Jože Tisnikar

Jože Tisnikar

Privlačnost prvinskosti in iskrenosti
Tisnikarjevih del ob zavedanju minljivosti

likar Jože Tisnikar (rojen leta 1928 v Mislinji - umrl leta 1998 v Slovenj Gradcu) je na slovensko likovno
sceno stopil že v šestdesetih letih kot izjemno občutljiv slikar, ki je v likovni svet vnesel pretresljivo izpoved
osebnega doživetja in tragičnega občutenja življenja v okolju bolnišnične prosekture, kar ga je uvrstilo med
eksistencialno občutljive ustvarjalce. Bil je umetnik, ki je Slovenj Gradcu in Koroški, kjer je preživel vse
svoje ustvarjalno življenje, vtisnil svojstven pečat. Značilna koroška pokrajina je po videzu in utripanju
socialnega okolja melanholična, blizu ji je ekspresiven izraz, ki ga je na poseben način (v smislu genius
loci) obeležil prav Tisnikar. Tisnikarjevo ustvarjalnost je opredelila starosvetna "gotskost" tega kulturnega
prostora, ki sta ji osebno doživetje in izkustvo pridala neizbrisen pečat.

Nezavedno opuščanje metjejskih znanj ter podreditev form, barv in potez v prid občutenju je bil
Tisnikarjev način tudi potem, ko se je dokopal do metjejskega znanja in ga popolnoma obvladal. Izbral
si je staro (renesančno) slikarsko tehniko jajčne tempere, s katero je želel dobiti učinkovanje na način
sfumata na njegovih bolj ali manj prepoznavnih ozadjih, kamor je zarisoval in potem iz njih "luščil"
svoje like z značilnimi potezami.

Slogovno je Tisnikar samoten potnik, s komerkoli neprimerljiv. Ni imel vzornikov in
posnemovalcev, kajti polje njegove ustvarjalnosti - smrt kot ikonografska tema - je bila
(in je) za mnoge še zmeraj tabu, ki se ji niti ne morejo niti nočejo približati. Sugestivno
je skozi svojstveno motiviko podajal človeške travme, ob tem pa ohranil dostojanstvo.
Tančice spoznanj je odstiral na način, da ni bil nikoli banalen in nasilen, temveč
pomirjujoč in kontemplativen. Fenomen Tisnikarja kot človeka in kot slikarja je zato
pritegnil ne le strokovnjake, ki so v njegovem delu prepoznali nesporno kvaliteto,
temveč tudi mnoge občudovalce. Uspel je navdušiti toliko različnih ljudi, da to
nikakor ne moremo pripisati samo dejstvu, da je bil to odziv na ugodno kritiko in
družbeno konjukturo samorastništva v šestdesetih in sedemdesetih letih. Prav tako
Tisnikar ni postal prepoznaven le zaradi dobre medijske podpore, ki ni iskala samo sen-
zacije v predstavljanju samoniklega slikarja, ampak je sledila mnenju resnejših študij
domače in mednarodne strokovne javnosti. Tisnikar je bistveno odstopal od klišejev t.
i. naivne umetnosti in je na sceni ostal tudi potem, ko je "naiva" že zdavnaj postala
preteklost in bolj ali manj posrečena epizoda t.i. jugoslovanskega čudeža. Tisnikar je
bil zanimiv za različne generacije strokovnjakov in številno likovno publiko (vseh ge-
neracij in družbenih struktur), zato se nam ob tem poraja vprašanje, ali ni k temu veliko
doprinesla prav njegova čisto človeška lastnost, da je bil prvinski v najboljšem pomenu
tega izraza, hkrati pa kot osebnost nedvomno dovolj karizmatičen, da se je marsikdo
lahko poistovetil z njim in začutil njegov iskren nagovor. Če pri zavedanju o minljivosti
postane umetnik katalizator tesnobe in strahu ter se zajeda v lastno substanco, ker je
v vsako stvaritev dal del sebe, se potem, ko se približa gledalcu, takšno občutenje zmeh-
ča in gledalec ob podoživetju likovnega dela doživi katarzo (podobno kot pri ogledu
dobre drame v gledališču). Tako nagovoriti likovno publiko pa uspe le redkim in v tem

