Ive Šubic – Illustrator and Cultural Figure

Castle Gallery, Permanent Collections
19 October 2022–7 May 2023

Exhibition curator: Petra Čeh

The first retrospective of Ive Šubic’c literary illustrations marks the 100th anniversary of his birth. On this occasion, the artist is for the first time also presented as a cultural figure with a focus on his contribution to the community.

In addition to Ive’s painting and printmaking works, his illustration oeuvre, which was previously largely unexplored, is the most extensive part of his entire body of work. Since 1945, ninety-six literary works with his illustrations have been published, most of them for children and youth. Moreover, Ive created an outstanding number of illustrations for various textbooks and magazines, such as Ciciban, Borec, Kurirček, Pionirski list, Pil and other book genres.

The first part of the exhibition is a selection of illustrations from seventy literary works, which present the development of Ive’s illustration style chronologically. The juxtaposition of his original illustrations and books serves to shed light on the development of post-war publishing and printing in Slovenia. Various sketches and plans presented in a special part of the exhibition show the creative process behind illustration, from an idea to a book. Most of the original illustrations, including numerous sketches and drawings, have been preserved. The oldest originals have for the most part been lost or destroyed. For the purposes of this exhibition they have been replaced by books or reproductions. The second part of the exhibition is dedicated to the artist’s work in the cultural sphere, highlighting his lesser-known public activities, work as part of various societies, his monuments, awards and the like.

The anniversary of his birth is further commemorated with the exhibition From the Museum Depots: Ive Šubic, which accompanies the permanent art history collection and features Ive’s well-known paintings, prints and drawings kept by the Škofja Loka Museum.