Miha Maleš - The Piran's Years 1955-1980

You are invited to the Herman Pečarič Gallery in Piran, where the visiting exhibition Miha Maleš: The Piran’s Years 1955-1980 is open from Friday, December 10, 2021.

Miha Maleš (1903–1987) attended art academies in Zagreb, Vienna and Prague, where he also graduated. In addition to his oeuvre, he is also recorded in contemporary Slovenian history as an excellent graphic artist. He also created a lot in Piran, where he lived and spent the summer months from 1955 to 1980 with Lojze Spacal, the Kalin brothers, Dore Ogrizek and others.

The colourful monotypes, engravings and photographs he created in Piran half a century ago bear witness to life in the city at the time and will be presented for the first time at an exhibition in the Piran Gallery. The motifs of Piran, Portorož, Fiesa, Sečovlje salt pans, as well as Izola and Koper predominate. The works in the exhibition are from the daughter’s collection, Travica Maleš Grešak and from the Miha Maleš Gallery Kamnik. They will be professionally presented by the curator of Breda Ilich Klančnik, researcher and connoisseur of the entire opulence of Maleš, who also contributed to the record in a bilingual leaflet and wrote, among other things:

“Maleš approached Piran from various angles, watched the typical city view from afar, entered its mysterious narrow streets with characteristic arches, stopped at a detail, portal or window, counted many bell towers and looked at the crowded port. From the city he went to nearby Fiesa, Portorož, Seča and the area of ​​salt pans. He drove to Izola and Koper. Everywhere, in addition to the sketchbook, he was accompanied by an indispensable camera. He pressed the shutter button of his camera several times and later made numerous engravings and a series of colourful monotypes based on tiny contact copies. The photographs eventually gained authentic documentary value. The filigree white drawing extracted quite a few poetic scenes from the dark background of the graphic matrix, especially in the night reflections of modest saltworks houses. The artist took a special interest in creating monotypes, which he later made on the basis of photographs in the Ljubljana studio on the edge of Tivoli. So, he extended his summer and translated his thoughts on Piran into intoxicating colour images. “

The exhibition will be on view until February 13, 2022.

Entry to the gallery will be possible only with all anti-crown measures.