Plečnik and Stelè: The Draughtsman and the Scholar

Collaborations between art historians and artists are quite frequent and not unknown in the Slovenian context either. However, it is rare that a cooperation such as this spans across as many different areas as was the case between art historian France Stelè and architect Jože Plečnik. We can say for certain that Plečnik’s Ljubljana, inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2021, would have been much more modest without Stelè’s involvement, with some key monuments outright missing.

Despite personal relations between Plečnik and a good decade younger Stelè only developed after World War I, while they were both residing in Ljubljana, it was their time in Vienna that significantly influenced them and had a decisive impact on the development of art and science during the interwar period. Students of the Vienna School of Art History (alongside Stelè there were also Josip Mantuani, Izidor Cankar, and Vojeslav Molè) and those of Wagner’s architectural department at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (alongside Plečnik there were also Ivan Vurnik and Wagner’s collaborator, Max Fabiani), cultivated a tender relationship towards heritage and a vision on urban development that was crucial during the modernisation, formation of national identity, and the establishment of the city of Ljubljana according to the principles of Central European capitals.

France Stelè (1886–1972) studied art history in Vienna under the mentorship of the renowned professor Max Dvořák (1874–1921). In 1913, he was appointed as the provincial conservator for Carniola, but his work was soon after interrupted by the outbreak of World War I and deployment to the Eastern Front. Following his imprisonment in Russia and the subsequent release in 1919, he returned with proficiency in multiple languages and, once again, took charge of the Monuments Office, which was now responsible for the entire territory of Slovenia (with the exception of the Primorska region). Over the course of two decades, he successfully established a well-functioning preservation and conservation service based on modern conservation principles closely tied to research. His work Oris zgodovine umetnosti pri Slovencih [T/N: An Outline of History of Art in Slovenia: A Cultural-Historical Attempt] published in 1924 set the foundation for all following research in Slovenian art. In the decades after World War II, he educated generations of art historians who then worked in the Slovenian and broader Yugoslav context as a professor at the Faculty of Arts (from 1938). Simultaneously, he was also engaged in contemporary scientific humanities, as an associate of international institutes and experts’ associations. Therefore, he is considered one of the pioneers of Slovenian art history and one of the most prominent figures in Slovenian cultural life until the end of World War II.

Plečnik’s Ljubljana resulted from a close collaboration between Plečnik, Stelè, and Matko Prelovšek, who was the head of the Municipal Construction Office. Stelè also collaborated with Plečnik on the renovation of several cultural monuments, promoted and advocated for his works in the press, and contributed to two monumental publications on the architect’s works (Architectura Perennis, 1941; Napori [T/N: Efforts], 1955). On numerous occasions, he played a key role in mediating political tensions and pressures, as well as in managing the competition among architects and the practical constraints of their plans. The latter was particularly evident during the construction of the University Library (now NUK), where he realised that Ivan Vurnik’s alternative plan could provoke a reaction from the authorities in Belgrade that would potentially jeopardise not only the entire library project but the existence of the University of Ljubljana. We can observe similar actions taken by Stelè a few years later when Plečnik and his student Edvard Ravnikar disagreed on the project for the Museum of Modern Art. Preserved letters testify to how carefully Stelè navigated between the instruction of Izidor Cankar, the critical Plečnik, and the young Ravnikar, who, with his modern approach, competed for one of the most prestigious projects in global architectural circles – a museum of modern art.

Following the architect’s passing, during a time when Plečnik’s work was not valued, Stelè took it upon himself to preserve the memory of the architect and ensure a proper appreciation of Plečnik’s oeuvre. To achieve this, he wrote the book Arhitekt Jože Plečnik v Italiji 1898–1899 [T/N: Architect Jože Plečnik in Italy 1898–1899] (1967), in which he described how the young architect encountered architectural classics, which proved to be a crucial inspiration for his creative work. Stelè’s book holds a central place in the research of the architect’s life and is among the cornerstones for all following studies on Plečnik.