Art historian and cosmopolitan dr. Barbara Jaki began her journey at the National Gallery thirty years ago as a curator, and today she is in her third term at the helm. We talked with her about the 100th anniversary of the National Gallery, which coincides with the European Year of Cultural Heritage, about her collection, about the "star moments" of the gallery and about the Parisian romance, which, among other things, brought the director of the National Gallery the French state decoration of the Legion of Honor.
You have been at the National Gallery since 1987. How did you start your career at this national institution?
I started working immediately after graduation. During my studies, I imagined that I would live in Nova mesto, where I am from. A good job, colleagues I knew, and nice work awaited me there. Then came the invitation of the then director of the National Gallery, dr. Anice Cevc and a dream job with him. At first I worked in the photo library, which was an integral part of the library until I arrived. Soon the headmistress entrusted me with the work with the painting fund, which was under her responsibility. However, at that time she was already intensively engaged in the project of enlarging the National Gallery, and in addition to managing the institution, there was not enough time left for editing the collection of paintings. From the beginning, I was also in charge of the collection and exhibitions, as pedagogical work is one of the central tasks of every curator in our house. In 1992, the departments were formed and then I took over the management of the curators, and since 2005 I have been in my current position.
Did you imagine that you would ever be at the head of the National Gallery?
Never. I ran for office more than not because of a combination of circumstances. Even today, I am above all a curator at heart, this is my profession and my mission.
You are the recipient of the French national decoration of the Legion of Honor, which you received as a valuable partner of France. Where did your love for this romantic country come from?
As with anyone who intensively learns French already in high school, getting to know the language also brings a love for literature, music, chansons... Then it just goes on: you get friends, acquaintances and friendships are formed. I lived with a designer for fifteen years and he was also very attached to French graphic design, so we went to Paris a lot privately. And that's how a person takes it. But I don't think that was even decisive. The French have exceptional museums, they have an exceptional museology, their exhibitions can undoubtedly be one great example - from how rich the material is, how the exhibitions are set up, how the publications are designed, etc. The next thing is the connection of the National Gallery with French museums, which is also traditional. Let's say our inventory books are modeled after the Louvre inventory books, one of the first major acquisitions to the National Gallery's collection were plaster casts of ancient marble statues that were sold in the Louvre. At that time, or since the beginning of museums, antiquity was something that is the basis of our Western civilization. And the beginnings of the collections were clearly antique statues and casts. For the National Gallery, these casts were obtained by Izidor Cankar, also from the Louvre, and now they are once again part of our permanent collection. So these interactions more or less just happen, it's not something planned. Undoubtedly, the French Institute in Ljubljana and the French Embassy in Ljubljana should also be mentioned, which greatly promote art.
Where do you like to turn when you are in Paris?
Preferably to a good restaurant, but to the sales. First, of course, to museums and bookstores. Maybe even bookstores come first. Otherwise, in the Louvre, of course, there are brilliant exhibitions in the Grand Palais, which is across the street from the Petit Palais, and the Center Georges Pompidou, the Musée de quain Branly, which is dedicated to non-European cultures, is also brilliant. In the museological sense, these are exceptional museums that can be a model for all museums in the world.
This year, the National Gallery is celebrating the 100th anniversary of Ivana Kobilca's large retrospective exhibition, which is an extraordinary, rare event. How popular is Ivana Kobilca's art?
A lot. These are the most popular paintings in the National Gallery. Summer and Kofetarica are always at the top in terms of popularity. We periodically conduct surveys among our visitors. It is true that her painting was popular even in her time. She had many clients, she knew how to get them and she knew how to paint in a way that people, her clients, liked. And even today, this taste remains unchanged, which probably speaks of the great substantive value of her work. In fact, there weren't many of her exhibitions. She organized one in Ljubljana herself in 1889, she had a posthumous exhibition after her death, she had a smaller exhibition in Kranj in 1972 and a large exhibition in 1979 in the National Gallery. And almost 40 years have passed since then, so we decided it was time to make a new review of Kobilča's work, collect other works of art and prepare an exhibition also based on all the research that was done during that time. We tried to combine all this in this present exhibition. In addition, from the family property of Kobilča's heirs, we obtained more than 500 letters, which she exchanged mainly with her sister, for inspection. These letters revealed to us a completely new world, a lot of new information, which significantly complements the publication Paris bohemians. These are memories written by her very good friend, also a painter, Rosa Pfäffinger.
Which picture of Ivana Kobilca do you stop most often, which one speaks to you the most?
