(Mladá Boleslav, 8.3.1817-Ljubljana, 5.6.1871)
Pavel Künl was an excellent landscape painter who depicted the surroundings with topographical precision. Together with his entire family, he moved from the Czech Republic to Ljubljana in 1817, where they also settled. His father encouraged him to train as a doctor, but Pavel resisted him and in 1833 signed up among the cadets. He spent most of his time in Italy during his military service. This pleased him very much, because during this time he became acquainted with Italian art and developed his drawing talent already in the army.
In 1841, he was appointed art teacher to teach cadets how to draw. A year later, he left the army and headed for Vienna. There he was accepted to the academy where Pavel studied painting. The Viennese lecturers still primarily aimed at historical painting, but more and more they also taught how to paint landscapes. He only stayed in Vienna for a short time and from 1844 he settled permanently in Ljubljana at Gradišče 24. Pavel Künel was mainly interested in landscape painting, but he also produced some portraits, histories and genre scenes for the newly growing middle class. In the course of his career as a painter, he also tackled sacral commissions several times, which he received for work from various ecclesiastical institutions. In his art language, he repeatedly relied on already established compositions, and he also devoted a lot of time to copying. During the 19th century, it functioned as Strahl's art collections in Stara loka, and he also restored some of them. His painting orientation is diverse.
It is torn between the older Baroque masters, with an emphasis on Flemish artists from the 17th century, and the contemporary Biedermeier style. Most of the works of art were created using the oil on canvas technique, but there are also some watercolours. His works are mainly of a smaller format and made with extreme precision. He pays attention to all the details, even though he painted in the studio based on previously prepared sketches from the field. Pavel Künl's artistic expression can be recognised by its realistic style and brilliant colour scale, which was also tested by the Impressionists in the following periods. He inspired his daughter Ida to paint, who continued her father's skills and taught art classes to female artists, e.g. Ivan Kobilca.
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Pavel Künl je bil izvrsten krajinski slikar, ki je s topografsko natančnostjo upodabljal okolico. Skupaj s celotno rodbino se je leta 1817 preselil iz Češke v Ljubljano, kjer so se tudi ustalili. Njegov oče ga je spodbujal, naj se izobrazi za zdravnika, a se mu je Pavel uprl in se je leta 1833 prijavil med kadete. Med služenjem vojaškega roka je večino časa preživel v Italiji. To mu je zelo ugajalo, saj se je v tem času seznanil z italijansko umetnostjo in že v vojski razvijal svoj risarski talent.
Leta 1841 so ga postavili za učitelja likovnega pouka, da bi kadete učil risanja. Leto kasneje je izstopil iz vojske in se napotil proti Dunaju. Tam so ga sprejeli na akademijo na kateri je Pavel študiral slikarstvo. Dunajski predavatelji so še vedno v prvi vrsti stremeli k historičnemu slikarstvu, vse več pa so poučevali tudi kako slikati krajino. Na Dunaju je ostal le kratek čas in se od leta 1844 stalno naselil v Ljubljani na Gradišče 24. Pavel Künel se je zanimal predvsem za slikanje krajine, izdelal pa je tudi nekaj portretov, historij in žanrskih prizorov za novo rastoč meščanski razred. Tekom slikarske kariere se je večkrat lotil tudi sakralnih naročil, ki jih je v delo prejel od različnih cerkvenih institucij. V njegovi likovni govorici se je večkrat oprl na že uveljavljene kompozicije, ogromno časa pa je posvetil tudi kopiranju. Tekom 19. stoletja je deloval kot Strahlove zbirke umetnin v Stari loki, pri tem pa je kakšno izmed teh tudi restavriral. Njegova slikarska usmeritev je raznolika.
Razpet je med starejše baročne mojstre, s poudarkom na flamskih umetnikih iz 17. stoletja, in sočasen bidermajerski slog. Največ umetnin je nastalo v tehniki olja na platno, nekaj pa je tudi akvarelov. Njegova dela so predvsem manjšega formata in izdelana z izjemno preciznostjo. Pozoren je na vse detajle pa čeprav je slikal v ateljeju po predhodno izdelanih skicah s terena. Likovni izraz Pavla Künla lahko prepoznamo po realističnem slogu in bleščeči barvni skali, ki so jo v naslednjih obdobjih preizkušali tudi impresionisti. Za slikanje je navdušil hčerko Ido, ki je nadaljevala z očetovimi veščinami in likovni pouk poučevala ženske umetnice npr. Ivano Kobilca.
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:
Marijan ZADNIKAR, s. v. Pavel Künl, Enciklopedija Likovnih Umjetnosti, 3, Zagreb 1964, p. 263.
Barbara JAKI, Pavel Künl, Sto umetnin Narodne galerije (Ljubljana, Narodna galerija, ed. Mateja Breščak), Ljubljana 2016, pp. 88-89.
Viktor STESKA, Künl Pavel (1817-1871), Slovenski biografski leksikon, 4 zv. Kocen – Lužar, Ljubljana 1932, https://www.slovenska-biografija.si/oseba/sbi310989/ (3.6.2024)
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