Rihard Jakopič

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Rihard Jakopič (April 12, 1869–April 21, 1943) was a Slovene painter. He was the leading Slovene Impressionist painter and theoretician. Together with Matej Sternen, Matija Jama and Ivan Grohar, he is considered the pioneer of Slovene impressionist painting.

1 Life
2 Works
3 See also
4 External links
5 Sources

[edit] Life

Jakopič was born in Ljubljana, then part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, in 1869. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, the Azbe Art School in Munich, and with the Czech painter Vojtěch Hynais at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. In Ljubljana, he established the Slovene School of Impressionist Drawing and Painting, the predecessor of the Academy of Fine Arts at the University of Ljubljana. He also built a pavilion in the Tivoli Park in Ljubljana, based on plans by the architect Max Fabiani. The pavilion, known as The Jakopič Pavilion, became the central venue for art exhibitions in the Slovene Lands at the time. Over 1200 paintings and 650 drawings by Jakopič have been preserved. He was one of the early members of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts founded in 1938 and an iniciator for the foundation of the National Gallery of Slovenia. He died in Ljubljana on.

In 1962, due to the relocation of the railway line, the Jakopič Pavilion was demolished. In 1968 a statue of Jakopič by Janez Boljka was erected on the original site of the pavilion and a new Jakopič Gallery opened on Slovenska Street in Ljubljana. Since 1969, the Jakopič Award, the highest Slovenian award in fine arts, is presented annually. In 1965 a primary school in Šiška was named after him.

Jakopič was also portrayed on the old Slovene 100 tolar banknote with a detail from one of his paintings and the plans of his pavilion.