Slapernik Rajko

(Gradišče near Sv. Trojica, Slovenske Gorice, 1896 - Ljubljana, 1975)

Rajko Slapernik, a Slovene painter, studied at the Crafts School in Graz, was mobilized on the Isonzo Front, then continued his studies at the Academy of Arts in Vienna, later at the Probuda School in Ljubljana, and at intervals at the Munich Academy. He also studied at the academies in Paris. After the war, he was employed as a restorer at the Institute for the Protection of Monuments in Ljubljana, and later founded and ran the Ivan Rob amateur painting school in Ljubljana for several years. Slapernik is considered a Slovenian impressionist painter. His motifs include landscapes, still lifes, portraits, self-portraits and historical scenes. He mostly painted in oil technique based on tempera, as well as in pastel and watercolor. He liked to try new painting procedures and also worked on frescoes. Slapernik's landscape motifs are given in the tradition of color realism, and historical motifs are distinguished by accentuated full-length figures in life size (summarized from Wikipedia).