Božidar Jakac - Timeless artist

You are invited on the opening of  the exhibition Božidar Jakac – Timeless Artist in cooperation with the Dolenjska Museum Novo mesto on Friday, 27 May 2022, at 7 pm in the Miha Maleš Gallery. Works from different periods of the artist’s work, which are kept by the Dolenjska Museum Novo mesto and Jakčev dom in Novo mesto, will be on display.

Božidar Jakac (1899-1989) from Novo mesto, in addition to primary school, also attended the first grade of the Novo mesto grammar school. In 1913 he continued his education at the high school in Idrija. In 1917 he was drafted into the Austro-Hungarian army; among other things he was a participant in the last great Austrian offensive on the river Piava. While treating bites in Opava, he became interested in pastel in one of the art galleries, which later became his main expressive art technique. In 1918 he exhibited publicly for the first time at the XV. art exhibition in the Jakopič Pavilion in Ljubljana. Between 1919 and 1923 he studied at the Academy of Arts in Prague and was the first Slovene to complete a graphic specialization with Professor August Brömse. He completed his studies with excellent results and special praise from the faculty. During his studies, he acted as the initiator of the event called “Novo mesto Spring” in his home environment of Novo mesto. During this time, he also became interested in photography and filmmaking. Numerous trips to Europe, America and North Africa later produced a huge number of slides and films. His photographic and film recordings from his travels in Slovenia are also very important, with many famous and important personalities, events, places and ethnographic motifs.

Jakac was primarily a prolific draftsman, graphic artist and painter of pastels and oil paintings, and he also created illustrations and other genres all the way to stamp design.