But that totally depends on the day. Sometimes one, sometimes the other. If I had to make a decision today, I have in mind her self-portrait, the blue self-portrait. I also really like the painting Girl in an Armchair, which is not our property, but is on display here. Otherwise, it is the property of the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest.
What about the visitors, to whom besides Ivana Kobilca do they pay the most attention?
Of course, Ivan Grohar is also among the more popular authors. Then there are the older paintings, for example Saint George by Hans Georg Geiger, which is in our ceremonial hall, now also in the High Altar, which has been restored and placed in the permanent collection for the first time. Almanach's works are also popular, especially Veselo omisje. Even in the medieval section, we have works of art that people like to stop by, for example a copy of the Dance of the Dead from Hrastovelj, then some of the medieval sculptures. There are quite a few works of art that appeal to a specific audience, either children or high school students. But Kobilca is universal.
Does this also apply to foreign visitors, or do they, for example, tend to look for completely different works of art?
This year, for the first time, we also conducted a survey among foreign visitors. We did not ask about the popularity of individual pictures, but about what brought them to the gallery, where they got the information. This gave us a slightly broader picture of how we can work with foreign visitors in the future, what we have to offer them, what they might miss, what they like. We received rather surprising data: until now we thought that the majority were Italians. But no. The majority are Germans, French, Austrians, Italians are only in fourth place. But people come from all over, even from New Zealand, South America... And I must say that we can be quite satisfied with the response when reviewing the book of impressions.
If we go back to the 100th anniversary of the National Gallery. What has accumulated in the gallery during these 100 years? What is its content today?
When the National Gallery was founded, it did not have a collection. The collection was created only later. At that time, it was a collection of all fine arts, ancient and modern. After the establishment of the Modern Gallery, after World War II, the newer part of the National Gallery's collection, from Expressionism onwards, went across the street to the Modern Gallery. In 1986, the then director of the National Gallery obtained a government art fund. These are works of art that are in the protocol facilities, in the government palace, in the secretariats of the time, in the ministries of today. With this fund, which included over a thousand works of art, the work of the National Gallery once again moved deep into the 20th century. This trend continued with donations. We are particularly proud of these, as the owners specifically wanted to leave these works of art to the National Gallery. For example, the donation of Mrs. Vanda Mušič, who donated the works of her uncle Zoran Mušič. With this, we have established a permanent collection, which is also the first permanent collection covering Zoran Mušič in Slovenia, which covers his entire oeuvre, both in terms of techniques and time. Otherwise, there is another permanent collection of his works, otherwise graphic, in Dobrova Castle in Brdy. The second donation is a recent donation of works by Metka Kraševec, who specifically wanted to leave her work to the National Gallery. The image of the National Gallery is thus also changing through its holdings, and we must know that the 20th century is already historical material and thus belongs to the framework of its activities.
Are you particularly proud of any acquisition?
On everything. Well, the Baroque artworks Ptičar and Prestar, paintings by Fortunato Bergant, which we were sure were lost, were also a great acquisition. No one believed that we would ever see these works of art in the original. Nevertheless, the two works of art were found by a gigantic accident and are now on display in our permanent collection.
Or maybe what other work are you looking for, what kind of work do you particularly want in your collection?
Of course. There are many more such works. I don't want to talk about them because I wouldn't raise their prices. But we have a list of artworks that we are waiting for, either to be sold or to be found. We want to fill in some more gray spots in our permanent collection.
There was no shortage of ground-breaking exhibitions and guest appearances at the National Gallery. Which major tours would you highlight, maybe you can hint at what we can expect in the future?
There have already been quite a few visits from other museums to the National Gallery, some from the collections and exhibitions that we made ourselves, mainly from works of art that are not owned by the National Gallery. Among these, I would undoubtedly mention the exhibition of the marinist Albert Sirko, the exhibition of painting and sculpture of Croatian art from the end of the 19th century from the private collection of Vogrinec, and the exhibition Painting in Normandy: At the Sources of Impressionism. Our Jurij Šubic was among the painters who went to Normandy to paint in the last decades of the 19th century. This exhibition was about important works of art, we exhibited Monet's work, Daubigny's work, several Boudin's works, one Renoir's landscape. As for our guest appearances, of course the Slovenian Impressionists in Paris, but we are already deeply involved in hosting the Slovenian Impressionists in Prague, at the Prague Castle. We will of course adapt this exhibition to the environment and show in Prague the artworks of those artists who were connected to the Czech capital in one way or another.
