History
The Mestna galerija Ljubljana at Mestni trg 5 is the largest fine art exhibition space in Ljubljana. Its vantage points are its location in the very heart of the old town nucleus, right next to the Town Hall, and well-equipped, modern, bright and spacious rooms on the ground floor and two upper floors. The premises are well suited to extensive and demanding exhibitions and projects, as well as to smaller, more intimate presentations of all types of contemporary fine and visual art.
The building at Mestni trg 5 was built in the early 16th century by Count Lanthieri. The Lanthieri family resided there for over two hundred years, until the 19th century, when the house became the property of a rich merchant family named Zeschko. One member of the family was the great art lover Josipina Zeschko, dubbed the "glass princess" as her father traded in glass goods; later she married an industrialist and large landowner, Fidelis Terpinec, the owner of the Fužine castle. In 1866, the building at Mestni trg was bought by a merchant named Hamann. He used it as a shop and store, which it remained until 1963 (at which time it housed a fur store), when it was converted into an art gallery by decree of the People's Committee of Ljubljana-Center. The renovation of the building was planned by the architect Boris Kobe and supervised by the institute for the preservation and renovation of the Ljubljana old town.
In December 1961, the old building of the Jakopič Pavilion (the first Ljubljana exhibition space built in 1908 by the painter Rihard Jakopič) was demolished, and the house at Mestni trg 5 was chosen as a suitable new venue for exhibition activities and the management of such. In November 1962, the Jakopič Pavilion was re-named Mestna galerija (the City Art Museum). The new exhibition premises at Mestni trg 5 were inaugurated as the Mestna galerija Ljubljana in October 1963. In 1990 and 1991, the Ljubljana Cultural Community financed a thorough renovation of the building. In addition to modernized exhibition rooms and offices in the converted loft, the gallery also now featured a cafe on the ground floor.
Exhibition Activities
In its forty years of continuous work, the Mestna galerija Ljubljana has staged a great number of exhibitions - on average, thirteen a year. Since 1996, when the gallery initiated its permanent collection of works on paper, the number of shows has increased to seventeen a year, some of which are staged in rented exhibition spaces. In 1998, the Bežigrajska galerija became a new branch of the Mestna galerija, and together they organize up to thirty shows a year.
Retrospective and survey exhibitions have presented the oeuvres of the most outstanding Slovenian artists of several generations, among them: Jakob Savinšek, Marij Pregelj, France Zupan, Majda Kurnik, Marjan Dovjak, Kiar Meško, Klavdij Palčič, Peter Kocjančič, Stane Jagodič, Zvest Apollonio, Janez Šibila, Karel Jakob, France Mesarič, France Peršin, Metka Krašovec, Rudi Španzel, Cita Potokar, Tomaž Gorjup, Rudi Gorjup, Olaf Globočnik, France Vozel, Leon Koporc, France Novinc, Bard Iucundus, Alenka Gerlovič, Bara Remec, Štefan Planinc, Božidar Dolenc, Janez Zorko, France Peršin, Izidor Urbančič, Dušan Tršar, Marko Tušek, Momo Vuković, Frančišek Smerdu, Janez Knez.
The exhibitions of current artistic works or of a specific segment of an artist's work have included the artists: Lojze Dolinar, Negovan Nemec, Peter Černe, Tone Demšar, Dragica Čadež, Jože Vrščaj, Jiři Bezlaj, Stojan Batič, Janez Boljka, Erik Lovko, Janez Pirnat, Masayuki Nagase, Stane Kregar, Božidar Jakac, France Mihelič, Janez Bernik, Andrej Jemec, Miha Maleš, Jože Ciuha, Silvester Komel, Milan Bizovičar, Ivan Čargo, Karel Zelenko, Maksim Sedej jr., Boris Kobe, France Slana, Jože Horvat-Jaki, Lado Pengov, Bojan Gorenc, Gorazd Satler, Marjan Gumilar, Črtomir Frelih, Marij Vrenko, Mladen Jernejc, Tomaž Kržišnik, Klavdij Tutta, Herman Gvardijančič, Dušan Kirbiš, Ivo Prančič, Seka Tavčar, Marijan Tršar, Milena Usenik, Bogoslav Kalaš, Marjan Gumilar, Dušan Zidar, Boris Kobe, Jože Šubic, Miha Vipotnik, Bogdan Borčič, Bojan Bem, Zvest Apollonio, Peter Černe, kostumograf Alan Hranitelj ter fotografi Stojan Kerbler, Miroslav Zdovc, Jože Kološa, Klavdij Sluban, Marjan Bažato, Joco Žnidaršič, Avgust Berthold, Jure Breceljnik, Božidar Dolenc, Evgen Bavčar and Herman Pivk; the exhibition In memoriam Marij Pregelj was staged with the cooperation of: Marij Pregelj, Petar Lubarda, Vladimir Veličković, Krsto Hegedušić, Gabrijel Stupica, Stane Kregar, Nandor Glid, Kosta A. Radovani, Branko Ružić, Stojan Batič, Drago Tršar.
