New Acquisitions 2017

Donations hold a special place among the most recent additions to the collection. In the New Acquisitions 2017 exhibition, you can see donated works by Jakov Brdar, Dragica Čadež, Karel Plemenitaš, Mojca Smerdu, Jožef Vrščaj, Huiqin Wang and Dušan Tršar, all members of the Ljubljana Fine Artists Society. The artists have donated their works in thanks to the City of Ljubljana for allowing them to use the artists’ studios in Gornji trg. These artists and the other donors who include Zmaga and Ana Gale, Janez Mesesnel, Alenka and Boštjan Zorman are following in the tradition established by Ivan Hribar.

In 1907 the mayor Ivan Hribar enabled the purchase of the first painting, and by doing so laid the foundation for the collection of the future city art gallery. Four paintings were acquired in 1907. These included Ivan Grohar’s Pomlad (Spring) – currently on loan to the permanent exhibition of the National Gallery – and Jurij Tavčar’s Pokrajina (Landscape), which was the very first work to be purchased and can now be seen in the Mayor’s Room of the City Museum. In 1908, as mayor of Ljubljana, Hribar donated the City Gallery’s first painting from his own private collection. This was a work by Jurij Šubic which had previously adorned the mayor’s office in the City Hall.

The Catalogue of Works held by the Ljubljana City Art Gallery (an inventory of all artworks purchased or donated from 1907 onwards, kept by Anton Aškerc, the poet and city archivist) tells us that Ivan Hribar commissioned the painting of the Saints Cyril and Methodius “for the Church of St Joseph in Cerklje. When the parish priest later removed it from the altar, the donor decided to reclaim it”. Hribar also donated several other works to the collection. In addition to the painting referred to above, Ivan Grohar’s Brna can also be seen in the Mayor’s Room.