| Opis: | In the first chapter of the assignment I concentrated on the evolution of mountainous motifs through the works of important painters of Western art such as Albrect Dürer, Leonardo da Vinci, Joseph Mallord William Turner and Paul Cézzane. Basic conclusion was, that from the end of the Middle Ages through the Renaissance and Baroque, mountains were more or less on the periphery of an artwork (painting or graphic), the figural scene was still the most important. However, the mountains, sometimes imaginative, sometimes based on real world, gave the accent to the whole scene. In the Romantic Era the artists leaned heavily on the nature as an inspiring motif. They looked for their inspiration also in the mountains, especially in the Alps, on their glaciers and peaks. The Romanticism valued mountains as a very pure and sublime place. In the Romantic Era one of the best depictions of mountain landscape were made. Joseph Mallord William Turner, who ventured to the Alps also by himself, and Caspar David Friedrich played an important role in that period. In the 19th century there was a great interest in mountain landscape among the American painters (such as Thomas Cole, Albert Bierstadt), who through iconic mountains expressed the grandeur of the American landscape. At the time of the start of modernistic movements at the turn of the century, there were active painters like Paul Cézzane and Ferdinand Hodler, whose art was strongly bond to their prevailing motif – the local mountains. Especially Cézzane, who was in a strong »liaison« with his beloved Mount Saint Victoire, which he depicted in many ways and many times.
In the second chapter I mainly concentrated on two painters who defined the mountain landscape painting in Slovenia in the 19th century. Those painters were Anton Karinger and Marko Pernhart, who were still under the artistic influence of the rest of Europe’s not any more prevailing Romanticism, but with their work and choice of motifs defined the painting of mountains in the Slovenian art for the future. Karinger brought with his Mediterranean experiences a bright sunny palette of paint to Slovenian alpine scene (and mood) and made with his paintings some views (like a view of the mountain Triglav from Bohinj, a view of the Kamnik Alps from Kamniška Bistrica) a classic ones. Pernhart with his Carinthian origin was a more adventurous type. Due to his mountaineering skills and frequent visits to alpine peaks (like Triglav, Grossglockner), he brought back and on to his paintings views of high peaks, as well as colder, sharper colours and contours.
The third chapter focuses on Slovenian painters in the 20th century, in whose works the mountains had an important role. Though their styles (like by Fran Klemenčič, Edo Deržaj, France Pavlovec, Danilo Cedilnik) were mostly realistic with slight touches of modernism, their great value was in the artistic exploration of the Slovenian alpine scene. They depicted previous unknown mountain scenes and tried to find a new way seeing an already depicted sights. One interesting moment by their work was also (by some) their personal preoccupation with mountaineering. A very interesting figure among contemporary painters is Karel Pečko, whose main motif, for many years now, has been the iconic Carinthian mountain Uršlja gora. With his affection towards the mountain Uršlja gora, which is depicted again and again in its signature form, Pečko could be called »Slovenian Cézzane« (when we remember Cézzane's concentration on »his« Mount Saint Victoire). Going through the works of today's painters, my main impression is that the painters are not too fond of radicalization, of dissolving the mimetic recognition of depicted image. Though they are more courageous at applying colours, giving it greater role, »liberating« the forms, they still want to keep the mimetic resemblance. The reason may be in emotional tie to the image of the mountain, to the concrete sight.
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