The gallery maintains extensive contacts with other art institutions and towns in Slovenia and abroad, and collaborates directly with foreign artists. This has led to numerous international exhibitions. Especially in recent years the area of activity has grown considerably, and many presentations of foreign artists were held in Ljubljana, while solo and group shows of Slovenian artists have been staged in Wiesbaden, Leverkusen, Seoul, Augsburg, Trieste, Novi Sad, Sarajevo, Karlstadt, Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, Budapest, Podgorica and Zagreb. The well-known artists whose works we have had the opportunity to see in the gallery include: Robert Rauschenberg, Henry Moore (in the context of the Ljubljana Biennial of Graphic Art), Richard Mortensen, Valentin Oman, Hans Staudacher, Branko Ružić, Albert Merz, Bruno Gironcoli, Denis Bowen, Mangelos, Bischoffshausen, Max Bill, architect Schweighofer, Johannes Deutsch, Antonio Girbes, Arve Hovig, Gotthard Graubner, Kiki Kogelnik, Amalia Peres Molek, Joe Tilson, Bill Woodrow, Johann Julian Taupe, Stephen McKenna, Bruno Chersicla, Dean Jokanović Toumlin, Attersee, Juan Travnik, Milan Berbuč, Gunther Uecker, Andras Markos, Louis le Brocquy, Henry Tomaszewski, Carlo Ciussi, Dubravka Rakoci and Jaume Plensa.
The gallery dedicates special attention to presentations of young artists and new generations. Thus it has followed closely a great variety of artistic phenomena in Slovenia. Among the significant shows there were the introductory exhibition of the group Neokonstruktivisti (Dragica Čadež, Drago Hrvacki, Tone Lapajne, Dušan Tršar, Slavko Tihec), the exhibition of New Figurative Art, titled Expressive Figurative Art (Kostja Gatnik, Metka Krašovec, Lojze Logar, Franc Novinc), and the exhibition of conceptual art by the group OHO.
The Mestna galerija Ljubljana systematically stages exhibitions of duos or trios of young painters and sculptors, of students of the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana, of award-winners at the Rijeka biennial of young artists, of the winners of the Prešeren awards for students (several of whom have gone on to become prominent artists in Slovenia and Yugoslavia: Duba Sambolec, Lujo Vodopivec, Štefan Galič, Zdenko Huzjan, Mojca Smerdu, Tugo Sušnik, Mirsad Begić, Bojan Gorenc, Milan Erić, Matjaž Počivavšek, Marija Ejti Štih, Jana Vizjak, Rajko Čuber, Boris Zaplatil, Zmago Posega, Črtomir Frelih, Marjetica Potrč, Mladen Jernejc, Marija Lucija Stupica, Roman Makše, Silvester Plotajs Sicoe, Petra Varl and others), and groups of artists like Skupina 53 (Milan Berbuč, Mire Cetin, Alenka Eržen-Šuštaršič, France Peršin, Marko Šuštaršič, Drago Tršar, Melita Vovk-Štih), BE 54 (Peter Černe, Andrej Jemec, Rudolf Kotnik, Tone Lapajne, Bogan Meško, Štefan Planinc, France Rotar, Viktor Snoj), Gruda, Junij, Barva, Grupa 69 (Janez Bernik, Jagoda Bujić, Dušan Džamojna, Dževad Hozo, Andrej Jemec, Adrijana Maraž, Štefan Planinc, Miodrag B. Protić, Vjenceslav Richter, France Rotar, Miroslav Šutej, Slavko Tihec, Dušan Tršar, Vladimir Veličković, Mehmed Zaimović) and a tour of the May Salon selected by ZDSLU (the Union of the Associations of the Slovenian Fine Artists). The Mestna galerija Ljubljana was also the first to organize an exhibition of the New Image in the former Yugoslavia. Among international group exhibitions there have been select survey exhibitions of painting, sculpture, graphic prints, design, architecture, covering a wide range of subjects, styles and generations. Here belong the shows Dimensions of Reality, the international biennial of caricature Brez besed/No Comment, shows of the Yugoslavian and international biennials of industrial design, INTART, etc. A regular event that deserves special mention is the Winter Salon, which has regularly presented numerous Slovenian and international artists for several years, e.g. Jiři Bezlaj, Takayuki Nagase, Nataša Prosenc, Drago Rozman, Mojca Smerdu, Dušan Tršar, Jože Vrščaj, Dušan Fišer, Klementina Golja, Jože Barši, Ivo Prančič, Vlado Stjepič, Tugo Sušnik, Lujo Vodopivec, Marko Kovačič, Lojze Čemažar, Dušan Podgornik, Andrej Trobentar, Borko Tepina, Cveto Maršič, Samo Perpar, Zmago Rus, Kondrad Topolovec, Klavdij Tutta, Rajko Čuber, Igor Fistrič.
