(Jarčja Dolina, 12.1.1927 - Škofja Loka, 28.2.2013)
Jože Peternelj, known as Mausar, was one of the leading representatives of Slovenian naive painting. The movement developed in Yugoslavia before World War II. Its initiator was Krsto Hegedušić, who founded the Hlebin School. Over time, it was joined by numerous Croatian artists who founded the Zemlja group.
Naïve artists used traditional painting techniques and a simple approach to artistic subjects. On this basis, they tried to bring art closer to the common people, so that, inspired by the painters, they would also take up artistic creation themselves. The movement was so popular that Slovenian artists gradually joined it. In the 1960s, Žiri became a new cultural center where such art developed. It was mainly created by ordinary people and workers who worked in industry. One of these was Peternelj, who initially trained as a shoemaker and worked in the Alpina factory. In his free time, he liked to paint.
The group of naive artists in Slovenia also included Konrad Peternelj and Janez, Pavle Sedej and Ivan Gluhodedov. None of the artists had an academic education, but trained themselves to paint. They were primarily interested in folk material, which they knew in their immediate surroundings. In his simplified expression, he rediscovered primitiveness. He moved away from the considered planning of the image and surrendered to spontaneity. Inconsistent proportions often appeared in Peternelj's work, as he designed the images based on his own feelings. In his individual expression, he revived folk art, which he depicted with characteristic earth tones. He occasionally used pastel colours, with the help of which he connected individual elements in the painting into a whole.
His paintings are often divided into two artistic fields. In the lower part, he depicted the Slovenian landscape, while the sky spreads out in the upper zone. The entire image is filled with smaller narrative moments, with which he enriched the traditional environment with comic inserts. He painted on canvas, wood and glass, and also made quite a few sketches. In 1966, he presented himself in Graz, where he received a positive response from critics. They encouraged him to continue creating, so in 1971 he stopped working at the factory and devoted himself solely to painting. He also wrote several times. He published a collection of stories and short articles, and he also tried his hand at sculpture.
In 2007, on the occasion of the artist's eightieth birthday, he was awarded the status of honorary citizen in Žire. He was an extremely active member of Slovenian and foreign art associations. He participated in several solo and group exhibitions in Slovenia, the USA and Japan. There, in 1971, his first color catalog with reproductions of the artist's works was printed. He also presented himself in other art centers around the world. He left behind an extensive oeuvre of approximately 1,000 works. He received numerous internationally recognized awards, including the Winston Collection's Grand Prize for Naive Artists in 1975.
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Jože Peternelj, imenovan Mausar, je bil eden izmed vodilnih predstavnikov slovenskega naivnega slikarstva. V jugoslovanskem prostoru se je gibanje razvilo že pred drugo svetovno vojno. Njegov pobudnik je bil Krsto Hegedušić, ki je ustanovil Hlebinsko šolo. Skozi čas so se ji pridružili številni hrvaški umetniki, ki so ustanovili skupino Zemlja.
Naivni umetniki so uporabljali tradicionalno slikarsko tehniko in enostaven pristop do likovnih subjektov. Na podlagi tega so skušali umetnost približati tudi preprostemu prebivalstvu, da bi se po navdihu slikarjev tudi sami lotili umetnostnega ustvarjanja. Gibanje je bilo tako priljubljeno, da so se mu postopoma priključili tudi slovenski ustvarjalci. Novo kulturno središče, kjer se je razvila takšna umetnost, so v 60ih letih postale Žiri. Ustvarjali so predvsem preprosti ljudje in delavci, ki so službovali v industriji. Eden takšnih je bil tudi Peternelj, ki se je sprva izučil za čevljarja in služboval v tovarni Alpina. V prostem času je rad slikal.
Skupino naivnih umetnikov so na Slovenskem sestavljali še Konrad Peternelj in Janez ter Pavle Sedej ter Ivan Gluhodedov. Nobeden izmed ustvarjalcev ni imel akademske izobrazbe ampak so se za slikanje izurili kar sami. Zanimala jih je predvsem ljudska snov, ki so jo poznali v svoji bližnji okolici. V svojem poenostavljenem izrazu je na novo odkrival prvinskost. Odmaknil se je od pretehtanega načrtovanja podobe in se prepustili spontanosti. Pri Peternelju so se večkrat pojavili neskladni proporci, saj je podobe oblikoval na podlagi lastnega občutenja. V njegovem individualnem izrazu je obudil ljudsko umetnost, ki jo je upodabljal z značilnimi zemeljskimi toni. Občasno je uporabil tudi pastelne barve, s pomočjo katerih je posamezne elemente v sliki povezal v celoto.
Njegove slike so večkrat razdeljene na dve likovni polji. V spodnjem predelu je upodobil slovensko pokrajino, med tem ko se v zgornjem pasu razprostira nebo. Celotno podobo zapolnjujejo manjši narativni momenti, s katerimi je popestril tradicionalno okolje s komičnimi vložki. Slikal je na platno, les in steklo, izdelal pa je tudi kar nekaj skic. Leta 1966 se je predstavil v Gradcu, kjer je prejel pozitiven odziv kritikov. Ti so ga spodbudili k nadaljnjemu ustvarjanju, zato je leta 1971 prenehal z delom v tovarni in se je posvetil le slikarstvu. Večkrat je tudi pisal. Objavil je zbirko povesti in krajših prispevkov, preizkusil pa se je tudi v kiparstvu.
Leta 2007 so mu v Žireh, ob umetnikovi osemdesetletnici, podelili status častnega občana. Bil je izjemno aktiven član v slovenskih in tujih umetniških združenjih. Sodeloval je na več samostojnih in skupinskih razstavah po Sloveniji v ZDA in na Japonskem. Tam so mu leta 1971 natisnili prvi barvni katalog z reprodukcijami umetnikovih del. Predstavil se je tudi v drugih umetnostnih središčih po vsem svetu. Za seboj je zapustil obsežen opus s približno 1000 deli. Prejel je številna mednarodno priznana odlikovanja med njimi tudi veliko nagrado kolekcije Winston za naivne umetnike, leta 1975.
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:
Damir GLOBOČNIK, Jože Peternelj Mausar, Škofja Loka 2005.
Mira KALAN, s. v. Peternelj-Mausar, Jože(1927-2013), Obrazi slovenskih pokrajin, Maribor 2020, https://www.obrazislovenskihpokrajin.si/oseba/peternelj-mausar-joze/ (1.1.2025).
Zoran KRŽIŠNIK, Jože Peternelj-Mausar, Ljubljana 1970.
Uredništvo, s. v. Naivna umetnost, Pojmovnik slovenske umetnosti po letu 1945, pp. 186-188.
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