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(10.5.1865, Maribor -28.5.1932, Dunaj)

Anton Nowak was an extremely talented painter and graphic artist from Maribor, who established himself primarily on the foreign art scene. Although he achieved an exceptional reputation in Vienna at an early age, he was a long-forgotten artist on his home soil.

After his primary education in Maribor, he moved to the Austrian capital, where he attended the Academy of Fine Arts. He successfully completed it in 1886 and continued his education with Leopold Karl Müller. Even as a young painter, he tried to participate in a large number of exhibitions held at the local Künstlerhaus. There, he became acquainted with artists who were associated with Gustav Klimt. Together with them, he later founded the Vienna Secession, an extremely important exhibition space for the presentation of current art. Nowak also presented his works in this famous building several times. He also collaborated in editing their famous magazine Ver sacrum, in which in 1903 one of the issues was dedicated to his woodcuts, in which a strong influence of Art Nouveau art can be detected.

Nowak is known primarily as a painter of landscapes and portraits of people from the surrounding area, but he also painted city views, sea and mountain motifs, and castle ruins on several occasions. His style fluctuates between realism and plein air, with noticeable hints of impressionism. He achieved this primarily through soft strokes and a softening of the color scale with delicate pink and violet hues. Like other contemporary artists, he was interested in exploring light and atmosphere. He spent most of his life in Vienna, but he maintained close contact with his family in Maribor. He lived in Brno for several years, where he ran a painting school and started a family. His work was hidden in art collections for a long time.

After World War II, his youngest sister donated most of the paintings that remained in the family's possession to the Maribor Regional Museum, which were transferred to the Maribor Art Gallery. There, they were presented in full for the first time in 2023. He was an exceptionally talented painter who knew how to combine tradition with modernity. His work influenced Viennese, Czech and Slovenian art. During his lifetime, he received a decoration from Emperor Franz Joseph.

Anton Nowak je bil izredno nadarjen mariborski slikar in grafik, ki se je uveljavil predvsem na tuji umetnostni sceni. Čeprav je na Dunaju že zgodaj dosegel izjemen ugled, je bil na domačih tleh dolgo pozabljen umetnik.

Po osnovnem izobraževanju v Mariboru se je namreč preselil v avstrijsko prestolnico, kjer je obiskoval Akademijo upodabljajočih umetnosti. Leta 1886 ga je uspešno tudi zaključil in z izobraževanjem nadaljeval pri Leopoldu Karlu Müllerju. Že kot mladi slikar se je poskušal udejstvovati velikega števila razstav, ki so jih priredili v lokalnem Künstlerhausu. Tam se je seznanil z umetniki, ki so se družili v krogu Gustava Klimta. Skupaj z njimi je kasneje ustanovil dunajsko Secesijo, izredno pomembno razstavišče za predstavitev aktualne umetnosti. Tudi Nowak se je s svojimi deli večkrat predstavil v tem znamenitem objektu. Sodeloval je tudi pri urejanju njihove znamenite revije Ver sacrum, v kateri so leta 1903 eno izmed izdaj posvetili njegovim lesorezom, v katerih je mogoče zaznati močan vpliv secesijske umetnosti.

Nowaka poznamo predvsem kot slikarja krajine in portretih ljudi iz bližnje okolice, večkrat pa je slikal tudi mestne vedute, morske in gorske motive ter ruševine gradov. Njegov slog niha med realizmom in plenerizmom, opazni pa so tudi nasloni na impresionizem. To je dosegel predvsem z mehko potezo in mehčanjem barvne lestvice z nežno rožnatimi in violičnimi odtenki. Tako kot drugi sočasni umetniki, se je zanimal za raziskovanje svetlobe in atmosfere. Večino svojega življenja je preživel na Dunaju, pa vendar je ohranil tesni stik z družino v Mariboru. Kar nekaj let je bival v Brnu, kjer je vodil slikarsko šolo in si je ustvaril družino. Njegovo delo je bilo v umetnostnih zbirkah dolgo skrito.

Po drugi svetovni vojni je njegova najmlajša sestra večino slik, ki so ostale v družinski lasti, podarila Pokrajinskemu muzeju Maribor, ki so jih prenesli v Umetnostno galerijo Maribor. Tam so jih leta 2023 prvič celovito predstavili. Bil izjemno nadarjen slikar, ki je znal združiti tradicijo z modernostjo. S svojim opusom je vplival na Dunajsko, češko in slovensko umetnost. V času svojega življenja je prejel odlikovanje cesarja Franca Jožefa.

All the artists on the Porta Alpina website can be found at this link.

The text was prepared for the Porta Alpina gallery by Pia Župevec, B.Sc. art history
Besedilo je za galerijo Porta Alpina pripravila Pia Župevec, dipl. um. zgod.

SOURCES/VIRI:
Dr. Valentina BEVC VARL, The Life of Academy Trained Painter Anton Nowak, Maribor, 2021.
Tina POGLAJEN, Anton Nowak Prvič v Sloveniji, https://ars.rtvslo.si/podkast/svet-kulture/64838778/174846165, 7.2.2022.
Peter RAK, Ocenjujemo: Anton Nowak UGM/ Kabinet/ Kustosinja Andreja Borin, Delo, 16.2.2022, https://www.delo.si/kultura/ocene/ocenjujejmo-anton-nowak-ugm-kabinet-kustosinja-andreja-borin (14.10.2025).