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Biografija

Rodil se je 24. avgusta 1898 pri Sv. Ani v Trstu.
Po končani srednji šoli, kjer je študiral dekorativno slikarstvo, so ga vpoklicali v
vojaško službo. Iz prvih let vojaške službe so znana njegova prva dela, ki že kažejo
mojstrsko risarsko potezo. Ko je poučeval risanje na meščanski šoli v Postojni, se je
ukvarjal tudi s slikarstvom, kiparstvom in grafiko, predvsem jedkanico. Leta 1922 je na
akademiji v Bologni opravil izpit, ki mu je omogočal poučevanje risanja in umetnostne
zgodovine na srednjih šolah.
Leta 1922 ga je pot zanesla v München, kjer je na tamkajšnji akademiji študiral
slikarstvo pri profesorjih K. Becker-Gundhalu in J. Hillerbrandu. Spomladi 1923 se je
zaradi zanimanja za sodobnejše, drznejše stile v slikarstvu in upodabljajoči umetnosti odpravil na Bauhaus,
ki je bil takrat sinonim za avantgardo in socializem. Zaradi svojega revolucionarnega odnosa do umetnos-
ti in odpiranja izraznih možnosti na drugih likovnih področjih se je oklenil konstruktivizma. Bil je učenec
Vasilija Kandinskega in Laszla Moholy-Nagya.
Po vrnitvi iz Bauhausa je bil od leta 1923 do 1925 profesor na Tehniški srednji šoli v Ljubljani. V času
ljubljanskega velesejma (15.-25. avgust 1924) je imel svojo prvo konstruktivistično razstavo, ki je bila
postavljena v telovadnici Srednje tehniške šole. Od 5. do 19. julija 1925 je imel drugo razstavo, ki je
obsegala impresionistična, ekspresionistična in kubistična dela. Obeh razstav likovni kritiki niso dobro
sprejeli. Nesprejemanje in nerazumevanje njegovega dela ter še nekatere druge okoliščine so ga prisilile,
da si je novo delovno okolje poiskal v Trstu.
Černigojevo konstruktivistično delovanje se je zaključilo leta 1929 z objavo njegovih in skupinskih
del v nemškem "Der Sturm". Svojo umetniško pot je nadaljeval v umetnostni tradicionalnejši obliki, ne da
bi pri tem odpravil polemične poteze.
Leta 1930 je razstavljal na Trienalu dekorativne umetnosti v Monzi, leta 1932 pa na Bienalu v
Benetkah.
Iz časa med II. svetovno vojno poznamo njegove poslikave cerkva (Štivan pri Devinu, Grahovo v Baški
grapi, Drežnica, Knežak, Bač, Košana…).
Po drugi svetovni vojni se je posvetil poučevanju in istočasno še naprej ustvarjal. Njegova dela sega-
jo od figurativnih izkušenj do abstraktno-formalnih in kubističnih stvaritev.
Ob povratku v Trst je bilo Černigojevo življenje stalno, neprekinjeno preizkušanje in uvajanje novih
izzivov. Kot požrtvovalni umetnostni pedagog je v Trstu pomagal vzgojiti več generacij slovenskih
dijakov in med njimi tudi več upodabljajočih umetnikov.
Poleti 1950 so se v Moderni galeriji v Ljubljani predstavili člani skupine slovenskih tržaških slikar-
jev. Razstava je imela zelo velik odmev, saj je le še potrdila položaj Trsta kot drugega najvažnejšega
središča slovenskega slikarstva.
Leto 1956 je bilo za Černigoja prelomno. Tedaj je prestopil mejo med kubično stiliziranim motivom in
čisto abstraktno formo. Vse to je pokazal na razstavi v Jakopičevem paviljonu, ki je vzbudila veliko
pozornost.
Šele v sedemdesetih letih 20. stoletja je širši kulturni krog začel ceniti pomen in kakovost Černigo-
jevega ustvarjanja. Imel je odmevne razstave, prejel pa je tudi pomembna priznanja. Leta 1976 je dobil tudi
Prešernovo nagrado za življenjsko delo na likovnem področju. Leta 1981 je postal dopisni član SAZU.
Zadnjih pet let svojega življenja je preživel v Lipici. Tam so (po načrtih Matjaža Garzarollija) leta
1986 odprli Černigojevo galerijo. Od leta 1987 je zbirka urejena v obliki, kakršno si je zamislila skupina
Novi kolektivizem.
Avgust Černigoj je umrl 17. novembra 1985 v Sežani, kjer je tudi pokopan.

mag. Davor Kernel

Kustos Goriškega muzeja

VIRI:
- Krečič, Peter: Avgust Černigoj, Založništvo tržaškega tiska, Trst, 1980
- Slovenski veliki leksikon, Mladinska knjiga, Ljubljana, 2003, str. 355

