Halata AHAS 4angl
Martin HALATA
Two items of the Slovenica in the archives of the Institute of Art History in Prague
In 1922 France Mesesnel (1894–1945) published in the Archives d'Histoire de l'Art (Zbornik za umetnostno zgodovino, Ljubljana) part of the correspondence between the Czech painter Vojtech Hynais (1854–1925) and his Slovene colleague Janez Šubic (1850–1889). Since then no similar archival source has been published, either on the Czech or Slovene side, that would throw light on the relationship between the Czechs and the Slovenes in the field of art history.
Numerous archival sources in both countries, whether in private possession or in public institutions, have escaped scholary attention. It is particularly surprising that the personal estates of many an important artist, historian, or art critic have been overlooked although their activity was widely known.
The attention of the present paper is focused on two items of the Slovenica from the archives of the Institute of Art History of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. One belongs to the torso of the estate of the Czech art critic and art historian František Žákavec (1878–1937) from the years 1881–1914, the other is a travel diary of the painter Ludvik Kuba (1863–1956).
František Žákavec was in contact with the Slovene art historian France Mesesnel, with whom he shared a scholarly interest in the study of 19th century painting. So in Žákavec's estate there is a file containing excerpts from the received and mailed correspondence between the painter Vojtech Hynais and his friends, including the Slovene painters, the brothers Janez and Jurij Šubic (1855–1890). The file, which generally covers the correspondence from 1881 to 1914, represents a unique source for the study of the relations between Hynais and the Šubic brothers. Its particular importance also lies in the fact that the original letters have not been found so far. The file also excerpts correspondence that was not included in Mesesnel's paper. – The second item of the Slovenica is the travel diary of Ludvik Kuba. This important Czech ethnographer, painter and author left Prague for Slovenia in May 1892, and travelled via Vienna and Maria Saal. He stayed in Kranj from where he went on trips to Kamnik, Ljubljana, Postojna and the Vipava River Valley. He minutely observed the Slovene landscape, local habits and architecture. In his own words, he devoted himself to "drawing the landscape". The sole drawing he made in his diary testifies to his documentary accuracy; however, he did not only depict landscape. Kuba's drawings on the themes of architecture, natural peculiarities and folk fun were published between 1893–97 in the Sarajevo magazine Nada. The surviving travel diary thus not only reveals the mental world of the travelling artist with his scholarly interests, but it also directly indicates the sources of inspiration for his "Slovene" drawings for the above-mentioned magazine.