(Trst, 12.6.1881- Ljubljana, 29.5.1963)
Gvidon Birolla was a Slovenian painter and illustrator who, throughout his creative career, strove to promote national motives. With it, he tried to inspire as much as possible other artists in our area, who should also revive it for our nation in artistic motifs. Together with other members of the art society Vesna, which was established in 1903 by Slovenian and Croatian students in Vienna, he spread the new mentality. The members of the group drew inspiration from the treasure trove of folk motifs and customs, which were sinking more and more into oblivion due to foreign domination. After successfully completing his studies in Vienna, Birolla went to Munich.
He perfected his painting skills there and then returned to his homeland. He settled in the vicinity of Škofja Loka, where he opened his studio. Ivan Grohar used to go there, with whom they went out into nature several times and painted together. During this time, the young artist strongly supported the idea of establishing the National Gallery. In the new central gallery institution, the most representative works created by our painters should be presented to a wider culturally educated audience. Although Birolla was extremely involved in the art scene in Ljubljana at the time with his art production and efforts in the field of culture, he was forced to move to Zagorje due to his brother's death. There he took over the family trade and gave up painting completely for a while. The early stage of his creation is accompanied by a drawing with pencil, ink or black chalk. He also made watercolours and gouaches. His stroke was sinuous and characteristically Art Nouveau, with which he created a strong contour in relation to a neutral background. His initial creativity was mainly influenced by old Slovenian woodcuts, but he also relied on the visual language of Giovanni Segantini and Gustav Klimt, whom he met during his stay in Vienna. In his mature phase, his colour scale moved towards cooler tones, and with an emphasis on drawing, he came closer and closer to expressionism.
He started creating again after 1939, when he was forced to stop the family craft due to the threat of war. Then he returned to oil painting and illustration, which no longer follow Art Nouveau stylisation. He included more details in the works of art to emphasize the content. His compositions have become more transparent and clearly delineated, so his style seems somewhat stiff. He painted the Slovenian landscape and the peasant genre and produced quite a few caricatures for the political newspaper Osa. Despite the long-term break with painting creativity, Gvidon Birolla remained firmly committed to a set of traditional motifs for the propaganda of Slovenian art. With his painting activity, he offered a new artistic expression in which he established the relationship of the Slovenian nation to its own tradition and common identity. His works were presented to the public for the first time in 1904 in Belgrade, at the time when the first Yugoslav art exhibition was held in the city. Later, he exhibited several times at group or solo exhibitions in Ljubljana and across Europe.
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Gvidon Birolla je bil slovenski slikar in ilustrator, ki si je skozi celotno ustvarjalno kariero prizadeval za propagando nacionalne motivike. Z njo je skušal čim bolj navdihniti tudi druge umetnike v našem prostoru, ki naj bi jo za naš narod tudi sami obujali v likovni motiviki. Novo miselnost je širil skupaj z drugimi člani likovnega društva Vesna, ki so ga leta 1903 vzpostavili slovenski in hrvaški študenti na Dunaju. Člani skupine so navdih črpali iz zakladnice ljudskih motivov in običajev, ki so zaradi tuje nadvlade vse bolj tonili v pozabo. Po uspešno opravljenem študiju na Dunaju, se je Birolla odpravil v München.
Tam je izpopolnil slikarsko znanje nato pa se je vrnil nazaj v domovino. Ustalil se je v okolici Škofje Loke, kjer je odprl svoj atelje. Vanj je zahajal Ivan Grohar s katerim sta se večkrat odpravila v naravo in skupaj slikala. V tem času je mladi umetnik močno podpiral idejo za ustanovitev Narodne galerije. V novi osrednji galerijski instituciji naj bi širšemu kulturno izobraženemu občinstvu predstavili najbolj reprezentativna dela, ki so jih ustvarili naši slikarji. Čeprav je bil Birolla s svojo likovno produkcijo in prizadevanjem na področju kulture izjemno vpet v takratno umetnostno dogajanje v Ljubljani, se je bil zaradi bratove smrti primoran preseliti v Zagorje. Tam je prevzel družinsko obrt in za nekaj časa popolnoma opustil slikarstvo. Zgodnjo fazo njegovega ustvarjanja spremlja risba s svinčnikom, tušem ali črno kredo. Izdeloval je tudi akvarele in gvaše. Njegova poteza je bila vijugasta in značilno secesijska, s katero je ustvaril močno konturo v odnosu do nevtralnega ozadja. Na njegovo začetno ustvarjalnost so vplivali predvsem stari slovenski lesorezi, oprl pa se je tudi na likovno govorico Giovannija Segantinija in Gustava Klimta, s katerima se je seznanil med bivanjem na Dunaju. V zreli fazi se je njegova barvna lestvica pomaknila proti hladnejšim tonom, s poudarkom na risbi pa se je vse bolj približal ekspresionizmu.
Z ustvarjanjem je ponovno pričel po letu 1939, ko je bil zaradi vojne nevarnosti primoran prekiniti z družinsko obrtjo. Tedaj se je vrnil k oljnemu slikarstvu in ilustraciji, ki ne sledita več secesijski stilizaciji. V likovna dela je vključil več podrobnosti s katerimi je poudaril vsebino. Njegove kompozicije so postale bolj pregledne in jasno začrtane, zato njegov slog deluje nekoliko otrdelo. Slikal je slovensko krajino in kmečki žanr ter izdelal kar nekaj karikatur za politični časopis Osa. Kljub dolgoletni prekinitvi s slikarsko ustvarjalnostjo, je Gvidon Birolla ostal trdno zavezan k naboru tradicionalnih motivov za propagando slovenske umetnosti. S svojo slikarsko dejavnostjo je ponudil nov likovni izraz v katerem je vzpostavil odnos slovenskega naroda do lastne tradicije in skupne identitete. Njegova dela so bila javnosti prvič predstavljena leta 1904 v Beogradu, v času, ko je v mestu potekala prva jugoslovanska umetniška razstava. Kasneje je večkrat razstavljal na skupinskih ali samostojnih razstavah v Ljubljani in po Evropi.
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:
Karel DEŽMAN, s. v. Birolla, Gvidon, Enciklopedija Likovnih Umjetnosti, 1, Zagreb 1959, p. 383.
Simona KREMAVNAR, s. v. Birolla, Gvidon (1881-1963), Novi slovenski biografski leksikon, 2 zv. B - Bla, Ljubljana 2017, https://www.slovenska-biografija.si/oseba/sbi142559/ (24.6.2024).
Luc MENAŠE, s. v. Birolla, Gvidon, Evropski umetnostno zgodovinski leksikon, Ljubljana 1971,
col. 232.
Alenka SIMONČIL, Gvidon Birolla, Sto umetnin Narodne galerije (Ljubljana, Narodna galerija, ed. Mateja Breščak), Ljubljana 2016, pp. 194-196.
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