najbrž moramo iskati odgovor, zakaj nas Tisnikarjeve stvaritve tako privlačijo.
Njegova dela izžarevajo širok diapazon življenjskih resnic in občutenj. Ljudem so blizu.
Omogočajo vpogled v najbolj tabuizirano temo - smrt (prizori iz prosekture, sprevodi,
sedmine, križanja …), v zavedanje o minljivosti ali v bolj vsakdanje izseke iz življenja v
gostilniških prizorih, tipičnih krajinah in urbanih prostorih, kamor je umestil ljudi in
živali. Upodobitve živali v njegovem opusu so nekaj posebnega; dobijo človeške last-
nosti. Upodabljal je vrane, krokarje, netopirje, čričke, bogomolke, konje in mačke;
redkeje pa je upodobil tudi kakšnega škorpijona, rogača, bika ali sovo. Tisnikar je imel
izjemno rad živali. Že v mladosti mu je živalski svet, tako kot večini otrok iz delavsko
kmečkega okolja, pomenil beg pred vsakdanjim življenjem in mu nudil duhovno zatočišče.
Pozneje je imel udomačenega črnega vrana (Kavkija), v bližini bolnišnice pa se je smukal
prav tako udomačeni krokar. Tudi netopirji so imeli domovanje v objektih v bližini bol-
nišnice. S to nenavadno živaljo pa se je srečeval prav tako v mladosti, zlasti v temačnih
grapah Hude luknje v bližini njegove rodne Mislinje. Privlačil ga je ptič - demon, ki je
kot nočna žival vzbujal zanimanje in strah v različnih kulturah. Na Daljnem vzhodu je
netopir simbol sreče, drugje spet zaradi svoje hibridne narave (ptič, miš) predstavlja
androgina, potem vampirja (hrana nesmrtnosti) in demona. Tisnikarju so bile te živali
blizu zaradi pridiha skrivnostnosti in njihovo demoničnost je uporabil tudi v upodobit-
vah lastnega Delirija; netopirji so simbol umetnikovega trganja iz krempljev alkoholne
omame in simbol skrivnosti teme in noči. Temi in noči je bil tudi sam zavezan. Ob delu v
bolnišnici je našel čas za premišljevanje in slikanje le v poznih nočnih urah, ki so mu
omogočale zbranost in nudile tišino, umetna luč pa posebno gledanje. Navadil se je,
da je slikal vedno pri umetni luči, tudi pozneje, ko mu je čas dopuščal drugačen urnik
ustvarjanja. Okna ateljeja je vedno zagrnil in se najprej prepustil razmišljanju.
Nemalokrat je temu sledilo igranje na frajtonarico. Potem je v mislih še sledil
ostremu zvoku harmonike in s čopičem ali ogljem zarezal (kot s skalpelom) v grundi-
rano platno ali papir ...

Stalna spremljevalca Tisnikarjevega sveta pa sta seveda KROKAR in VRAN. Ptici, ki
ne pripadata isti vrsti, sta v svetu simbolike identični, slikarju pa sta bili obe vrsti
enako mili. V Genezi je krokar simbol pronicljivosti. Vloga krokarja je v različnih kul-
turah skoraj vedno pozitivna, preroška, predstavlja načelo stvarjenja (Skandinavija),
je božanski poslanec, ki izraža družinsko ljubezen (Japonska), na Kitajskem pa je sim-
bol otroške hvaležnosti do očeta in matere (krokar hrani svoje starše), kar imajo za
znamenje čudežne obnove družbenega reda. Tudi preroka Elijo so hranili krokarji.
Vlogo zaščitniškega duha ima krokar tudi v Afriki, ljudi naj bi opozarjal na grozečo
nevarnost. V večini verovanj je božji glasnik, ki razkriva skrivnosti teme. V zahod-
noevropski kulturi pa je dobil negativno simboliko: napovedoval naj bi slabe stvari,
prinašal nesrečo in žalost. Najnovejši čas pa mu je tudi v naši kulturi bolj naklonjen.
Postal je prispodoba za pametno in hudomušno žival, uporniškega duha in
zagledanost vase. V vseh kulturah pa je krokar tudi simbol samote, prostovoljne
osamitve človeka, ki je sklenil živeti na višji ravni.

Tudi KONJ je igral v Tisnikarjevi motiviki posebno vlogo; ne le kot arhetip moči,
ponosa in zemeljskosti, ampak tudi minljivosti in podzavestnega psihičnega življenja. Je
žival teme in nadnaravnih sil, žival smrti, a je tudi veličastni konj, povezan s pojmom živ-
ljenja. Kadar pa se na Tisnikarjevih upodobitvah pojavlja ob truplih, ima resničen
spominski zapis s konca druge svetovne vojne, ko je bila ločnica med življenjem in smrtjo
resnično tanka. Slikar je doživel kolone ljudi in konjev, ki so skupaj delili usodo živih
in mrtvih v breznih človeških strasti.