Biography

He was born on August 24, 1898 at Sv. Ana in Trst / Trieste.
After graduation from secondary school, where he studied decorative painting, he was enlisted in
military service. From his first military years, his first works are known which already indicate a master's
stroke. While teaching drawing at the civic school in Postojna, he also occupied himself with painting,
sculpture and graphics, mainly etching. In 1922, he passed an exam at the Academy of Bologna which made
it possible for him to teach drawing and art history at grammar schools.
In 1922 he went to Munich where he studied painting at the Academy, with Professors K. Becker-
Gundhal and J. Hillerbrand. Due to his interest in more contemporary, daring styles in painting and
plastic art in general, he in the spring of 1923 set off to Bauhaus which, at the time, was a synonym for
avant-garde and socialism. Because of his revolutionary attitude towards art, and the opening of
expression possibilities in other plastic art spheres, he embraced constructivism. He was a pupil of
Wassily Kandinsky and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy.
After his return from Bauhaus, he taught at the Technical Secondary School in Ljubljana from
1923 to 1925. At the time of Ljubljana Fair (Aug. 15.-25, 1924) he held his first constructivist exhibition,
presented in the gymnasium of his school. His second exhibition, from July 5 to 19, 1925, comprised
impressionist, expressionist and cubist works. Both exhibitions were rejected by critics. The non-
acceptance and non-understanding of his work, together with some other circumstances, forced him to
find his new working environment in Trst / Trieste.
Černigoj's constructivist phase was concluded in 1929, with the publication of his own and some
group works in the German "Der Sturm". He continued along his artistic path in a more traditional
form, without eliminating polemic traits.
In 1930 he exhibited at the Triennial of Decorative Art in Monza, in 1932 at the Biennial in Venice.
During WWII he decorated a number of churches (Štivan pri Devinu / San Giovanni di Duino,
Grahovo in Baška grapa, Drežnica, Knežak, Bač, Košana…).
After WWII he dedicated himself to teaching and continued to paint. His works range from figu-
rative experiences to abstract-formal and cubist creations.
Since his return to Trst / Trieste, his life was a constant, uninterrupted experimenting and intro-
ducing of new challenges. As an unselfish art teacher he helped educate several generations of
Slovene students, among them a number of artists.
In the summer of 1950, a group of Slovene painters from Trst / Trieste presented their works in the
Gallery of Modern Art in Ljubljana. It was a very influential exhibition, since it confirmed Trst /
Trieste's status as the second most important Slovene art centre.
The year 1956 was a turning point for Černigoj. It was then that he crossed the line between a cubi-
cally stylized motif and a clear abstract form. He showed the results at the exhibition in Jakopič's
Pavillion, which drew great attention.
It was only in the 1970s that a wider cultural circle began to appreciate the significance and qual-
ity of Černigoj's work. He had a few exhibitions which met with a wide response, and received important
awards. In 1976, he received the Prešeren Award for his life opus in art. In 1981, he became the corre-
sponding member of the Slovene Academy of Sciences and Arts.
He spent the last five years of his life in Lipica. In 1986, a gallery of his works (Černigoj Gallery)
was opened there (made according to plans by Matjaž Garzarolli). Since 1987, the collection has been
presented in the form planned by the art group Novi kolektivizem.
Avgust Černigoj died on November 17, 1985 in Sežana, where he is also buried.

Davor Kernel, M. A.

Curator of the Museum of Gorica

Sources:
- Krečič, Peter: Avgust Černigoj, Založništvo tržaškega tiska, Trst, 1980
- Slovenski veliki leksikon, Mladinska knjiga, Ljubljana, 2003, p. 355

vgustu Černigoju posvečeno geslo v prvem zvezku Enciklopedije likovnih
umjetnosti je M. Zr. (nenavaden podatek: gre za Marijana Zadnikarja, ki je bil sicer daleč
najbolj znan kot specialist za romansko arhitekturo) zaključil z ugotovitvijo, da je
Černigoj "prvi predstavnik konstruktivizma med slovenskimi umetniki; ta smer se je pri
njem pozneje razvijala v nihanju med realizmom in abstraktnim izrazom, ki je končno pre-
vladal."