As the interest in cultural activities increased and the number and capacities of exhibition venues in Ljubljana grew, also the Mestna galerija program changed accordingly. For quite a while now the main emphasis has been on a well balanced relation between exhibitions of Slovenian and foreign artistic productions, group and solo shows, accentuated with retrospective and survey exhibitions of well-known artists and monographic shows of up-and-coming ones. For each exhibition project the curators of the Mestna galerija Ljubljana put together a team and, when necessary, welcome the cooperation of domestic and foreign experts in individual fields, who can then present their particular views of certain phenomena with select exhibitions. Some of the more demanding past projects were: Neokonstruktivisti 1968-1972 (curated by Aleksander Bassin); the project Park as a Space of Culture (curated by architect Franc Vardijan); Veno Pilon - a Parisian Photographer (curated by Stane Bernik); Constructivist and Kinetic Tendencies in Graphic Art (curated by Brane Kovič); and the very well-received, three-part exhibition 150 Years of Photography in Slovenia, which was organized in collaboration with the Museum of Architecture and the Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana (curated by Brane Kovič, Milko Kambič and Stane Bernik). Another exhibition to receive a lot of attention was Slovenian Architecture of the 20th Century (curated by Stane Bernik).
Program galerije
Program galerije se je skladno s kulturnimi potrebami
ter naraščajočimi prostorskimi razstaviščnimi možnostmi
v mestu z leti spreminjal in dopolnjeval. Že dalj časa
je poudarek na uravnoteženem razmerju med razstavami
domače in tuje likovne produkcije ter med skupinskimi
in samostojnimi razstavami s posebnim poudarkom na pripravi
retrospektivnih in preglednih prikazov uveljavljenih
umetnikov in monografskih razstav mlajših ustvarjalcev.
Mestna galerija Ljubljana pri konkretnih razstavnih
problemih združuje strokovni potencial in od vsega začetka
vabi k sodelovanju domače in tuje specialiste za posamezna
področja in likovne zvrsti, da lahko svoje poglede na
umetnost potrdijo tudi z izbranimi razstavami. Med zahtevnimi
projekti so avtorske razstave: Neokonstruktivisti 1968-1972
(avtor Aleksander Bassin); projekt Park kot kulturni
prostor (avtor arhitekt Franc Vardijan); Veno Pilon
- pariški fotograf (avtor Stane Bernik); Konstruktivistične
in kinetične tendence v grafiki (avtor Brane Kovič)
ter zelo odmevna razstava 150 let fotografije na Slovenskem
v treh delih in v sodelovanju z Arhitekturnih muzejem
in Moderno galerijo, Ljubljana (avtorji Brane Kovič,
Milko Kambič in Stane Bernik). Izstopajoča razstava
je bila tudi Slovenska arhitektura dvajsetega stoletja
(avtor Stane Bernik).
Information
City Art Museum: Alenka Premrov
phone: +386 1 2411770
email: mestna.galerija-lj@siol.net
Location
The gallery is in the old town nucleus, in the immediate vicinity of the Town Hall.
Opening Hours
from September 1 to June 30:
10 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Saturdays: 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Mondays, public holidays: closed |
from July 1 to August 31:
10 a.m. - 2 p.m., 5 p.m. - 8 p.m.
Saturdays: 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Mondays, public holidays: closed |
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foto 1: Blaž Samec
foto 2,3,4,5,6: D. Kracina
Lokacija
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