Niso pa Tisnikarja privlačile le mogočne in s simboliko izjemno bogate živali, kot so
konji. Posebno naklonjenost je gojil do mačk. Njihove upodobitve so prav počlovečene.
Gojijo človeška čustva (Žalujoča mačka ob povoženi tovarišici) in kažejo tudi paleto
človeških značajev. Večina upodobljenih je s poudarjenimi očmi in brki: delujejo kot
njihovi sorodniki - levi in levinje. Posluh pa je imel tudi za opazovanje narave, zato je
opazil tudi drobne živalce: bogomolke, kleščarje (rogače) …, zlasti kadar se je odzval
na povabilo organizatorjev raznih likovnih srečevanj (t. i. kolonij) in tako moral
odstopati od svojega siceršnjega motivnega sveta ter slikati v naravi ali posebnih pri-
zoriščih. Tako je nastala tudi serija slik, posvečena Romom in njihovim vasem. Poseben pa
je opus koloriranih risb in slik, ki so nastajale za skupen projekt s pesnikom Danetom
Zajcem (Krokar, Edina, Ljubljana 1997), kjer je ob poeziji tudi sam razmišljal s pesnikom
o Ujetem volku, Velikem črnem biku ali Škorpijonih ter ustvaril svojstveno serijo živali.

Tisnikar je intuitivno zaznaval ljudi in živali, naravo in naše bivanjske izkušnje na
poseben način. Izkušnja iz prosekture je umetnika zaznamovala do te mere, da je vedno
gledal na življenje z zavedanjem o minljivosti. Še posebej je bil občutljiv na grotesknost
dogajanj v času vojn in veliko je motivov, ki jih je poimenoval Po kataklizmi, Begunci …
Vedno pa nas njegova čuteča človeška plat pelje skozi krogotok življenja in smrti in
vodi do spoznanj, da je življenje krhka eksistenca, in je zato pomemben vsak trenutek, ki
nam je dan. Skupek enakih usod, kjer sleherno živo bitje premine, vzbudi čustva in
čustvovanja: od občutenja tesnobe in žalosti ob umrlih do radosti in veselja ob živih.
Katalizator teh čustvovanj v vseh situacijah pa je avtor sam, zato je avtoportret tudi
njegov najpogostejši motiv. Skozi avtoportret Tisnikar premaguje eksistencialni krč in
ob umetnikovi ustvarjalni nuji (resnični potrebi, da se razbremeni bremen ob delu v
prosekturi) odkrivamo njegov tenkočuten značaj in možnost empatije. Naklonjenost do
živih bitij v skrajnih situacijah, ljudi in živali, ki jih srečujemo tukaj in zdaj, je torej
znak umetnikove etične drže, ki jo deli tudi z naklonjeno likovno publiko.

Milena Zlatar
www.glu-sg.si

elikokrat si postavljam vprašanje, na katerega sem dolgo tega naletel v knjigi
Magellanov oblak Stanislawa Lema: koliko izjemnih umetniških talentov - nikakor
ne samo likovnih - je človeštvo v svoji zgodovini izgubilo in koliko jih izgublja
tudi ta trenutek.

Jože Tisnikar ni imel lahkega življenja in njegova smrt je bila tragična. Vseeno
pa je imel vsaj s stališča tisočev, ki jim nikoli ni bilo dano ustvariti ničesar,
veliko sreče: srečo, da se je rodil tam, kjer se je; srečo, da so ga v vojski zaposlili
tako, kakor so ga; srečo, da se je preselil v Slovenj Gradec in ne v nek večji kraj,
v katerem bi se zanj in za njegov talent ne zmenil nihče; srečo, da se je tam srečal
s Karlom Pečkom, ki mu je pomagal, ni pa mu vsiljeval svojih prepričanj; srečo,
da je dobil zaposlitev, ki je idealno ustrezala enemu polu njegove umetnosti; in
ne nazadnje srečo, da se je vse to zgodilo v šestdesetih letih, ko so t. i. ''naivci''
prišli v modo.

Razlogov, zaradi katerih je naivna umetnost v drugi polovici šestdesetih let
prejšnjega stoletja postala tako izjemno priljubljena (njena priljubljenost je
segala tudi v sedemdeseta leta, zadnji, sicer le šibki odmevi pa so opazni še
danes), je toliko, da jih na tem mestu niti ne bom skušal našteti. Zadošča naj
ugotovitev, da je jugoslovanska naiva v glavnem zrasla iz hlebinske šole; njen
pobudnik je bil - še pred drugo svetovno vojno - Krsto Hegedušić, njen glavni
predstavnik pa je bil in ostal Ivan Generalić. Ena od temeljnih značilnosti šole
- in njenih posnemovalcev - je bila likovno in vsebinsko prijazna anekdotičnost;
ta je med drugim temeljila tudi na delih Pietra Brueghla st., flamskega slikar-
ja tretje četrtine šestnajstega stoletja, ki je bil eden od Hegedušićevih idealov.

