Helena Vurnik née Kottler (1882-1962) was a

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

n artist born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, best known for decorative paintings on Cooperative Business Bank facade and its interior.

Life

She was born in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

to a father Moritz Kottler, a Post Office lawyer, and mother Bronislawa, who was from Poland. She was educated first at 'Graphische Lehr und Versuchsanstalt', then 'Kunstschule für Frauen und Mädchen', and finished Vienna School of Arts and Crafts.

Work

After study in 1910, she won a scholarship to study art in a vicinity of Modena in Italy for five-months. She sold paintings she painted in Italy upon returning to Vienna and she rented an art studio. In 1913, she met her future husband,

Ivan Vurnik Ivan () is a Slavic male given name, connected with the variant of the Greek name (English: John) from Hebrew meaning 'God is gracious'. It is associated worldwide with Slavic countries. The earliest person known to bear the name was Bulgari ...

, while both were drawing salamanders for biologist Franc Megušar at his home. She left her job as an illustrator for 'Illustrirtes Wiener Extrablatt' newspaper, and moved with Ivan Vurnik to work with him first to

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into prov ...

, then

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the are ...

, and at the end to

Radovljica Radovljica (; german: Radmannsdorf) is a town in the Upper Carniola region of northern Slovenia. It is the administrative seat of the Municipality of Radovljica. Geography The town is located on the southern slope of the Karawanks mountain ra ...

In media and books

A script for the documentary film "Iskalca" directed by Alma Lapajne and screened on

RTV Slovenia Radiotelevizija Slovenija ( en, Radio-Television of Slovenia) – usually abbreviated to RTV Slovenija (or simply RTV within Slovenia) – is Slovenia's national public broadcasting organization. Based in Ljubljana, it has regional broadcastin ...

and a book about her and her husband were written by Boris Leskovec.

References

External links

Article about the artist
in a biographical lexicon of Slovenia (in Slovene)
The 2017 Exhibition about the artist
in

National Gallery of Slovenia The National Gallery of Slovenia ( sl, Narodna galerija) is the national art gallery of Slovenia. It is located in the capital Ljubljana. It was founded in 1918, after the dissolution of Austria-Hungary and the establishment of the State of Sloven ...

(in Slovene)Article about the Exhibition
Dnevnik, October 2, 2017 {{DEFAULTSORT:Vurnik, Helena Kottler 1882 births 1962 deaths Painters from Austria-Hungary Slovenian women artists Yugoslav painters