Janez Bernik

Yugoslav painter, engraver, sculptor, illustrator and poet. Born at Gunclje, near Ljubljana. Studied at the Ljubljana Academy 1951-5, then from 1955 to 1957 specialised in painting with M. Sedej and graphics with B. Jakac. In 1958 worked in the graphic studio of J. Friedlaender in Paris. Made textural abstract paintings on the theme of the unspoilt texture of the earth, followed by paintings and engravings with mysterious indecipherable inscriptions evocative of ancient documents. First one-man exhibition at the Mala Galerija, Ljubljana, 1960. Awarded First Prize at the 1962 Tokyo Print Biennale and First Prize for Engraving at the 1965 São Paulo Bienal. Worked from c.1968 in a figurative style with isolated symbolic images such as a chair, an apple, a dog, and later with the human figure; then from c.1975 again in a more or less abstract style with fields of saturated blue, orange, etc., sometimes on shaped canvases. Professor at the Ljubljana Academy from 1969. Lives at Ljubljana and Breznica, near Bled.

Published in:
Ronald Alley, Catalogue of the Tate Gallery's Collection of Modern Art other than Works by British Artists, Tate Gallery and Sotheby Parke-Bernet, London 1981, p.51