(Jeranovo pri Kamniku, 6.1.1903 -Ljubljana, 24.6.1987)
Miha Maleš represents a versatile Slovenian artist, editor and collector. He initially attended school in Ljubljana, and then completed his knowledge of art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, Vienna and Prague. At the beginning of the 20th century, these capitals were considered important cultural and artistic centers, from where visiting artists spread artistic expression to the hinterland. He belonged to a group of artists called the Fourth Generation. It was characterised by a completely individual expression without a defined common direction. At first, he created in the oil technique, in which portraits and landscapes dominate.
At an early stage, he also painted some lyrical and surrealist motifs. After returning from Prague, Maleš became more interested in graphic techniques. He tried his hand at woodcut, linocut, drypoint, lithography and monotype. In the period between the two wars, he produced quite a few illustrations and ex libris, and he also worked as the editor of the magazine Ilustracija 1929-1930. He is considered the founder of the magazine Umetnost, which was published between 1936 and 1945. In it, for the first time, artistically colored texts were published on Slovenian soil, which also introduced our art lovers to wider cultural events. In the first half of his artistic career, Miha Maleš participated several times in exhibitions organised by various centers in Europe. His paintings were also included in the trans-oceanic selection, which earned him the reputation of one of the first Slovenians to exhibit in America. The visual language of Miha Maleš combines expressionist expression in line and fauvistic expression in color.
After the Second World War, his recognisable style gave way to a more melancholic expressiveness. This difficult period strongly marked the artist's view of the world, which makes the dividing line between earlier and later works clearly visible. His great love was collecting art, which led to the opening of the Art Salon to a wider audience. The main contribution of Miha Maleš to Slovenian art can be seen in his efforts to raise the awareness of the culturally knowledgeable public on our soil about artistic activity in Europe. A little over 1,200 paintings and as many as 3,500 drawings and graphics have been preserved in his legacy. Most of these are on display in the Maleš gallery in Kamnik and in the Miha Maleš memorial room in Rečica pri Laškem.
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Miha Maleš predstavlja vsestranskega slovenskega umetnika, urednika in zbiratelja. Šolo je sprva obiskoval v Ljubljani nato pa je znanje o umetnosti dopolnil na likovni akademiji v Zagrebu, na Dunaju in v Pragi. V začetku 20. stoletja so te prestolnice veljale za pomembna kulturno umetnostna središča, od koder so gostujoči umetniki likovni izraz širili v zaledje. Pripadal je skupini umetnikov, ki se je poimenovala Četrta generacija. Zanjo je bil značilen popolnoma individualen izraz brez začrtane skupne usmeritve.
Sprva je ustvarjal v oljni tehniki, v kateri dominirajo portreti in krajine. V zgodnji fazi je naslikal tudi nekaj liričnih in nadrealističnih motivov. Po povratku iz Prage se je Maleš intenzivneje pričel zanimati za grafično tehniko. Preizkusil se je v lesorezu, linorezu, suhi igli, litografiji in monotipiji. V času med obema vojnama je izdelal kar nekaj ilustracij in ex librisov, deloval pa je tudi kot urednik revije Ilustracija 1929-1930. Velja za ustanovitelja revije Umetnost, ki je izhajala med leti 1936 in 1945. V njej so prvič na slovenskih tleh izhajala umetnostno obarvana besedila, ki so tudi naše ljubitelje umetnosti seznanjala s širšim kulturnim dogajanjem. V prvi polovici umetnostne kariere se je Miha Maleš večkrat udejstvoval na razstavah, ki so jih prirejala najrazličnejša središča v Evropi. Njegove slike so se uvrstile tudi v čez oceanski izbor s čimer je pridobil sloves enega prvih Slovencev, ki so razstavljali v Ameriki. Likovna govorica Mihe Maleša združuje ekspresionistični izraz v liniji in fauvističnega v barvi.
Po drugi svetovni vojni se je njegov prepoznaven slog umaknil bolj melanholičnemu izraznosti. To težko obdobje je namreč močno zaznamovalo umetnikov pogled na svet s čimer je jasno opazna ločnica med zgodnejšimi in kasnejšimi deli. Njegova velika ljubezen je bilo zbiranje umetnin, ki je privedlo do odprtja Umetniškega salona za širšo publiko. Poglaviten doprinos Mihe Maleša k slovenski umetnosti se kaže v prizadevanju, da je na naših tleh vselej ozaveščal kulturno podkovano javnost o umetniški dejavnosti v Evropi. V njegovi zapuščini se je ohranilo nekaj več kot 1200 slik in kar 3500 risb in grafik. Večina teh je na ogled postavljenih v Maleševi galeriji v Kamniku in v spominski sobi Mihe Maleša v Rečici pri Laškem.
The text was prepared for the Porta Alpina gallery by Pia Župevec, B.Sc. the mind. 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. Maleš, Miha, Evropski umetnostno zgodovinski leksikon, Ljubljana 1971,
coll. 1227-1278.
France PLANINA – Emilijan CEVC, Miha Maleš, Jadranski motivi, Ljubljana 1961.
https://www.muzej-kamnik-on.net/enote/galerija-miha-males/zivljenjepis-mihe-malesa/
https://museums.si/sl-si/Domov/Muzeji/Muzej?id=72082
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