Že takšen do skrajnosti popreproščen opis kaže, da Tisnikarja z jugoslovanskimi
naivci ni mogoče povezovati; svojčas so ga mednje uvrščali zato, ker pač ni imel
formalne likovne izobrazbe, pa tudi, ker je na prvi pogled ustrezal modelu v
vsakem smislu neizobraženega, a likovno nadarjenega ''kmeta''. Vendar
Tisnikarjeva perspektiva ni bila ''kmečka''. Kmete je sicer uporabljal, zlasti v svo-
jem poznejšem opusu, a očitno je, da se je mednje vračal kot zunanji opazovalec
in ne kot eden od njih - to je tudi edina pomembna skupna točka med njim in med
Brueghlom, za katerega so svojčas tudi trdili, da je ''moral biti kmet''.

Tisnikarjeva perspektiva pa tudi ni bila meščanska. (Meščanskih ''naivcev'' je seve-
da veliko manj kot kmečkih, pa čeprav mednje sodi najslavnejši od vseh, predvsem
kot ''carinik'' znani Henri Julien Félix Rousseau.) Tisnikar je bil in je ostal izje-
men zato, ker je na človeško komedijo gledal s stališča smrti in ker se je pri tem
jasno zavedal obeh vidikov svojih likov in sebe samega, komičnega in tragičnega:
njegove figure, tako ljudje kakor živali, so vedno komične, a v komediji se skri-
va tragedija - in obratno, tragedije, ki jih upodablja, so vedno tudi komične.
Takšno trdno stališče, ki ga nikoli ni spremenil, mu je omogočilo, da je tako

rekoč hipoma - verjetno zgrešen, a upravičen vtis - ustvaril docela svojstven
likovni jezik. Ta ni soroden niti standardnemu ''naivnemu'' niti kateremu koli
drugemu - od običajnih se mu še najbolj prilega posplošena označba ''ekspresi-
ven'', nikakor pa ne ožja ''ekspresionističen''. Drugače kakor temeljno
izhodišče je likovni jezik pozneje spreminjal tako v oblikovnem kakor v koloris-
tičnem smislu, ob tem pa so se spreminjali tudi ikonografski poudarki: njegova
umetnost je bila vedno manj vezana na konkretne dogodke, postajala je bolj
posplošena, ''simbolistična'', kljub temu pa je ostala značilna in samo njegova:
tudi v tem smislu je bil značilen predstavnik ene najbolj uspešnih generacij
slovenskih umetnikov.

Lev Menaše

Priložene reprodukcije Na naslovnici mape: Vran, 0lje na platnu, 73 x 60 cm, 1998
Zgoraj: V prosekturi, olje na platnu, 110,5 x 149,5 cm, 1985
Nikoli več vojne, tempera na papirju, 64 x 50 cm, 1966 Zgoraj desno. Poroka I, lavirana risba, 30 x 40 cm, ni dat.
Brez naslova, olje na platnu, 46 x 38, 1976
Brez naslova, olje na platnu, 46 x 38 cm, 1985
Brez naslova, olje na platnu, 52 x 60 cm, 1985
Sedmina, olje, tempera, platno, 81 x 100 cm, 1986
Avtoportret, tempera na papirju, 52 x 41 cm, 1988
Sprevod, olje na platnu, 91 x 74 cm, 1996
Brez naslova, olje na platnu, 81 x 100 cm, 1998

Biografija

Rodil se je 26. februarja 1928 v Mislinji kot prvi od devetih otrok Slavku in Margareti
Tisnikar. Po očetovi zgodnji smrti se zaposli v tovarni papirja in pomaga materi vzdrževati
brate in sestre. Leta 1948 služi vojaški rok in se usposablja za bolničarja, kar postane
zanj usodna življenjska odločitev. Leta 1951 se zaposli v bolnišnici v Slovenj Gradcu in
že slika. Podpira ga primarij dr. Stane Strnad, ki ga leta 1954 tudi seznani z akademskim
slikarjem Karlom Pečkom. Pečko, pozneje tudi uveljavljen galerist in spiritus agens kul-
turnega življenja v Slovenj Gradcu, postane njegov mentor in Tisnikar naslika leta 1955
prvo oljno sliko iz ambienta prosekture - Obdukcija. Leta 1958 prvič samostojno raz-
stavlja na kongresu kirurgov v Ljubljani. Leto zatem se poroči z Marijo Stepišnik. Leta
1963 že postane član Društva slovenskih likovnih umetnikov in prvič razstavlja v tujini
v galeriji Künstlerhaus na Dunaju. Že leta 1970 prejme pomembno nacionalno priznanje -
nagrado Prešernovega sklada za dela, razstavljena leta 1969. Prva monografija o umet-
nikovem življenju in delu izide leta 1974 (besedilo Marijan Tršar), sledi knjiga Svet obu-
jenih mrtvecev Nebojše Tomaševiča, ki leta 1978 Tisnikarja skupaj s filmom predstavi v
tujini (prevedena je ne le v angleški in nemški jezik, temveč tudi japonščino). Leta 1986
izide monografija pri založbi Mladinska knjiga (več avtorjev) in istega leta naredi
likovno zasnovo za igro Svetlane Makarovič: Mrtvec pride po ljubico. Prav tako naredi
tudi scenske predloge za dramo Singer za Shakespearovo gledališče v Londonu (leta
1989). Leta 1990 nastopi v predstavi Brigade lepote v režiji Vlada Repnika (Cankarjev
dom v Ljubljani); Tisnikar je nastopil kot "vdor realnega" - igral je samega sebe. Leta 1996
izide monografija Risbe pri založbi Ewo (študija Milček Komelj), leto zatem pa knjiga v
tandemu s pesnikom Danetom Zajcem - Krokar (Založba Edina, Ljubljana).
Umetnik je častni občan rojstne občine Mislinja in občine Slovenj Gradec. Od leta 1958
je več kot stokrat samostojno razstavljal na pomembnih razstavah doma in v tujini ter bil
vabljen tudi na številne skupinske razstave. Po veliki in zelo odmevni retrospektivni raz-
stavi v Koroški galeriji likovnih umetnosti v Slovenj Gradcu leta 1998, ki se je iztekala
prav v oktobru, je Tisnikar 30. oktobra 1998 umrl v prometni nesreči.

