The multifaceted artist Hinko Smrekar (Ljubljana, 1883–1942) – draughtsman, painter and sculptor – used to get into trouble at his secondary school, despite being an excellent student, because he was constantly drawing caricatures of his teachers. He was a self-taught artist who refined his drawing technique to a level of faultless perfection. He would take on any job to earn a living: illustrating books, designing certificates, advertisements and bookplates, creating works of social and political satire and drawing scenes from folklore and fairy tales. He is best known to the general public for his tarock cards, which in 1916 were banned because of their overtly Pan-Slavist character, and for his caricatures, a form of art that reached
its apogee with Smrekar. He created a remarkably extensive oeuvre, since everything he saw and felt, everything that moved and shocked him, was given form in his drawings. His characters often make us laugh, although their message is extremely serious, particularly in his later works, where, with the vision of an apocalyptic seer, he drew attention to the permanent flaws of human character and warned ofthe rising threat of Nazism. He was an independent and democratic thinker and a socially committed individual, something that resulted in frequent run-ins with the authorities and even in his arrest. In 1942 he was shot by the Italian occupying forces.
Smrekar was a very witty and insightful observer who was capable of capturing in just a few strokes of a pencil the characteristics of different types of people. He spared no one, least of all himself. He created a gallery of portraits and caricatures of his contemporaries and, in this way, preserved their authentic likenesses for future generations.
One of Smrekar’s undisputed masterpieces is Masquerade of Slovene Artists from 1913. Individual details from this group caricature feature on the stamps of this issue: Matija Jama as Buddha, Ivan Grohar drawn with wings like a celestial spirit and Matej Sternen as an elegant man of fashion – all three were representatives of Slovene impressionism; Rihard Jakopič as the great god of thunder and the best of the best, is seated on a throne that resembles his Art Pavilion. On his left knee sits the sculptor Lojze Dolinar as Ganymede, the cupbearer of
the gods, bottle and glasses in his hands; and on his right knee, Peter Žmitek, the king of artists, who is tugging at his beard like an impatient child; the sculptor Svitoslav Peruzzi is shown as a professor and Ferdo Vesel appears as a revolutionary or rebel; Saša Šantel is shown giving a piggyback to a child, like a good family man; below him is Ivan Vavpotič as a Parisienne; Smekar portrayed himself as a monk – a preacher of the transience of everything of this world. The cover shows, from left to right, the painter Pavel Gustinčič as a gatherer of stars, Fran Klemenčič
as a knight in armour, Maksim Gaspari as Don Juan, the teacher Ivan Franke as Triton and the sculptor Ivan Zajec as an agile baker.
The postmark shows Smrekar’s Self-Portrait from 1942,
in which the artist shows the two different sides of his character. The spirit of this work is based on the Roman god Janus, who since antiquity has warned us that before every action we must look to the past in order to be able to predict the consequences of our actions in the future.
Alenka Simončič, National Gallery