Prvi zvezek Enciklopedije je izšel davnega leta 1959, osnovna označba Černigoja in nje-
govega opusa pa se v vseh naslednjih desetletjih ni bistveno spremenila. Predvsem je vse
do danes ostal prvi med slovenskimi konstruktivisti, "prvi" tako v časovnem kakor v smis-
lu kvalitete. Kako je do konstruktivizma prišel, je ena bolj zanimivih zgodb zgodovine
slovenske likovne umetnosti: najprej je študiral v Münchnu, poletni semester leta 1924
pa je preživel na Bauhausu, enem ključnih centrov evropskega modernizma in hkrati poli-
tično večno sumljivi "rdeči trdnjavi", ki jo je uspelo uničiti šele nacistom. Tu se je
Černigoj nalezel tako umetniškega kakor političnega radikalizma: kar se prvega tiče, je
še posebej občudoval - in v nadaljevanju tudi posnemal - ruski konstruktivizem, v smislu
drugega pa je poleti 1924 organiziral tudi svojo ljubljansko razstavo, ki je (logično glede
na umetnostne razmere v osrednji Sloveniji) doživela negativen sprejem, zgodba pa se je
zaključila z umetnikovim izgonom. Življenjsko in umetniško pot je tako nadaljeval v Trstu,
kjer se je pridružil tamkajšnjim konstruktivistom, končno pa ustvaril tudi svojo danes
najbolj znano skupino del, linoreze, objavljene v 1 1/2 številki (ali, bolj preprosto
povedano, v prvem zvezku) revije tank, ki je izšla ob koncu oktobra leta 1927.

V reviji objavljeni linorezi predstavljajo nedvomni avantgardistični vrhunec Černigo-
jevega opusa, značilno pa je, da je tudi v desetletju njihovega nastanka nihal med več
likovnimi potmi. Njegove sredi dvajsetih let nastale grafike so npr. še najbolj sorodne
ekspresivni varianti (praviloma družbenokritičnega) realizma, kakršnega je uveljavil
tačas najznamenitejši evropski lesorezec, Flamec Frans Masereel; po drugi strani je par
let po konstruktivistični fazi nastala portretna risba oblikovana pod očitnim vplivom
Pilonove variante "Nove stvarnosti". Še pozneje, v tridesetih letih, se je očitno obrnil k
bolj lahkotnemu "francoskemu" oblikovanju, ki bi ga morda še najlaže označili kot
nekakšen "post-fauvizem"; v štiridesetih in še vedno v zgodnjih petdesetih se je vrnil k
ekspresivnemu realizmu, v katerem pa Masereelovih poudarkov ni več čutiti; nekako sredi
petdesetih je "odkril" Picassa in ob tem tudi variante konstruktivizma, ki so jih zlasti po
drugi svetovni vojni razvili klasiki te smeri ter njihovi nasledniki. Te pobude v Černigo-
jevih delih odmevajo še v naslednjem desetletju; mednje se mešajo tudi odmevi informela,
v tem času pa je spoznal tudi sodobno ameriško umetnost, predvsem dela Franka Stelle.
In končno je v zadnjih desetletjih svojega življenja ustvaril vrsto fotomontaž, ki nas
glede na čas nastanka sicer avtomatično spomnijo na pop-art, zdi pa se, da v njih bolj ko
sodobne odmevajo pobude še ene od ključnih smeri avtorjeve mladosti, dadaizma.

Že takšen hiter seznam vplivov, ki jih je mogoče razbrati v umetnikovih delih, predstav-
ljenih v Kranju, deluje obširno. Pri tem pa razstava kaže le relativno skromen izbor iz
opusa, ki obsega na stotine del in v katerem je odmevalo še veliko več pobud Černigoje-
vih predhodnikov in sodobnikov: vse skupaj so končno tudi povzročale tisto značilno
kroženje med ekstremi umetnosti dvajsetega stoletja, ki zaznamuje ves njegov opus.

Lev Menaše

he entry dedicated to Avgust Černigoj in Volume 1 of the Enciklopedija likov-
nih umjetnosti / Encyclopedia of Plastic Arts was concluded by M. Zr.'s (a curious piece
of information: it stands for Marijan Zadnikar, who was otherwise best known as an
expert on Romanesque architecture) ascertaining that Černigoj was "the first represen-
tative of constructivism among Slovene artists; this orientation was later on developing
through oscillation between realism and abstract expression, which finally prevailed".
Volume 1 of the Encyclopedia was published in the faraway year 1959, but the basic char-
acterization of Černigoj and his work has not changed essentially throughout the fol-
lowing decades. He has, above all, to this day remained the first among Slovene con-
structivists, "the first" so in the temporal as in the qualitative sense. How exactly he
became a constructivist is one of the more interesting stories in the history of Slovene
art: he first studied in Munich, then spent the first term of 1924 at Bauhaus, one of the
key centres of European modernism and also the politically ever suspicious "red strong-
hold", which only the Nazis managed to destroy. It was there that Černigoj became
"infected" by political radicalism, so in the artistic as in the political sense: as for the
former, he particularly admired - and later on also copied - the Russian constructivism,
and as for the latter, it was in that spirit that he organized his Ljubljana exhibition in
the summer of 1924, which (logically, when the situation in arts in the then central
Slovenia is considered) encountered a negative reception, while the story ended with the
artist's expulsion. He thus continued his life and artistic work in Trieste, where he
joined the local constructivists; he there created his nowadays best known group of
works, the linocuts, published in number 1 1/2 (or, more simply, the first volume) of the
journal tank, which was published at the end of October 1927.