V Sloveniji hranijo Tisnikarjeva dela mnogi zasebniki, galerije in muzeji, najpomembnejše
pa so zbirke: Stalna zbirka v Koroški galeriji likovnih umetnosti v Slovenj Gradcu,
Zasebna zbirka Alojza Ovsenika v Kranju (dostopna javnosti) in zbirka - umetnikova
zapuščina, ki jo hrani umetnikova žena Marija Tisnikar v Slovenj Gradcu. Izjemni sta tudi
zbirki firm Gorenje v Velenju in Prevent v Slovenj Gradcu.

Galerija Prešernovih nagrajencev
za likovno umetnost Kranj

Glavni trg 18, 4000 Kranj, 04/202 57 16
www.gpn.kranj.si
[email protected]

Vodja galerije: Marko Arnež ● Organizacija: Marko Arnež, Milena Zlatar, mag. Barbara Kalan
Izdal: Gorenjski muzej, www.gorenjski-muzej.si - zanj: Marija Ogrin, v. d. direktorice

Besedilo: Milena Zlatar in dr. Lev Menaše ● Prevod: Jana Kranjec Menaše in David Limon
Lektura in korekture: Milena Ilić in mag. Barbara Kalan ● Fotografije: Tomo Jeseničnik, Bine Kovačič, Tihomir Pinter,
Dragiša Modrinjak, Marko Tušek ● Oblikovanje: Marko Tušek ● Tisk: Tiskarna GTO Košir ● Naklada: 250 izvodov

Razstava je nastala v sodelovanju s Koroško galerijo likovnih umetnosti Slovenj Gradec
in Galerijo mizarstva Ovsenik iz Kranja.

Delovanje galerije omogoča Mestna občina Kranj.

Kranj, marec 2011



The attraction of the primal nature and honesty of Tisnikar’s paintings
alongside the awareness of mortality

he painter Jože Tisnikar (born in 1928 in Mislinja, died in 1998 in Slovenj Gradec) entered the Slovene art scene
in the Sixties as an exceptionally sensitive artist, who introduced into the Slovene artistic world the touching story
of his personal experience and the tragic dimension of life as seen in a hospital mortuary, thus joining the ranks of
existentially sensitive artists. His work left a unique mark on the town of Slovenj Gradec and the Koroška region,
where he spent the whole of his creative life. The typical Koroška landscape is melancholic in appearance and in
the pulse of its social environment, lending itself well to the expressive works of art created by Tisnikar in a high-
ly unique way (in the sense of a genius loci). His creativity was defined by the old fashioned "Gothic" nature of
this cultural space, to which his personal experience added an indelible mark. Unconsciously abandoning the skills
of his profession and subjecting form, colour and features to sensation was Tisnikar's approach even after he had
striven to achieve these skills and completely mastered his metier. He chose the old (Renaissance) egg tempera tech-
nique, with which he wished to achieve a sfumato effect on backgrounds that had a varying degree of recognis-
ability, onto which he drew and then "peeled off" his figures with their characteristic features.

Stylistically, Tisnikar is a lonely traveller, not really comparable with any other artist.
He had no models or imitators as his creative field - death as an iconographic theme - was
(and still is) a taboo for many, who can neither come close to it nor wish to. While pre-
serving dignity, Tisnikar suggestively presented human trauma through a unique set of
images. He removed the veils of recognition in a manner that was never banal or violent,
but calm and contemplative. This is why the phenomenon of Tisnikar as a person and as an
artist attracted not only the experts who saw indisputable quality in his work, but also
many admirers. He managed to enthuse so many different people that this can in no way be
explained as merely a reaction to favourable critical acclaim and the social market condi-
tions associated with untrained artists in the Sixties and Seventies. Nor did Tisnikar
become renowned only due to media support, which in addition to seeking a sensational pres-
entation of a self-made artist also followed the opinions of serious studies written by the
expert public at home and abroad. Tisnikar deviated greatly from the clichés of naive art
and remained on the scene even after this art became passé and seen as just an episode of
dubious value within the Yugoslav miracle.

