(Ljubljana, 20.12.1861-Ljubljana, 4.12.1926)
Ivana Kobilca is one of the few female painters who paved her way in a completely male profession during the 19th century. She initially studied drawing with Ida Künl, but her career then took her to Vienna. There, together with Ferdo Vesel, she copied old masters in the art collection of the academy. Despite her great talent, her gender limited her entry to the academy.
Formal education at that time was reserved for male painters and female artists were not accepted. In 1881, she enrolled in a craft school in Munich, and the following year she began attending a painting course with A. Erdelt. She stayed in his studio for seven years and developed a unique artistic expression. In the first phase of her work, Kobilca's paintings are primarily characterized by a brownish palette, which is considered a typical Munich colour scheme. She went to Zagreb for a short time, and after returning back in 1889 she organized her first solo exhibition at the Ljubljana Realka. Her stay in Ljubljana was followed by a short visit to Paris.
There, the artist ventured into nature and painted in it. She also visited Barbizon, where modern outdoor painting activities were taking place. The Parisian period introduced several bright accents into her palette, which greatly changed her artistic expression. The transition to a new environment not only affected the change in colour shades, but also sparked an interest in different motifs in the artist. The bourgeois genre came to the fore, which Kobilca treated somewhat differently than her fellow realists. She was interested in the motif itself for its picturesqueness and harmony of compositions, thereby offering the viewer an insight into the difficult life of the lowest classes in a poetic way. Most of her depictions show children and women in happy moments of life, but she also painted some portraits. Throughout her life, she collaborated with Ferd Vesel, with whom she exchanged artistic skills and influenced each other. She was constantly involved in current bohemian events and socialized with the most avant-garde people of her time. Between 1906 and 1914, she spent time in Berlin, where she painted together with K. Kollowitz, and then settled permanently in Ljubljana. She used photography to help her paint, which served as a support instead of a sketch.
She created most of her artworks in the oil on canvas technique, but in addition to these, her oeuvre also includes some frescoes and pastels. Stylistically, she is classified as a realist, although towards the end of her life she painted with increasingly blurred strokes. Together with Vesel, she continued to paint in a realistic manner throughout the 20th century, trying to adapt it to nature as much as possible. It was only a few decades later, when the Impressionists appeared, that a more modern artistic expression came to us, lagging far behind European art. After her death, in 1928, a memorial exhibition was held in the Jakopič Pavilion, paying tribute to Ivana as a great female artist. In 2018, the National Gallery held a public exhibition that covered all phases of Kobilca's development in painting. Today, her works of art are in several European galleries, and some are in the hands of private collectors.
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Ivana Kobilca predstavlja eno redkih slikark, ki so si tekom 19. stoletja utrle pot v povsem moškem poklicu. Risanja se je sprva učila pri Idi Künl nato pa jo je kariera zanesla proti Dunaju. Tam je skupaj s Ferdom Veselom kopirala stare mojstre v likovni zbirki akademije. Kljub njenemu velikemu talentu jo je spol omejeval pri vpisu na akademijo.
Formalna izobrazba je bila v tem času rezervirana za moške slikarje in ženskih umetnic nanjo niso sprejemali. Leta 1881 se je v Münchnu vpisala na obrtno šolo, naslednje leto pa je pričela obiskovati tečaj slikanja pri A. Erdeltu. V njegovem ateljeju je ostala kar sedem let in razvila svojevrsten likovni izraz. V prvi fazi ustvarjanja je v Kobilčinih slikah opazna predvsem rjavkasta paleta, ki velja za značilno münchenski kolorit. Za kratek čas se je odpravila še v Zagreb, po vrnitvi nazaj pa je leta 1889 priredila prvo samostojno razstavo na ljubljanski realki. Bivanju v Ljubljani je sledil kratek obisk Pariza.
Tam se je umetnica podala v naravo in slikala v njej. Obiskala je tudi Barbizon, v katerem se je odvijala sodobna slikarska dejavnost na prostem. Pariško obdobje je v njeno paleto vneslo več svetlih poudarkov, s čimer se je njen likovni izraz močno spremenil. Prehod v novo okolje ni vplival zgolj na menjavo barvnih odtenkov ampak je v umetnici sprožil tudi zanimanje za drugačno motiviko. V ospredje je stopil meščanski žanr, ki ga je Kobilca obravnavala nekoliko drugače kot pa kolegi realisti. T sam motiv jo je zanimala slikovitost in usklajenosti kompozicij, s čimer je na poetičen način gledalcu ponudila vpogled v težko življenje najnižjih slojev. Največ upodobitev prikazuje otroke in ženske v veselih trenutkih življenja, nekaj pa je tudi portretirala. Skozi vse življenje je sodelovala s Ferdom Veselom, s katerim sta si izmenjevala likovne spretnosti in drug na drugega medsebojno vplivala. Ves čas je bila vpeta v aktualno boemsko dogajanje in se je družila z najbolj avantgardnimi ljudmi svojega časa. Med 1906 in 1914 se je mudila v Berlinu, kjer je slikala skupaj s K. Kollowitz nato pa se je za stalno naselila v Ljubljani. Pri slikanju si je pomagala s fotografijo, ki ji je namesto skice bila v oporo.
Največ umetnin je izdelala v tehniki olja na platno, poleg teh pa v njenem opusu najdemo tudi nekaj fresk in pastelov. Slogovno jo uvrščamo med realiste pa čeprav proti koncu svojega življenja slika z vse bolj zabrisanimi potezami. Skupaj z Veselom sta še tekom 20. stoletja slikala v realistični maniri, ki sta jo skušala čim bolj prilagoditi naravi. Šele nekaj desetletji kasneje, ko so se pojavili impresionisti, je z velikim zaostankom za evropsko umetnostjo tudi k nam prišel sodobnejši umetnostni izraz. Po njeni smrti, leta 1928, so ji v Jakopičevem paviljonu priredili spominsko razstavo, s katero so se poklonili Ivani kot veliki ženski umetnici. Leta 2018 so v Narodni galeriji za javnost priredili še pregledno razstavo, ki je obravnavala vse faze razvoja v slikarstvu Kobilce. Danes se njene umetnine nahajajo v več evropskih galerijah, nekaj pa jih je v rokah zasebnih zbiralcev.
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.
VIRI:
Špelca ČOPIČ, Slovensko slikarstvo, Ljubljana 1966.
Luc MENAŠE, s. v. Kobilca, Ivana, Evropski umetnostno zgodovinski leksikon, Ljubljana 1971,
col. 1019.
France STELE, Slovenski slikarji, Ljubljana 1949, p. 145.
Marijan ZADNIKAR, s. v. Kobilca, Ivana, Enciklopedija Likovnih Umjetnosti, 3, Zagreb 1964, pp. 201-202.
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