oil paintings, but occasionally he also painted with tempera. During the war, he illustrated a lot, which earned him enough money to survive. From time to time he also created a fresco, and towards the end of his career he also designed theater scenes. He participated in several exhibitions. His first one was staged in 1939 in Ptuj, and among the more important is the exhibition from 1955, where the artist presented his graphics for the first time abroad. In 1972, he also collaborated with Grupo 69, and he also went to exhibitions in Washington, Novi Sad, Moscow and Sao Paulo. In 1992, they opened the Mihelič Gallery in Ptuj. His legacy is extremely extensive with a total quota of more than 8,000 works.
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France Mihelič je bil izjemen slikar in prvovrsten grafik. Po končani šoli je med leti 1923 in 1927 obiskoval učiteljišče v Ljubljani, nato pa se je vpisal še na zagrebško akademijo, kjer je leta 1931 tudi diplomiral. Je zastopnik mlajše generacije umetnikov, ki se za študij slikarstva niso več napotili na Dunaj ali v München ampak so se odločali za novo formirano zagrebško akademijo. Na zgodnjo fazo Miheličevega ustvarjanja je vplivala grupa Zemlja, ki so jo sestavljali večinoma hrvaški pa tudi slovenski umetniki. Kmalu je razvil svoj likovni izraz in se je osvobodil predhodnih vzorov. V času druge svetovne vojne je sodeloval v odporniškem gibanju, kasneje pa je poučeval risanje in kompozicijo na ALU. Grozote vojne so na umetnika pustile strahoten pečat. Na podlagi doživetega je nastal tudi cikel grafik, ki jih je leta 1944 skupaj z N. Pirnatom izdal v grafični mapi Naša borba.
Leto kasneje je izšla še ena z naslovom Krvava bratovščina. Miheličeve kompozicije kombinirajo realni svet s fantazijskim. Vanj je vključil ljudi in živali, svojo okolico in običaje ter spomine na otroštvo. Njegova dela gledalcu ne obetajo boljše prihodnosti ampak ga s pridušeno svetlobo, zastrtim nebom in predrugačenimi motivi opozarjajo na minljivost človeka v tem brezmejnem in brezčasnem svetu. Mihelič je slikal predvsem okolje, v katerem je odrastel. Na številnih umetninah se pojavlja ptujska pokrajina, ki jo je opremil z mitološko in folklorno motiviko. V njih je poudaril tudi čustva, ki jih je doživel ob grozotah vojne. Na začetku kariere je slikal predvsem vaščane, kmete in berače, postopoma pa je ljudi zamenjal kurent. Ta ne prinaša upanja in pomladi ampak kot totem človeku napoveduje neizbežno smrt. Prežet je z melanholijo in grozo, ki je prisotna ob soočenju z realnim svetom in zlovešče preži nad vse nas. Po vojni je pot odrešitve iz tragičnih izkustev videl v slikarstvu. Njegove podobe izžarevajo travme in strahotna psihična stanja. V slogu preide od začetnega ekspresionizma in nove stvarnosti do fantazijskih kompozicij s čimer komentira ruski socrealizem in ameriško abstrakcijo. Vrh svoje ustvarjalnosti je dosegel v 50ih letih, ko se je povsem posvetil grafiki. Grafično tehniko so dovršili v partizanih saj so jo nujno potrebovali za potrebe obveščanja in propagando.
Po vojni je veljala za posebej priljubljen medij med umetniki, preko katere so javnosti posredovali novo sporočilnost. V povojnih kompozicijah je Mihelič stopnjeval ekspresionizem in simbolizem. Izoblikoval je pošasti in abstrakten figure, ki načrtno uničujejo človeško bitje. Edino rešitev ponudi v barvi, ki namiguje na to, da je v tem groznem univerzumu še vedno nekaj človeškega in nas umetnik s tem skuša ohraniti pri življenju. Za ustvarjanj se je posluževal raznolikih tehnik. Največ je grafik in oljnih slik, občasno pa je slikal tudi s tempero. V času vojne je veliko ilustriral s čimer je dobil dovolj denarja, ki mu je omogočalo preživetje. Občasno je izdelal tudi kakšno fresko, proti koncu kariere pa je oblikoval tudi gledališke scene. Sodeloval je na več razstavah. Njegovo prvo so uprizorili leta 1939 na Ptuju, med pomembnejše pa sodi še razstava iz leta 1955, kjer se je umetnik prvič v tujini predstavil s svojimi grafikami. Leta 1972 je sodeloval tudi z Grupo 69, segel pa je tudi na razstave v Washington, Novi sad, Moskvo in Sao Paolo. Leta 1992 so otvorili Miheličevo galerijo na Ptuju. Njegova zapuščina je izjemno obsežna s skupno kvoto več kot 8000 del.
The text was prepared for the Porta Alpina gallery by Pia Župevec, B.Sc. art history/Besedilo je za galerijo Porta Alpina pripravila Pia Župevec, dipl. um. zgod.
SOURCES/VIRI:
Špelca ČOPIČ, Slovensko slikarstvo, Ljubljana 1966.
Milček KOMELJ, Miheličev kurent. Zgodba o živem mitu, Ljubljana 2002.
Luc MENAŠE, s. v. Mihelič, France, Evropski umetnostno zgodovinski leksikon, Ljubljana 1971,
coll. 1362-1363.
Lucijan MENAŠE, s. v. Mihelič France, Enciklopedija Likovnih Umjetnosti, 3, Zagreb 1964, p. 382.
https://mgml.si/sl/bezigrajska-galerija-2/razstave/665/france-mihelic/
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