Tisnikar was attractive to different generations of specialists and a large artistic public
(of all generations and social backgrounds), which is why there arises the question of
whether this was perhaps not greatly influenced by his very human characteristic of being
primal in the best sense of this word, while as a person also being undoubtedly sufficient-
ly charismatic for many people to be able to identify with and to sense his sincere address-
ing of the observer. If through his awareness of death the artist became a catalyst of anx-
iety and fear, devouring his own substance by putting a part of himself into every creation,
this sensation is softened in the way the observer is approached and when the observer sees
the painting, he or she experiences catharsis (similar to that experienced in the theatre).
Not many artists manage to address their public in such a way and this is probably where
we should seek the answer to the question of why we are so attracted to Tisnikar's work.
His paintings illuminate a wide range of life situations and feelings. People feel close to
them. They facilitate an insight into the most taboo topic - death (post mortem scenes, pro-
cessions, wakes, crucifixions, etc.), into the awareness of mortality, or into more ordinary
slices of life in scenes from taverns, typical landscapes and urban spaces into which
Tisnikar placed people, birds and animals. His depictions of the latter two are something
special: they acquire human characteristics. He painted crows, ravens, bats, crickets, pray-

ing mantises, horses and cats; occasionally also the odd scorpion, stag beetle, bull or owl.
The artist was extremely fond of birds and animals. When he was very young, the animal
world was somewhere he, like most children from a farming environment, was able to escape
to from everyday life and which offered him a place of spiritual refuge. Later, he had a pet
crow called Kavki, while there was also a domesticated raven wandering in the vicinity of
the hospital. Numerous bats also had their home in the adjacent buildings and even as a
child, he often came across these animals near his birthplace Mislinja. He was attracted by
them - seeing them as nocturnal demons that evoked interest and fear in different cultures.
In the Far East, the bat is a symbol of luck, while elsewhere, due to its hybrid nature
(bird/mouse), it represents androgyny, as well as the vampire (seeker of the food of immor-
tality) or demon. Tisnikar liked bats because there was something mysterious about them
and he used their demonic nature in the depiction of his own Delirium. Bats are a symbol
of the artist freeing himself from the clutches of alcoholic intoxication, as well as of the
mysterious nature of darkness and night, to which he was bound. While working at the hos-
pital, he had time for contemplation and painting only during the night hours of the night,
when he was able to focus and find silence, while the artificial light allowed him to see
things differently. He got used to painting in artificial light; and even later, when his
timetable allowed him to paint at different times of the day, he would cover the windows
of his studio and first spend some time thinking. Often this was followed by playing the
accordion. Then he kept pursuing the sharp sounds of the accordion in his thoughts while
he took his brush or a piece of coal (like a scalpel) to the primed canvas or paper.

them both equally. In Genesis, the raven is a symbol of insight. In various cultures, the raven
almost always plays a positive, prophetic role, representing the principle of creation (in
Scandinavia); it is a divine messenger, expressing family love (Japan); in China, it is a symbol
of a child's gratitude to its parents (a raven feeding its parents), which is considered a sign
of the miraculous restoration of the social order. The prophet Elijah was also fed by
ravens. Furthermore, in Africa the raven plays the role of a protective spirit, warning peo-
ple of danger. In most religions, it is a divine messenger, revealing the secrets of darkness.
In Western European culture, however, it has acquired a negative symbolism: it is thought
to predict negative things, bringing misfortune and misery. But more recently, even our cul-
ture has become more benevolent towards it. It has become a metaphor of an intelligent and
witty bird, of a rebellious spirit and of narcissism. In addition, a raven is a symbol of lone-
liness, the voluntary isolation of a person who has decided to live on a higher plane.

The HORSE also plays a special role in Tisnikar's world of imagery; not just as an arche-
type of strength, pride and earthliness, but also of death and the subconscious. It is crea-
ture of darkness and supernatural forces, a creature of death, but at the same time also
the magnificent horse, tethered to the phenomenon of life. When it appears in Tisnikar's
paintings beside corpses it carries a genuine commemorative message from the end of World
War II, when the dividing line between life and death was truly a fine one. The painter expe-
rienced columns of people and horses who shared the fate of the living and the dead in the
abysses of human passions.

