Searchings in Drawing, Findings in Thought

The architect Edvard Ravnikar (1907–93) was certainly the most comprehensive personality of Slovenian architecture and urban planning in the second half of the 20th century. He was the most talented and autonomous student of the great Jože Plečnik and also a highly valued colleague of Le Corbusier in Paris. In addition to numerous urban and architectural designs, he also left behind a large opus of intimate testimonies in drawings and words, which are less well known and have been preserved for us by his heirs. Meeting them can deeply touch us both with the beauty of their images and with the insight of their thoughts, as they possess great inner strength.

In front of you are enlargements of the architect's drawings and manuscripts, printed on hanging canvases, which form a temporary three-nave space in his most beautiful hall, the entrance hall of Cankarjev dom. Inspirational images are intertwined with lucid observations, and the complementary poles of his creation are closely intertwined and connected; an artist meets a scientist, a draftsman meets a thinker, a poet meets an inventor.

The drawings in the exhibition can be schematically divided into three categories: primordial searches, groping for yet unspoken forms of visionary architecture, virtuosic, dramatic experiences of urban and natural landscapes that inspired him, and explorations in drawings and sketches intended for concrete projects (from large vedut down to the smallest details, such as for Trg republike and Cankarjev dom, in which we are located).

Ravnikar was also an outstanding humanist, erudite and witness of his century. In the legacy of his small books, we come across analytically insightful, deep reflections on the modern world, art and architecture, and life in general. They are often supported by references from philosophy, literature, history and science, as well as national culture and politics...

So before you is a selection of drawings and thoughts of this great creator, which will surely be the subject of research and inspiration for the curious young and old for a long time, because even today it is very modern in many ways.

Opening on Thursday, October 27th at 7:30 p.m.
Cankarjev dom's Great Reception Hall.