Božidarj Jakac: Jesenice Cycle

In 2019, we celebrate the 120th anniversary of the birth of the artist Božidar Jakac. On this occasion we host an art collection of Jakac’s Jesenice Cycle from the collection of the Upper Sava Valley Museum in Jesenice. This collection of steelworks motifs is composed mostly of chalk drawings and etchings, their focus is on the outline of the workers, the working processes and the environment of the Steelworks Jesenice in a specific stretch of time. The Jesenice Cycle is in terms of content and depictions of workers and the industrial landscape a unique feature in Jakac’s oeuvre.

The collection of drawings and graphics has an artistic and documentary value but it also raises questions about the relationship of the metallurgists in regards to art and society. Ciril Rekar, between the years 1939 and 1941 in charge of the steelworks in Jesenice, could see the benefits of the collaboration with the artist, as he in 1939 invited Božidar Jakac to create a big graphic titled Open-hearth steel plant. The glowing furnace, groups of steelworkers, the sensation of the environment filled with fire and smoke experienced through shading offer enough information for the viewer to relive the authors’ and steelworkers’ experience of the steelmaking procedure as well as the workplaces itself in its most primary drawn form.

Curator: Aljaž Pogačnik, Gornjesavski muzej Jesenice