Dr. Anica Cevc dedicated herself professionally and personally to the National
Gallery of Slovenia for over sixty years. She joined the Gallery in 1950 as a
curator, and later, in 1965, took over the position of director, leading the
institution for twenty-six years until 1991. She initiated the expansion of the
museum complex and, through her vision and energy, secured the National
Gallery's position as a distinguished and respected institution of rich
tradition and extensive collections. Under her tenure, the Gallery acquired a
new, modernly equipped exhibition venue, larger depots and office space. The
relocation of the Robba Fountain from the Town Square to the Gallery was her
idea, ultimately realized in 2008.
Dr. Anica Cevc devoted her life-long expertise to Baroque painting. She
thoroughly researched and conducted pioneering studies on all major Slovenian Baroque
painters, including Fortunat Bergant, Leopold Layer, Matthias von Görz, Franc
Jelovšek, Valentin Metzinger, and Anton Joseph Lerchinger. She remained a
joyful and loving connoisseur until the very end of her life.
Dr. Cevc also broke new ground and won the respect of many as the director
of the National Gallery. She developed and consolidated a typology of
exhibitions based on rigorous scientific work and designed comprehensive museum
exhibition catalogues and publications. During her tenure, the Gallery produced
and hosted exhibitions of Mihael Stroj, Ivana Kobilca, Jožef Petkovšek, Ferdo
Vesel, Ivan Vavpotič, Franc Kavčič, Jožef Tominc, Fran Klemenčič, and Anton
Ažbe. She helped with identification of the under-researched corpus of European
paintings both within and outside the Gallery, organized the preparation of an
overview of 17th-century art in Slovenia, and ensured that the
Gallery's collections toured abroad, including in Vienna, Prague, Paris,
Berlin, Barcelona, and Budapest. She always kept the broadest audience in mind.
Recognizing that museum education begins in earnest, she conceived Gal the
Dwarf, whose picture book continues to inspire the Gallery's youngest visitors
decades later.
Dr. Anica Cevc remains a key figure in the history of the National Gallery
of Slovenia, having charted the far-reaching and ambitious development of the
museum, which boasts one of the longest traditions in Slovenia. Guided by this
legacy, sculptor Mirsad Begić undertook the commission to create her portrait;
the Director herself had long before expressed her wish that he be the chosen
sculptor.
Begić, who finished his specialization under sculptor Drago Tršar at the
Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana in 1986, was thus already present in
Slovenian art when dr. Cevc was still Director. When the Narodni dom Palace was
undergoing extensive renovation, ceremoniously presented to the public in 2016,
the idea was born to include a portrait of the long-time Director in the
permanent exhibition alongside the founders of the National Gallery.
Upon receiving the commission, sculptor Begić undoubtedly summoned the
image and spirit of dr. Cevc, whom he knew personally, while also relying on
provided photographs. While conceptualizing the portrait, he created a series
of sketched ideas on paper and sculptural drafts of heads and busts. These
trace the development of the artist's idea from paper, clay and plaster to the
final sculptural form casted in bronze and are presented to the public for the
first time in this exhibition. The paper sketches depict portraits of dr. Cevc
from various perspectives. Appearing like sudden flashes, they are even glued
onto newsprint and mounted on canvas using mixed media with rapid manual
interventions. In this way, Begić used a plastic approach to transform relief
fragments of drawings into collages on canvas.
With sculptural skill and a profound sense of the subject's individuality
and psychology, Mirsad Begić crafted the sculptural portrait of dr. Anica Cevc —
featuring her characteristic benevolent smile — in a picturesquely furrowed
form, dramatically emphasized by light. Dr. Cevc's sparkling wit and lucidity come
through the inquisitive right-tilt of the head, a distinctive mischievous and
enigmatic smile, and a forward-looking, thoughtful gaze. In the bust, akin to a
smiling mask, the sculptor captured the personal traits of dr. Anica Cevc,
reflecting her true temperament and character.
Created in 2015, the portrait of dr. Anica Cevc has thus taken its place
in Begić's rich opus of portraits depicting prominent figures in Slovenia.