However, Tisnikar was not only attracted by majestic animals imbued with symbolism, such
as horses. He was particularly fond of cats. His depictions of them are very humanised.

They have human feelings (A Grieving Cat beside Her Friend Killed on the Road) and
demonstrate the whole range of human characters. Most have emphasised eyes and
whiskers: they remind us of their relatives, the lions. Tisnikar observed the rest of the nat-
ural world and noticed even the smallest animals, such as praying mantises and beetles,
especially when he was responding to the invitations of the organisers of various artistic
gatherings and had to deviate from his regular themes, painting outside or in special set-
tings. We can mention here the series of paintings dedicated to the Roma and their villages;
the coloured drawings and paintings produced for his joint project with the poet Dane Zajc
(Krokar, Edina, Ljubljana 1997) is also special. With the poet, the artist thought about the
Captured Wolf, Big Black Bull or Scorpions and created a unique series of animals.

Tisnikar intuitively sensed people and animals, the natural world and life itself in a special
way. His experiences in pathology marked him to the extent that he always looked upon life
through an awareness of its ephemerality. He was particularly sensitive to the grotesque-
ness of wartime events and there are many works with names such as After the Cataclysm,
Refugees, etc. But we are always led by his human sensitivity through the circle of life and
death to the realisation of life's fragility and that every moment granted us is important.
The common fate of every living being - death - awakens emotions and feelings: from anxiety
and sadness in relation to those that have died, to joy and happiness in relation to those
that are alive. The catalyst of all the emotions in all the situations is the artist himself,
which is why the self-portrait is a common theme. In this way Tisnikar overcomes the exis-
tential spasm and in his creative need (a genuine need to unburden himself from everything
weighing him down in his work in the mortuary) we discover his sensitive character and
capacity for empathy. A favourable attitude to living beings, both people and animals, in
extreme situations, that we encounter here and now, is thus a sign of the artist's ethical
stance, which he shares with his admiring artistic public.

Milena Zlatar
www.glu-sg.si

often ask myself a question which I had long ago come across in Stanislaw Lem's book The
Magellanic Cloud: how many outstanding artistic talents - by no means merely visual ones - has
humanity lost throughout its history, and how many it is losing at this very moment?

The life of Jože Tisnikar was not easy, and his death was tragic. Nevertheless, he was actually
quite lucky, at least if compared to thousands of others who have never had a chance to cre-
ate anything: it was luck to have been born where he was born; luck also to be employed by the
army in the way that he was employed by them; luck that he had moved to Slovenj Gradec instead
of having moved to some larger town, in which no one would have paid any attention to either
himself or his talent; luck that he there came to know Karl Pečko who helped him in many ways,
but did not impose his own beliefs to him; luck to have gained an employment which was ideally
suited to one side of his art; and last but not least, it was luck that all of these had been hap-
pening during the 1960s, when the so-called ''naive art'' became popular.

The reasons why naive art became so extremely popular in the second half of the 1960s (and
remained popular also in the 1970s, while the last feeble reflections can still be observed even
today) are so numerous that I will not attempt to list them here. Let it suffice to say that the
Yugoslav naive art mainly originated from the Hlebine School; its main initiator was - even
before the second World War - Krsto Hegedušić, while its main representative was and remains
to this day Ivan Generalić. One of the main characteristics of the school - and its imitators -
was amiable anecdoticism, so in the visual sense as in the sense of the contents; it was inter alia
based upon the works by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, the Flemish master of the third quarter of
the 16th century, who was one of Hegedušić's ideals.

Even such an utterly simplified description shows that Tisnikar cannot be linked to Yugoslav
naive art; at one time he was classified as such an artist due to the fact that he did not have any
formal education, but also because at first sight he conformed to the model of an uneducated,
but artistically gifted ''peasant''. However, Tisnikar's perspective was not a ''peasant'' perspective;
he did depict peasants, particularly in his later works, but it was obvious that he was returning
to them as an external observer and not as one of them - this is also the only significant common
point between him and Bruegel, as it was once thought that Bruegel ''must have been a peasant''.

But Tisnikar's perspective was not bourgeois either. (There are of course much fewer bour-
geois''naives'' than peasant ones, although one of them is the most famous of them all, Henri
Julien Félix Rousseau, best known as Le Douanier.) Tisnikar was and remained exceptional
because he was looking upon the human comedy from the standpoint of death, and because in
doing so he was fully aware of both the comic and the tragic aspects of his characters and of
himself: his figures, human as well as animal, are always comic, but tragedy is hidden within com-
edy - and vice versa, tragedies that he depicts are always comic as well. Such a firm standpoint
which he never altered made it possible for him to create, apparently in a moment - an impression
which is probably incorrect, but quite justified - a completely unique visual language. It is nei-
ther related to the standard ''naive'' style nor to any other - of all the usual designations, the
generalized ''expressive'' suits him best, while the narrower ''expressionist'' fits not at all.
Contrary to the basic starting-point, his visual language was later on changing in form and in
colour, and iconographic emphases were changing at the same time: his art was becoming less
and less linked to concrete events, it was becoming more generalized, ''symbolist'', while still
remaining characteristically and entirely his own: in this sense, too, he was a typical represen-
tative of one of the most successful generations of Slovene artists.

