Art History Curatorship
From its founding up until 1975 there was no professional staff at the curatorship. In that
year the Dolenjska Museum employed as head of the gallery architect Jovo Grobovšek, whose
primary concern was fine art exhibitions, and since 1978 the work of art historian has been
performed by Jožef Matijevič. Towards the end of the eighties the number of art exhibitions
fell, and a major difference was noticed after 1994, when exibition activities were limited
to exhibitions organised for study purposes, with an emphasis on the Museum’s own
repository material and on exhibitions of Dolenjska artists.
The art history department has no permanent display, so the Museum’s items are located in
the repositories. The more recent art history collection of Dolenjska Museum comprises for
the most part fine art works by artists that were in one way or another associated with
Dolenjska; either they were born here and worked in their native environment, or they came
here from elsewhere and left the imprint of their creative work. Of the leading Slovenian
painters the collection includes works by Matej Langus, Ivana Kobilca, Ivan Vavpotič and
Maksim Gaspari, and of the recognised local artists works by Josip Germ, Vladimir Lamut,
Marjan Mušič and Božidar Jakac. Works by contemporary artists bear the signatures of Jože
Kumer, Jože Marinč, Janko Orač, Jože Kotar, Branko Suhy, Marin Berovič and others. The
sculptural part of the collection is more modest and alongside Baroque wooden sculptures
depicting saints there are some exceptional works by Stane Jarm and by one of Slovenia’s
greatest sculptors, Jakob Savinšek.
The Art History Curatorship keeps around 1,400 different works of art, for the most part
paintings and graphics, plus drawings and artistic photographs, while the medium of
sculpture is given a more modest representation in the collection. The Baroque period,
chiefly the later years, is represented by portraits, still lifes and genre work, while
there are also some precious altar images and paintings on religious themes. The older part
of the collection also contains fragments of frescoes from Dolenjska castles and churches.
The most magnificent item in the Museum’s art collection is without doubt the miniature
three-sectioned portable altar from 1652, in all probability produced in one of the master
workshops of northern Europe. The functional, painted façade depicts the Annunciation,
while the motif of the sacramental open part is related to the Via Dolorosa, with the
central space occupied by the crucifixion scene with a faithful representation of all the
protagonists of that dramatic event. The figures are carved in the high-relief technique,
which in the forefront verges on fully three-dimensional sculpture.
For a number of years now this department has been planning to set up a permanent overview
exhibition, which would present to visitors a selection of the artistic work of Dolenjska
from the late Renaissance to the present day. The nucleus of the collection will comprise
local Dolenjska artists as well as other famous Slovenian artists who lived temporarily in
Dolenjska and created part of their artistic opus in Novo Mesto and the Dolenjska region.
photo gallery »
|
Boris Kobe: The Writer Janez Trdina, 1969 
Unknown artist:
Three-sectioned portable altar,
painted carved wood, 1651
Jakob Savinšek:
Dancing Clown, bronze, 1953
|
)
)
)