Revolt 1573-2023. Exhibition of Iconic Artworks about the Great Peasant Revolt 1573

The exhibition Revolt 1573-2023. Exhibition of Iconic Artworks about the Great Peasant Revolt 1573 commemorates the 450th anniversary of Great Peasant Revolt of 1573 by exploring the widespread presence of peasant revolt as a theme the arts in the past 150 years. The exhibition showcases works of selected artists, mostly from Slovenia and Croatia, who reflected on this historical event in different periods of time and socio-political circumstances.

In the area of present-day Slovenia and Croatia, the historic event known as the 1573 Great Peasant Revolt came into the collective memory during the second half of the 19th century. By that time this almost forgotten event gained a constitutive and emancipatory status in Croatian and Slovenian national mythologies due to the links that were created with the struggle of the Slav ethnic groups in the Habsburg and Hungarian empires while Matija Gubec, leader of peasants, became a folk hero, who revolted against foreign rule. It was art that placed the striking political potential of the peasant revolt, that became symbol of ongoing historical struggle for social and political rights of deprivileged, into the public discourse.

A rise in the depictions of the peasant revolt and their protagonists emerged with the establishment of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. At the time the rebellious peasants were perceived as the first fighters for the freedom of Slavs from under foreign rule. During World War II (1941-1945) Matija Gubec and the spirit of the peasant revolt were linked to the uprise against the fascist and Nazi occupiers while Matija Gubec was also promoted as a Croatian national hero in the NDH (Independent State of Croatia) propaganda. The greatest bloom in reviving the peasant revolt occurred in the period of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, when parallels were drawn between this historical episode and the proletarian and socialist revolution of the masses against the capitalist (feudal) elites. Most artworks depicting the peasant revolt were created around 1973, on the 400th anniversary of the Great Peasant Revolt. Following the decline of the socialist order and the disintegration of Yugoslavia in 1991, the peasant revolt almost disappeared from the public discourse and thus also from art.

The exhibition showcases works of following artists:
Antun Augustinčić, Alenka Bartl, Janez Bernik, Vera Dajht Kralj, Riko Debenjak, Marijan Detoni, Lojze Dolinar, Zorislav Drempetić Hrčić, Robert Frangeš Mihanović, Vito Globočnik, Željko Hegedušić, Oton Iveković, Vasilije Jordan, Jakob Klemenčič, Ferdo Kulmer, Peter Kuntarič, Ivan Lovrenčić, Boštjan Kavčič, Gojmir Anton Kos, Ivan Kožarić, Tone Kralj, Miha Maleš, Erik Mavrič, France Mihelič, Franc Peršin, Darije Petković, Ferdinand Quiquerez, Branko Ružić, Ivan Seljak Čopič, Albert Sirk, Zlatko Sirotić, Matija Skurjeni, Miljenko Stančić, Marin Studin, Gabrijel Stupica, Kamilo Tompa, Sandra Vitaljić, Jože Volarič, Dušan Vukotić, Šime Vulas in drugi.

Curator: Miha Colner

Photo: Kaja Selko