Gojmir Anton Kos

(Gorica, 24.1.1896-Ljublana, 22.5.1970)

Gojmir Anton Kos is considered among Slovenian artists to be an outstanding colourist and a good figure painter. He was educated at the Vienna Academy, which he attended between 1915 and 1919. He completed his last semester in Zagreb, where he graduated the same year. He continued his studies in Berlin, where he attended a design course from 1923. At the beginning of his career, Kos' artistic expression was strongly based on the older Viennese school, especially Schiele's expressionism. It is characterized by the theatrical arrangement of objects and the alternation of dark and light accents. His style is freer, but the art nouveau elements are noticeable in his paintings, which left a strong impression on him during his studies in the Austrian capital.

Most often, he painted in the technique of oil on canvas, on which he applied pasty layers of paint with the help of a painter's spatula. After returning home, he often socialized with the Slovenian impressionists, which was also expressed in Kos's art language. Although the artist was always in step with modern painting, he was considered a firmly formed personality and did not submit to trends in contemporary art. He was a great lover of nature, but like a true academic artist he always painted in the studio. He developed an individual style in which he established solid compositions and used them to frame objects in a closed and transparent system. He emphasized what is essential in the picture with colour. In Kos, this is often in conflict with nature, as it served him as a means of establishing harmony, with which he visually unified the whole. For the greater part of his artistic career, he also introduced light accents into the works of art, which guided the viewer in learning the essentials. In his last period, he abandoned this and preferred to draw attention to important elements with a color scheme that brought them into focus. The pieces' figures went from being large and monumental over time to smaller and smaller ones. They were no longer in the center of the composition, but gradually receded to the edge. He paid more attention to the clothes, which he equipped with a strong colour scale, than to the expression of the depicted people. His expressiveness evolved from early academic to a new realism based on saturated layers of paint. His oeuvre includes quite a few portraits, nudes and historical depictions, but we also find still lifes and landscapes. He also devoted himself to painting illustrations and posters.

After returning to Ljubljana, he taught painting at secondary schools for some time, and in 1945 he was given a full professorship at the ALU. Three years later, he was appointed director of the Modern Gallery. During this time, he also received two Prešeren awards (in 1947 and 1950). The artist actively participated in all Slovenian and important European exhibitions. He presented his artwork to the public for the first time in the Jakopič Pavilion in 1919, and then exhibited in Ljubljana in 1925, 1940, 1945 and 1956. His colour compositions were also admired in Rijeka and Skopje, and he exhibited his works several times in the main European capitals such as to Vienna, Prague, Amsterdam, London and Brussels.

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Gojmir Anton Kos velja med slovenskimi umetniki za izjemnega kolorista in dobrega figuralika. Izobrazil se je na dunajski akademiji, ki jo je obiskoval v času med 1915 in 1919. Zadnji semester je opravil v Zagrebu, kjer je istega leta tudi diplomiral. Študijsko pot je nadaljeval v Berlin, kjer je od 1923 hodil na tečaj oblikovanja. Na začetku kariere se Kosov likovni izraz izrazito opira na starejšo dunajsko šolo, predvsem na Schielejev ekspresionizem. Zanj je značilna teatralna razporeditev objektov in menjava temnih in svetlih poudarkov. Njegova poteza je sicer svobodnejša, so pa v slikah opazni še secesijski elementi, ki so nanj pustili močan pečat med študijem v avstrijski prestolnici.

Najpogosteje je slikal v tehniki olja na platno, na katerega je s pomočjo slikarske lopatke nanašal pastozne nanose barve. Po vrnitvi domov se je pogosto družil s slovenskimi impresionisti, kar se je izrazilo tudi v Kosovi likovni govorici. Čeprav je bil umetnik ves čas v koraku z modernim slikarstvom je veljal za trdno izoblikovano osebnost in se ni podredil trendom v sočasni umetnosti. Bil je velik ljubitelj narave, a je kot pravi akademski umetnik vselej slikal v ateljeju. Razvil je individualen slog, v katerem je vzpostavil trdne kompozicije in z njimi uokviril objekte v zaprt in pregleden sistem. Kar je bistvenega v sliki je poudaril z barvo. Ta je pri Kosu večkrat v nasprotju z naravo, saj mu je služila kot sredstvo za vzpostavitev harmonije, s čimer je vizualno poenotil celoto. Večji del umetnostne kariere je v likovna dela vnašal tudi svetlobne poudarke, ki so gledalca usmerjali pri spoznavanju bistvenega. V njegovem zadnjem obdobju je to opustil in na pomembne elemente raje opozoril z barvno shemo, ki jih je postavila v fokus. Kosove figure so od velikih in monumentalnih sčasoma postajale vse manjše. Te niso bile več v središču kompozicije ampak so se postopoma umikale na rob. Več pozornosti je namenil oblačilom, ki jih je opremil z močno barvno skalo kot pa ekspresiji upodobljencev. Njegova izraznost se je iz zgodnje akademske izoblikovala v nov realizem, ki je temeljil na nasičenih nanosih barve. V njegovem opusu je kar nekaj portretov, aktov in historičnih upodobitev, najdemo pa tudi tihožitja in krajin. Posvetil se je tudi slikanju ilustracij in plakatov.

Po vrnitvi v Ljubljano je nekaj časa poučeval slikarstvo na srednjih šolah, leta 1945 pa je dobil redno profesuro na ALU. Tri leta kasneje so ga postavili na mesto direktorja Moderne Galerije. V tem času je preje tudi dve Prešernovi nagradi (leta 1947 in 1950). Umetnik se je aktivno udeleževal vseh slovenskih in pomembnih evropskih razstav. Prvič je umetnine predstavil javnosti v Jakopičevem paviljonu, leta 1919, nato pa je v Ljubljani razstavljal še leta 1925, 1940, 1945 in 1956. Njegove barvne kompozicije so občudovali tudi na Reki in v Skopju, večkrat pa je svoja dela razstavil v glavnih evropskih prestolnicah kot npr. na Dunaj, v Pragi, v Amsterdamu, v Londonu in Bruslju.

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.
Luc MENAŠE, s. v. Kos, Gojmir Anton, Evropski umetnostno zgodovinski leksikon, Ljubljana 1971,
col. 1048.
Karel DOBIDA, s. v. Kos, Gojmir Anton, Enciklopedija Likovnih Umjetnosti, 3, Zagreb 1964, pp. 225-226.