“I WANTED TO SEE IT, EXPERIENCE IT, AND ILLUSTRATE THAT DISTANT COUNTRY OF MY LONGING DESIRE. THAT COUNTRY WAS MACEDONIA.”
ALANKA GERLOVICH WAS BORN IN LJUBLJANA IN THE YEAR 1919. SHE GAINED HER ARTISTIC EDUCATION AT THE “ACADEMY FOR FINE ARTS” IN ZAGREB, STUDYING WITH THE FAMOUS PROFESSORS KRSTO HEGEDUSIC – DRAWING AND VLADIMIR BECIC – PAINTING.
AFTER GRADUATION SHE COME BACK IN LJUBLJANA, BUT SOON AFTER THE ARREST OF HER FATHER AT THE BEGINNING OF 1944, SHE JOINED THE PARTISAN MOVEMENT AND DURING THAT TIME SHE WORKED IN A GRAPHIC STUDIO. AFTER WORLD WAR II SHE LIVED IN LJUBLJANA WORKING AS AN ART TEACHER.
ONE OF THE MOST FERTILE PERIODS IN HER CAREER WAS DURING HER VACATIONS IN MACEDONIA, BETWEEN 1953 AND 1957, WHEN SHE VISITED BITOLA, PRILEP, SKOPJE, OHRID AND MANY OF OUR MACEDONIAN VILLAGES, THAT SHE USES IN MANY OF HER WORKS. THIS "MACEDONIAN CYCLE" INCLUDES OVER 600 WORKS IN THE CAREER OF THIS ARTIST, AND IS A SEPARATE CHAPTER OF HER ART COLLECTION. IN 2003, GERLOVICH DONATED PART OF THE COLLECTION "MACEDONIAN DRAWINGS" TO THE SLOVENIAN ETHNOGRAPHIC MUSEUM.
SHE FOUND INSPIRATION FOR HER ARTISTIC WORKS IN THE TRADITIONAL MACEDONIAN COSTUME, WILDLIFE, AS WELL AS MACEDONIAN ARCHITECTURE. HER PAINTINGS CAN TAKE YOU ON A JOURNEY THROUGH MACEDONIAN PAST. IN LOVING MEMORY SHE LEFT US HER PLEASANT THOUGHT:
“I WANTED TO SEE IT, EXPERIENCE IT, AND ILLUSTRATE THAT DISTANT COUNTRY OF MY LONGING DESIRE. THAT COUNTRY WAS MACEDONIA.”
HER EXHIBITION NAMED "MACEDONIAN DRAWINGS" WAS DISPLAYED IN THE MUSEUM OF MACEDONIA IN 2001, WHERE THE MACEDONIAN PUBLIC HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO CLOSELY ACQUAINT ITSELF WITH THE CRAFTSMANSHIP OF THIS ACADEMIC ARTIST FROM SLOVENIA.
THIS ADMIRABLY IMPORTANT LADY DESERVES SPECIAL PLACE IN THE SOUL OF THE MACEDONIAN ART.
Blagojche Andonov
TRANSLATED BY: Martin Stefanovski
Македонска Ризница, број 6
1 comment:
This is my Father's cousin! I would love to see even moreof Alenka's art. I met her while she was visiting her cousin Anne in Duluth, MN.
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