Vlaho Bukovac (Cavtat, 1855 – Prague, 1922) is the
most important Croatian painter from the turn of the 19th to the 20th century,
a representative of academic realism, who also mastered plein-air painting and
Symbolism. In addition to portraits, he painted nudes, large figural
compositions and landscape studies. He studied at the École des Beaux-arts in
Paris between 1877 and 1880, exhibited regularly at the Paris Salons, and from
1880 onwards ran his own studio in the French capital. He painted portraits of the
high society, and, in 1882–1883, when he visited the court in Belgrade, members
of the royal family. Between 1884 and 1885, he visited Dalmatia, and in 1893,
he moved to Zagreb, where he built a house and a studio and became the central
figure of contemporary artistic manifestations. He was also one of the founders
of the Secessionist Croatian Artists' Society, and encouraged young artists to
paint out in the open. He then lived in Cavtat and Vienna until 1903, when he
became first an associate (1903) and then a tenured (1910) professor at the
Academy in Prague, where he taught until his death.
The National Gallery of Slovenia holds four of his
paintings – Andromeda (1886) from his
Paris period, in a dark colour palette, Portrait
of Ivka Vranyczany (1894) from the Zagreb period, and With the Fortune Teller (1914) and Portrait of Pipa Arko, née Tavčar (1918), both painted with the
short Post-Impressionist strokes typical of his Prague period.
Josipina Bogomila (Pipa) Arko, née Tavčar (1891–1974),
was daughter of the lawyer, politician and writer Ivan Tavčar (1851–1923) and
Franja Tavčar, née Košenini (1868–1938), the main bourgeois figure of the
liberal women's movement in Slovenian lands. Pipa took an active part in the charitable
activities led by her mother Franja with the Ladies of the Nation, for example
collecting and making dresses for poor pupils of state schools. She also showed
some musical talent (her teacher was Matej Hubad, the headmaster of the
conservatory) and already in the beginning of 1914, she performed as a soloist
at the first concert of the Music Society in honour of the composers of the
Ipavec family. That same year, Pipa married Vladimir Arko (1888–1945), who was
of Slovenian origin but born in Zagreb. Arko was the son of a well-known Zagreb
winemaker and cognac producer Mijo Arko, and after Vladimir Arko took over the
family brewery, he expanded the production to also include liqueurs, rum, rakia,
sparkling wine, and the sale of chemical products, metal and enamelled
crockery, barrels, etc. He was one of the most influential organisers of
economic life in Zagreb, also the co-founder of the Zagreb Stock Exchange
(1918) and President of the Chamber of Commerce and Craft (1923–1928). He also
paid great attention to the appearance of his products, especially the labels
on the bottles of alcoholic beverages, which were designed by the Croatian
artists Otto Antonini and Frano Branko Angeli Radovan, and the world-famous
Hungarian artist Mihály Biró. The factory was nationalised after World War II
and renamed Badel, and is still in operation today.
The increasing production required the renovation of
the factories and the surrounding buildings, which was carried out by the
Croatian architect Ignjat Fischer. A luxurious home for the couple was built as
part of the complex, with no clear separation between private life and business.
Pipa's private sitting salon, designed in the style of the Austrian architect
Josef Hoffmann, stood out. In 1939, their home had to make way for the family
house, the work of the Croatian architect Alfred Albini; with its moderate
modernist style the house was an exception in the old part of Zagreb. Following
her parents' example, Pipa continued her charitable activities after her
marriage, donating money to various associations, collecting art and acting as
a patron to artists. She and her husband had an extensive library of over four
thousand books, some of which they donated to the National and University
Library in Zagreb. Their home was furnished with works of art by the Old
Masters, Viennese and East Asian porcelain, silverware, carpets, kilims, family
portraits by painters Vlaho Bukovac, Bela Čikoš, Julius Meissner, etc., and
works by contemporary painters, including paintings by Ivana Kobilca.