Rihard Jakopič (12 April 1869 – 21 April 1943) was a Slovene painter. He was the leading Slovene

Impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

painter, patron of arts and theoretician. Together with

Matej Sternen Matej Sternen (20 September 1870 – 28 June 1949) was a leading Slovene Impressionist painter. Sternen was born in Verd, now part of the Carniolan municipality of Vrhnika, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and baptized ''Matthæus Str ...

Matija Jama Matija Jama (4 January 1872 – 6 April 1947) was a Slovene painter. Together with Rihard Jakopič, Ivan Grohar and Matej Sternen, he is considered among the best representatives of Impressionism in the Slovene Lands. Life Jama was born in L ...

and

Ivan Grohar Ivan Grohar (15 June 1867 – 19 April 1911) was a Slovene Impressionist painter. Together with Rihard Jakopič, Matej Sternen, and Matija Jama, he is considered one of the leading figures of Slovene impressionism in the fin de siecle ...

, he is considered the pioneer of Slovene Impressionist painting.

Life

Rihard Jakopič was born in Krakovo, a suburb of

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 ar ...

, the capital of

Carniola Carniola ( sl, Kranjska; , german: Krain; it, Carniola; hu, Krajna) is a historical region that comprised parts of present-day Slovenia. Although as a whole it does not exist anymore, Slovenes living within the former borders of the region sti ...

in the

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

, now Slovenia. His father, Franc Jakopič, was a well-situated tradesman with agricultural goods. His mother was Neža, née Dolžan. Rihard was the youngest of eight children. Jakopič studied at the intermediate secondary school from 1879 to 1887. After passing an entry exam, he attended the

Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna The Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (german: link=no, Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien) is a public art school in Vienna, Austria. History The Academy of Fine Arts Vienna was founded in 1692 as a private academy modelled on the Accademia di Sa ...

, for a short time returned home due to an illness, and then resumed his studies in 1888. In 1889, he entered the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich and in 1890, the Ažbe Art School in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

. Then he lived in Ljubljana, where he participated in the establishment of the Slovene Art Society, and after 1902 in

Škofja Loka Škofja Loka (; german: Bischoflack) is a town in Slovenia. It is the economic, cultural, educational, and administrative center of the Municipality of Škofja Loka in Upper Carniola. It has about 12,000 inhabitants. Geography Škofja Loka lies a ...

. In 1903, he continued his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. Jakopič returned to Ljubljana in 1906. He was one of the early members of the

Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts The Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts ( sl, Slovenska akademija znanosti in umetnosti (SAZU)) is the national academy of Slovenia, which encompasses science and the arts and brings together the top Slovene researchers and artists as members o ...

, founded in 1938. Jakopič died at his home in Ljubljana at 1:45 pm on 21 April 1943 after a long and difficult illness. A wake was held at his residence at New Square () no. 2, and he was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery (now Žale Cemetery) on 23 April 1943 after a ceremony at 3:30 pm at Saint Joseph's Chapel.

Legacy

Over 1200 paintings and 650 drawings by Jakopič have been preserved. In Ljubljana, Jakopič established the Slovene School of Impressionist Drawing and Painting, the predecessor of the

Academy of Fine Arts The following is a list of notable art schools. Accredited non-profit art and design colleges * Adelaide Central School of Art * Alberta College of Art and Design * Art Academy of Cincinnati * Art Center College of Design * The Art Institute o ...

at the

University of Ljubljana The University of Ljubljana ( sl, Univerza v Ljubljani, , la, Universitas Labacensis), often referred to as UL, is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. It has approximately 39,000 enrolled students. History Beginnings Although certain ...

. He was an initiator for the foundation of the

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 1908, he built a

pavilion In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings: * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...

Tivoli Park Tivoli City Park ( sl, Mestni park Tivoli) or simply Tivoli Park () is the largest park in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. It is located on the western outskirts of the Center District, Ljubljana, Center District, stretching to the Šiška Dis ...

, based on plans by the architect

Max Fabiani Maximilian Fabiani, commonly known as Max Fabiani ( it, Massimo, sl, Maks) (29 April 1865 – 12 August 1962) was a cosmopolitan trilingual architect and town planner of mixed Italian-Austrian ancestry, born in the village of Kobdilj near Š ...

. The

Jakopič Pavilion The Jakopič Pavilion ( sl, Jakopičev paviljon) was an art gallery in Ljubljana, the first purpose-built art exhibition venue in the territory of modern Slovenia. It was built in 1908 by the painter Rihard Jakopič upon the plans of the architect ...

became the central venue for art exhibitions in the

Slovene Lands The Slovene lands or Slovenian lands ( sl, Slovenske dežele or in short ) is the historical denomination for the territories in Central and Southern Europe where people primarily spoke Slovene. The Slovene lands were part of the Illyrian provinc ...

at the time. In 1962, due to the relocation of a railway line, it was demolished.

Commemoration

In 1965 a primary school in Šiška was named after him. Since 1969, the Jakopič Award, the highest Slovenian award in fine arts, is presented annually. In 1970–72, a statue of Jakopič by Bojan Kunaver was erected on the original site of the pavilion. In 1979, a new Jakopič Gallery ( sl, Galerija Jakopič) opened at Slovene Street ( sl, Slovenska cesta) in Ljubljana. After Slovenia declared independence from Yugoslavia, Jakopič was portrayed by Rudi Španzel on the 100

Slovenian tolar The tolar was the currency of Slovenia from 8 October 1991 until the introduction of the euro on 1 January 2007. It was subdivided into 100 ''stotinov'' (cents). The ISO 4217 currency code for the Slovenian tolar was ''SIT''. From October 1991 un ...

banknote, in circulation from October 1991 until the introduction of

euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

in January 2007.

Selected works

*''Sončni breg (Sunny Hillside)'' (1903), National Gallery, Ljubljana *''Breze v jeseni (Birches in Autumn)'' (1903), National Gallery, Ljubljana *''Kamnitnik v snegu (Kamnitnik in the Snow)'' (1903), National Gallery, Ljubljana *''Sončni breg (Sunny Hillside)'' (1903), National Gallery, Ljubljana *''Zima (Winter)'' (1904), National Gallery, Ljubljana *''Pri svetilki (By the lamp)'' (1904), National Gallery, Ljubljana *''Študija sonca (A Study of the Sun)'' (1905), National Gallery, Ljubljana *''Križanke'' (1909), National Gallery, Ljubljana *''Spomini (Memories)'' (1912), National Gallery, Ljubljana *''Zeleni pajčolan (The Green Veil)'' (1915), National Gallery, Ljubljana *''Večer na Savi (Evening on the Sava River)'' (1926), National Gallery, Ljubljana *''Slepec (Blind man)'' (1926), National Gallery, Ljubljana

References

External links

Slovene Early Modernism: Rihard Jakopič
National Gallery of Slovenia site. Retrieved 8 May 2012. {{DEFAULTSORT:Jakopic 1869 births 1943 deaths People from the City Municipality of Ljubljana University of Ljubljana faculty Slovenian impressionist painters Members of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts Academy of Fine Arts, Prague alumni Academy of Fine Arts Vienna alumni Academy of Fine Arts, Munich alumni People with epilepsy Burials at Žale