(Vič, 12.4.1915 - Ljubljana, 8.6.2001)
Rudi Gorjup was a Slovenian academic painter and graphic designer who worked in the 20th century. At first, he produced graphic images at the Delniška tiskarna in Ljubljana and Maribor, and only then did he enroll in the study of painting. During this time, he was involved in the meetings of the Probuda art school for four years, which were organised under the leadership of Franjo Sterle.
In 1945, he returned to Ljubljana. During this time, he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts, where he graduated under Prof. Pregl. Upon successfully completing his education, he embarked on a short study trip to France and Italy. There, he kept a close eye on contemporary fine arts, which were still somewhat lagging behind in our country. A year later, his son Tomaž was born. Like his father, he also enrolled at the academy and became a painter. After obtaining his academic title, Rudi collaborated with Slovenian publishing houses on several occasions with his illustrations. In the 1960s, until his retirement, he also taught art at the Prežihov Voranc Elementary School in Ljubljana. His artistic language was initially based on realism, but then moved increasingly towards abstraction. He reached the peak of his creativity in the 1980s, when he began painting landscapes. These reflect the main principles of post-impressionist painting, which he presented with a dynamic stroke and a calm colour scheme.
When he painted with oil paints, he strongly adhered to the artistic language of his brother Tine. Like him, he was a trained painter and one of the rare representatives of colour realism in our country. Although Rudi painted quite a few works, he established himself in Slovenia more as a graphic designer and master of poster art. He used highly stylized schemes, dominated by striking poster colors. Namely, he tried to address the widest possible audience with them. The most successful were the posters he designed to promote Slovenia to the world. They were created as part of the Visit Slovenia campaign, which took place between 1938 and 1939. He placed the Slovenian national costume and a traditional farmhouse in the foreground of the composition, and in the background and third plan the idyllic village and snow-capped mountains, which emphasize the beauty of our landscape. The posters were often not mass-printed, but were created by artists using ink and tempera. It is therefore not surprising that most of them are unfortunately destroyed today.
He also designed posters with political propaganda content, with which they strengthened the party. These contain various partisan symbols and catchy letters, which he arranged around the central scene. Until 1962, he maintained the status of a free artist. He participated in several solo and group exhibitions in the former Yugoslavia and received several awards for his work.
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Rudi Gorjup je bil slovenski akademski slikar in grafični oblikovalec, ki je ustvarjal v 20. stoletju. Sprva je izdeloval grafične podobe v Delniški tiskarni v Ljubljani in Mariboru, šele nato pa se je vpisal na študij slikarstva. V tem času se je štiri leta udejstvoval srečanj umetniške šole Probuda, ki so bila organizirana pod vodstvom Franje Sterleta.
Leta 1945 se je vrnil nazaj v Ljubljano. V tem času se je vpisal na Akademijo za likovno umetnost, kjer je pri prof. Preglju tudi diplomiral. Ob uspešno zaključenem izobraževanju, se je podal na krajšo študijsko pot po Franciji in Italiji. Tam je z budnim očesom spremljal sočasno likovno umetnost, ki je bila pri nas še nekoliko v zamiku. Leto kasneje se mu je rodil sin Tomaž. Prav tako kot oče se je tudi on vpisal na akademijo in postal slikar. Po pridobitvi akademskega naziva je Rudi s svojimi ilustracijami večkrat sodeloval s slovenskimi založbami. V 60ih letih je do upokojitve poučeval tudi likovni pouk na Osnovni šoli Prežihovega Voranca v Ljubljani. Njegova likovna govorica je sprva temeljila na realizmu, nato pa se je pomikala vse bolj proti abstrakciji. Vrh kreativnosti je dosegel v 80ih letih, ko se je lotil slikanja krajin. V teh se zrcalijo glavne zakonitosti postimpresionsičnega slikarstva, ki jih je predstavil z razgibano potezo in umirjeno barvno shemo.
Kadar je slikal z oljnimi barvami, se je močno oklenil likovne govorice svojega brata Tineta. Prav tako kot on je bil šolan slikar in eden izmed redkih predstavnikov barvnega realizma pri nas. Čeprav je Rudi naslikal kar nekaj del, se je na slovenskem bolj uveljavil kot grafični oblikovalec in mojster plakatne umetnosti. Posluževal se je močno stiliziranih shem, v katerih so dominirale udarne plakatne barve. Z njimi je namreč skušal nagovoriti čim širšo javnost. Najbolj uspešni so bili plakati, ki jih je oblikoval za promocijo Slovenije v svetu. Nastali so v okviru akcije Obiščite Slovenijo, ki je potekala med 1938 in 1939. V ospredje kompozicije je postavil slovensko narodno nošo in tradicionalno kmečko hišo, v drugi in tretji plan pa idilično vasico in zasnežene gore, ki poudarjajo lepoto naše krajine. Plakate večkrat niso množično tiskali ampak so jih umetniki ustvarili kar s tušem in tempero. Tako ni presenetljivo, da je večina teh danes žal uničenih.
Oblikoval je tudi plakate s politično propagandno vsebino, s katerimi so utrjevali partijo. Ti vsebujejo raznovrstne partizanske simbole in udarne črke, ki jih je razpostavil okoli osrednjega prizora. Do leta 1962 je ohranil status svobodnega umetnika. Sodeloval je na več samostojnih in skupinskih razstavah na območju bivše Jugoslavije in za svoje delo prejel več priznanj.
Besedilo je za galerijo Porta Alpina pripravila Pia Župevec, dipl. um. zgod.
The text was prepared for the Porta Alpina gallery by Pia Župevec, B.Sc. art history
SOURCES/VIRI:
Cene AVGUŠTIN, Rudi Gorjup: Galerija v Mestni hiši, Kranj 1984.
Aleksander BASSIN-Miroslav ZDOVC-Miloš ŠVABIČ, Rudi Gorjup, Tomaž Gorjup: Mestna galerija Ljubljana, od 1. do 22. septembra 1976, Ljubljana 1976.
Nataša FRECE, Slovenski turistični plakat, razvoj in analiza, diplomsko delo (Medijska produkcija), Maribor 2016.
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