(Bodislavci pri Mali Nedelji, 26. 10. 1926 - Škofja Loka, 25. 4. 2022)
France Slana was a Slovenian painter and illustrator, who is considered an Art Informel artist. He attended high school in Split, and then moved to Ljubljana with his family. There he enrolled in the Academy of Arts. Between 1943 and 1945, Slana joined the Partisans, so he abandoned his education for a while.
He successfully completed his painting studies after World War II, and then went to Graz. In the city, he searched for his own artistic expression. For a short time, he attended lectures at the local academy, where he perfected his painting skills. France Slana experimented with various painting techniques throughout his life. He created in watercolor, gouache, tempera and pastel, and often combined the techniques with each other. His oeuvre also includes several prints and tapestries that reveal the artist's view of a wide variety of iconographic motifs.
He was primarily interested in the sea and nature, but he also depicted people and animals. In the early stages of his work, Slana tended towards realism. Later, he abandoned the academic approach to art, which softened his artistic language somewhat. Like other Art Informel painters, France avoided any rules. His works are a reflection of his own inclinations and the momentary expression that inspired him at the moment of creation. This turn of events is visible in Slana in the 1960s, and soon this way of depicting took the most important place among the art movements after World War II. Members of Art Informel publicly rejected form and only considered their own vision.
His paintings are full of lyrical moments, which he emphasized with a pronounced color. As a result, France Slana's artwork became rich in color, not only in content, and the artist achieved extraordinary popularity among critics. On his creative path, he was supported throughout by his wife, Dora Plestenjak, who is also a Slovenian artist. Together they painted and went on numerous trips around Europe and the world. They always observed the world around them and recorded unusual motifs that inspired them in their paintings. They lived between Škofja Loka and Strunjan, and also spent some time in Ljubljana. There, France met Hinko Smrekar, who left a strong mark on the artist. This can be seen in the strong contours with which he drew the depicted motifs and are reminiscent of Smrekar's expressive style.
He spent most of his life as an illustrator and comic book artist. He first exhibited his drawings independently in 1953 at the Mala galerija, and three years later he presented himself with oil paintings. He also exhibited several times in the circle of other artists and achieved a great reputation among the art audience during his lifetime. He received several art awards, among the most important of which is the Prešeren Award in 1964 for his post-earthquake depictions of Skopje.
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France Slana je bil slovenski slikar in ilustrator, ki ga uvrščamo med umetnike informela. Srednjo šolo je obiskoval v Splitu, nato pa so se skupaj z domačimi preselili v Ljubljano. Tam se je vpisal na umetnostno akademijo. Med 1943 in 1945 se je Slana pridružil partizanom, zato je za nekaj časa opustil izobraževanje.
Študij slikarstva je uspešno zaključil po drugi svetovni vojni, nato pa se je odpravil v Graz. V mestu je iskal svoj lasten likovni izraz. Za kratek čas je obiskoval predavanja na lokalni akademiji, kjer je izpopolnil slikarske veščine. France Slana je skozi vse življenje preizkušal raznolike slikarske tehnike. Ustvarjal je v akvarelu, gvašu, temperi in pastelu, večkrat pa je tehnike med seboj tudi kombiniral. V njegovem opusu se je ohranilo tudi nekaj grafik in tapiserij, ki odstirajo umetnikov pogled v najrazličnejše ikonografske motive.
Zanimalo ga je predvsem morje in narava, upodabljal pa je tudi ljudi in živali. V zgodnji fazi ustvarjanja, se je Slana nagibal k realizmu. Kasneje je akademski pristop k umetnosti opustil, s čimer se je njegov likovni jezik nekoliko omehčal. Tako kot tudi drugi slikarji informela, se je France izogibali vsakršnim pravilom. Njegova dela so odraz lastnih nagnjen in trenutne ekspresije, ki ga je navdihnila v trenutku ustvarjanja. Ta preobrat je pri Slani viden v 60ih letih, kmalu pa je takšen način upodabljanja zasedel najpomembnejše mesto med likovnimi tokovi po 2. svetovni vojni. Člani informela so javno zavrnili formo in so upoštevali zgolj lastno vizijo.
Njegove slike so polne liričnih momentov, ki jih je poudaril z izrazitim koloritom. S tem so umetnine Franceta Slane postale bogate v barvi, ne le vsebini, umetnik pa je dosegel izredno priljubljenost med kritiko. Na poti ustvarjanja mu je ves čas oporo nudila žena Dora Plestenjak, ki je prav tako slovenska umetnica. Skupaj sta slikala in se odpravila na številna potovanja po Evropi in svetu. Pri tem sta vselej opazovala svet okoli sebe in beležila nenavadne motive, ki so ju navdihovali pri slikanju. Živela sta med Škofjo Loko in Strunjanom, nekaj časa pa sta preživela tudi v Ljubljani. Tam se je France seznanil s Hinkom Smrekarjem, ki je na umetnika pustil močan pečat. To je mogoče opaziti v močnih konturah s katerimi je izrisal upodobljene motive in spominjajo na ekspresiven Smrekarjev slog.
Večino svojega življenja se je preživljal kot ilustrator in risar stripov. Svoje risbe je prvič samostojno razstavil leta 1953 v Mali galeriji, tri leta za tem pa se je predstavil z oljnimi slikami. Večkrat je razstavil tudi v krogu drugih umetnikov in že za čas življenja dosegel velik ugled med umetnostnim občinstvom. Prejel je več likovnih nagrad, med najpomembnejše pa sodi Prešernova nagrada, leta 1964 za popotresne upodobitve Skopja.
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:
- Robert CAGLIČ, s. v. Informel, Pojmovnik slovenske umetnosti po letu 1945, pp. 101-104.
- Luc MENAŠE, s. v. Slana, France, Evropski umetnostno zgodovinski leksikon, Ljubljana 1971, col. 1990.
- Uredništvo, , s. v. Regionalizem, Pojmovnik slovenske umetnosti po letu 1945, pp. 235-239.
- Asta ZNIDARČIČ, s. v. Slana, France (1926-2022), Slovenska biografija, 2013, https://www.slovenska-biografija.si/oseba/sbi580030/ (19.5.2025).
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