The linocuts published in the journal repre-
sent an undisputed avant-garde climax of
Černigoj's work, but it is characteristical
that even in the decade of their creation he
was wavering among a number of orientations.
His mid-1920s prints, e. g., bear the closest
resemblance to the expressive variant of the
(as a rule socially critical) realism, at the time
put into effect by the most famous European
wood engraver, the Flemish artist Frans
Masereel; on the other hand, the portrait
drawing created a few years after his con-
structivist phase was drawn under the obvious
influence of Pilon's variant of the "Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity)". Later still, in
the 1930s, he apparently turned towards the gentler "French" style, which might best be
defined as a kind of "post-fauvism"; in the 1940s and also the early 1950s he turned back
to expressive realism in which, however, Masereel's accents can no longer be felt; some
time in the mid-1950s he "discovered" Picasso, along with variants of constructivism
which, particularly after WWII, were developed by the classics of this style and their
descendants. These incentives were reflected in Černigoj's works throughout the fol-
lowing decade; among them, reflections of informel are intertwined, and it was at that
time, too, that he became acquainted with contemporary American art, mainly the works
by Frank Stella. And finally, in the last decade of his life, he created a number of pho-
tomontages which, regarding the time of their origin, automatically remind us of pop-art;
it seems, though, that more than the contemporary ones, the incentives of one of the key
orientations of the author's youth, dadaism, are reflected in these works.

Even such a brief list of influences that can be traced in the artist's works exhibited in
Kranj seems to be extensive. But one should bear in mind that this exhibition only pres-
ents a relatively modest selection from the opus which contains hundreds of works, and
in which many more incentives of Černigoj's predecessors and contemporaries are reflect-
ed: all of them together were finally causing the characteristical circulation among the
extremes of the 20th century art which put a significant mark upon his entire opus.

Lev Menaše

Priložene reprodukcije

Brez naslova, cromotipija, 33,5 x 12 cm, 1968
Brez naslova, cromotipija, 25 x 18 cm, 1960
Konstrukcija, linorez, 50 x 49 cm, 1926
Srečko Kosovel, linorez, 50 x 49 cm, 1926
Portret Srečka Kosovela, lesorez, 8,1 x 6,2 cm, 1943 - 1951
Portret Franceta Prešerna, lesorez, 10,2 x 7,9 cm, 1943 - 1951
Dva portreta slikarja, lesorez, 12,6 x 42 cm, 1943 - 1951
Mornar, lesorez, 7,2 x 4,7 cm, 1943 - 1951
Brez naslova, kolaž in mešana tehnika na papirju, 44 x 54 cm, 1962
Brez naslova, akvarel, 29 x 40 cm, 1925

Attached reproductions

Untitled, chromotype, 33,5 x 12 cm, 1968
Untitled, chromotype, 25 x 18 cm, 1960
Construction, linocut, 50 x 49 cm, 1926
Srečko Kosovel, linocut, 50 x 49 cm, 1926
Portrait of Srečko Kosovel, woodcut, 8,1 x 6,2 cm, 1943 - 1951
Portrait of France Prešeren, woodcut, 10,2 x 7,9 cm, 1943 - 1951
Two Portraits of the Artist, woodcut, 12,6 x 42 cm, 1943 - 1951
The Sailor, woodcut, 7,2 x 4,7 cm, 1943 - 1951
Untitled, collage and mixed paper technique, 44 x 54 cm, 1962
Untitled, watercolour, 29 x 40 cm, 1925

Mestna občina Kranj www.lipica.org

Galerija Prešernovih nagrajencev
za likovno umetnost
Kranj

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

Organizacija: Marko Arnež, Barbara Kalan, Uroš Korenčan, Martin Spacal, Petra Polak
Besedili: dr. Lev Menaše, mag. Davor Kernel ● Prevod: Jana Kranjec Menaše ● Korekture: Marija Šubic

Foto: Cesare Piccotti, Marko Tušek ● Oblikovanje: Marko Tušek
● Tisk: Tiskarna GTO Košir

Razstavo in izdajo mape sta omogočila
Ministrstvo za kulturo Republike Slovenije

in Mestna občina Kranj.

Dela so posodili Kobilarna Lipica, Valentino Ponte, Franko Vecchiet, Martin Spacal in Pavel Volk.

Kranj, februar 2008

Mestna občina Kranj
Slovenski trg 1, 4000 Kranj

www.kranj.si































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

Mestna občina Kranj
Slovenski trg 1, 4000 Kranj

www.kranj.si

Ta publikacija
je v tiskani različici izšla
v obliki mape

(na fotografijah)