Lev Menaše

Biography

Born on 26 February 1928 in Mislinja, the first of Slavko and Margareta Tisnikar's nine chil-
dren. After his father's early death, he worked in a paper factory in order to help his mother
raise his siblings. In 1948 he did his military service, where he trained as a nurse, which was a
crucial decision in his life. In 1951 he was employed by the Slovenj Gradec hospital and began
painting. He found a patron in Dr Stane Strnad, who in 1954 introduced him to the academy-
trained painter Karl Pečko. Pečko, later an established art dealer and a leading figure of
Slovenj Gradec cultural life, became his mentor and in 1955 Tisnikar painted his first oil paint-
ing depicting the forensic pathology department environment, Autopsy. In 1958, he staged his
first independent exhibition at a congress of surgeons in Ljubljana. A year later he married
Marija Stepišnik. In 1963 he became a member of the Society of Slovene Fine Artists and had his
first foreign exhibition in the Künstlerhaus gallery in Vienna. As early as 1970 he received an
important national award of the Prešeren Fund for the paintings he had exhibited in 1969. The
first monograph about the artist's life and work was published in 1974 (written by Marijan
Tršar), followed by the book Svet obujenih mrtvecev (Tisnikar, Painter of Death) by Nebojša
Tomaševič in 1978, which, together with a film, introduced Tisnikar to the international pub-
lic (the book was translated not only into English and German, but also Japanese). In 1986,
Mladinska knjiga published another monograph (several authors) and in the same year
Tisnikar also created the set design for the play by Svetlana Makarovič Mrtvec pride po lju-
bico (A Dead Man Comes for His Beloved). In 1989, he drew sketches for the set design for the
play Singer by the Shakespeare Theatre in London. In 1990, he appeared in Vlado Repnik's per-
formance Brigade lepote (Brigades of Beauty, in Cankarjev dom, Ljubljana) as the "intrusion
of the real", playing himself. In 1996, another monograph - Risbe (Drawings) - was published by
EWO (the introductory text written by Milček Komelj), and a year later, Tisnikar himself pub-
lished a book in tandem with the poet Dane Zajc Krokar (Raven, published by Edina, Ljubljana).

Tisnikar was an honorary citizen of the Mislinja and Slovenj Gradec municipalities. After 1958
he had more than a hundred independent exhibitions at home and abroad and was invited to
take part in many group exhibitions. Tisnikar died in a car accident on 30 October 1998, just as
a major and very well received retrospective exhibition at the Koroška Art Gallery in Slovenj
Gradec was about to end.

Tisnikar's paintings are kept by many individuals, galleries and museums around Slovenia, but the
most important collections are: the permanent collection in the Koroška Art Gallery in Slovenj
Gradec, Alojz Ovsenik's private collection in Kranj (accessible to the public) and the collection
of the works the artist left to his wife Marija Tisnikar in Slovenj Gradec. There are also notable
collections kept by the companies Gorenje in Velenje and Prevent in Slovenj Gradec.

List of illustrations:

No more war, tempera and paper, 64 x 50 cm, 1966
Untitled, oil on canvas, 46 x 38, 1976
Untitled, oil on canvas, 46 x 38 cm, 1985
Untitled, oil on canvas, 52 x 60 cm, 1985
Wake, oil, tempera, canvas, 81 x 100 cm, 1986
Self-portrait, tempera on paper, 52 x 41 cm, 1988
Procession, oil on canvas, 91 x 74 cm, 1996
Untitled, oil on canvas, 81 x 100 cm, 1998

Nikoli več vojne, tempera na papirju, 64 x 50 cm, 1966

Brez naslova, olje na platnu, 46 x 38, 1976

Brez naslova, olje na platnu, 46 x 38 cm, 1985

Brez naslova, olje na p

platnu, 52 x 60 cm, 1985

Sedmina, olje, tempera, p

platno, 81 x 100 cm, 1986

Avtoportret, tempera na papirju, 52 x 41 cm, 1988

Sprevod, olje na platnu, 91 x 74 cm, 1996

Brez naslova, olje na pl

latnu, 81 x 100 cm, 1998

Galerija Prešernovih nagrajencev
za likovno umetnost
Kranj
Glavni trg 18
4000 Kranj
04/202 57 16
www.gpn.kranj.si
[email protected]

Kranj, marec 2011

Ta publikacija
je v tiskani različici izšla
v obliki mape

(na fotografijah)