(Sv. Vid blizu Vuzenice, 13.12.1935 - Slovenj Gradec, 11.2.2020)
Anton Repnik was a Slovenian artist who trained himself in painting. He worked as a farm and factory worker, and also worked as a shoemaker and blacksmith. In 1961, he and his wife moved to Muto in Carinthia, where he set up a studio. There he also opened an art gallery, in which he spent most of his free time.
Despite the fact that he did not define himself as a naive Slovenian artist, the art history profession classified him as one. He lived far from its center in Žire. The amateur painter shared iconographically similar moments with our naive painters, including Jože Peternelj Mausar, Konrad Peternelj and Pavle Sedej. He mainly depicted people from the surrounding area. Workers and farmers whom he met in everyday life often appeared in his works of art. With their help, he tried to show how his local community lived. Repnik also approached naive painters in style.
He is characterized by an authentic and sincere style that was not burdened with technical perfection. His works were overflowing with symbolism and comic and metaphorical inserts. His images were clearly drawn, and he deformed the figures a lot. When painting, he used strong and vibrant colors, so that his production had the best possible effect on the viewer. Repnik drew his artistic material on the basis of experiences and experiences. The moments depicted represent a document of his life. He was an extremely poor person who could barely take care of a family of nine and could afford paint with a heavy heart and more rarely.
Stylistically, the artist was torn between two major trends. At first, he sympathized with expressionism, which he replaced after 1970 with his own artistic expression. In his works, the contrast between more and less joyful moments in an individual's life is at the forefront. He managed to capture joy and sadness, happiness and misfortune, and other emotions on canvas. He first presented his works in 1963 in Celje, at a large exhibition of Slovenian naive artists. Since then, he has participated in numerous exhibitions at home and abroad. His works have received positive criticism from the art profession. He was also popular with the art public. In his mature years,
Repnik also tackled illustration. He prepared the visual equipment for Voranč's Samorastniki and Levstik's Martin Krpan, which is considered an exceptional achievement in his oeuvre. He has been awarded several times for his involvement in the field of culture. He received the Tabor gold plaque in 1977, and ten years later the Berneker plaque for creative achievements. The film Žareče oči was also made about the artist, which was released in 1965.
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Anton Repnik je bil slovenski likovni umetnik, ki se je slikanja izuril kar sam. Služboval je kot kmečki in tovarniški delavec, ukvarjal pa se je tudi s čevljarstvom in kovaštvom. Leta 1961 se je skupaj z ženo preselil na Muto na Koroškem, kjer si je uredil atelje. Tam je odprl tudi umetnostno galerijo, v kateri je preživel večino prostega časa.
Kljub dejstvu, da se sam ni opredelil kot naivni slovenski umetnik, ga je umetnostnozgodovinska stroka uvrstila mednje. Živel je namreč daleč stran od njenega središča v Žireh. Z našimi slikarji naivci, med katere sodijo Jože Peternelj Mausar, Konrad Peternelj in Pavle Sedej, si ljubiteljski slikar delil ikonografsko podobne momente. Upodabljaj je predvsem ljudi iz okolice. Večkrat so se na njegovih umetninah pojavili delavci in kmetje, ki jih je srečeval v vsakodnevnem življenju. S pomočjo teh je skušal prikazati kako biva njegova lokalna skupnost. Repnik se je tudi v slogu približal naivnim slikarjem.
Zanj je značilen avtentičen in iskren slog, ki ni bil obremenjen s tehnično dovršenostjo. Likovna dela je preplavila simbolika in komični ter metaforični vložki. Njegove podobe so bile jasno izrisane, figure pa je zelo deformiral. Pri slikanju se je posluževal močnih in živahnih barv, tako da je s svojo produkcijo kar se da dobro učinkoval na gledalca. Repnik je svojo likovno snov črpal na podlagi doživetji in izkušenj. Upodobljeni trenutki predstavljajo dokument o njegovem življenju. Bil je izjemno revna osebnost, ki je komaj da skrbela za devet člansko družino in si je s težkim srcem ter bolj poredko lahko privoščila barve.
Slogovno je bil umetnik razpet med dve veliki usmeritvi. Sprva je simpatiziral z ekspresionizmom, ki ga je po letu 1970 nadomestil z lastnim umetnostnim izrazom. V likovnih delih je v ospredju kontrast med bolj in manj veselimi trenutki v življenju posameznika. Na platna je uspel ujti veselje in žalost, srečo in nesrečo ter druga čustva. S svojimi deli se je prvič predstavil leta 1963 v Celju, na veliki razstavi slovenskih naivcev. Vse od tedaj se je udeleževal številnih razstav doma in v tujini. Za svoja dela je prejel pozitivno kritiko likovne stroke. Priljubljen je bil tudi med umetnostno publiko.
V zreli dobi se je Repnik spopadel tudi z ilustracijo. Pripravil je slikovno opremo za Vorančeve Samorastnike in Levstikovega Martina Krpana, ki velja za izjemen dosežek v njegovem opusu. Za svoje udejstvovanje na področju kulture je bil večkrat nagrajen. Prejel je zlato plaketo Tabor, leta 1977, deset let kasneje pa še Bernekerjevo plaketo za ustvarjalne dosežke. O umetniku so posneli tudi film Žareče oči, ki je izšel leta 1965.
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:
- Luc MENAŠE, s. v. Repnik, Anton, Evropski umetnostno zgodovinski leksikon, Ljubljana 1971, col. 1779.
- Barbara RAVNIKAR, s. v. Naivna umetnost, Pojmovnik slovenske umetnosti po letu 1945, pp. 186-189.
- Simona VONČINA, Rok RAVNE, s. v. Repnik, Anton (1935-2020), Obrazi slovenskih pokrajin, 2020, https://www.obrazislovenskihpokrajin.si/oseba/repnik-anton/ (19.1.2025).
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