History
The artistic tradition of the Šubic family dates back more than two hundred years in history: so far, there have been at least 16 Šubic family members, who have created numerous artworks by various techniques.
Pavel Šubic (1772–1847) was the first Šubic to start with woodcarving, creating works for churches in the Škofja Loka area. He passed his artisan workshop to three of his sons, Štefan Šubic (1820-1884), Blaž Šubic (1827-1899) and Janez Šubic Sr. (1830-1898). Štefan was the most renowned among them, creating paintings, woodcarvings and frescos all around Slovene area. His workshop was the most important Slovene artisan workshop of the 19th century.
The artistic tradition was passed on to all five Štefan's sons, Janez Šubic Jr. (1850–1889) being the most renowned ones, and Jurij Šubic (1855–1890). After Štefan Šubic's death, his third son Valentin Šubic (1859–1927) took over the workshop, but began to lose commissions and the workshop slowly died down.
Janez Šubic Sr.'s son Ivan Šubic (1856-1924) was a mathematician and the founder of arts and craft school. His sons were Vladimir Šubic (1894-1946), architect of Ljubljana's Nebotičnik, which in 1933, when it was built, was the tallest building in Central Europe, and Mirko Šubic (1900–1976), the founder of the Slovene Restoration Center. In the continuation of the 20th century, most renowned painter was Ive Šubic (1922-1989), depicting partisan motives as well as rural life in Poljanska Valley. His daughter Maja Šubic (1965) is also an accomplished painter, illustrator and fresco painter.
For about 40 years nobody lived in the Šubic House. The heirs could not maintain it, so in 2001 they sold it to the local municipality, which in 2006 started its reconstruction. Today it is a cultural monument, a crossroad of cultures not only in Poljanska Valley and Škofja Loka area, providing an insight into the life and work of its inhabitants, but adds special value to the entire Slovene area.
The Šubic House houses a permanent museum collection, offering a walk through the art of the Šubic family.
Event programme
There is an exhibition gallery in the Šubic House, which is also a venue of various cultural events and a studio for creative workshops – such as painting or drawing, wood carving, digital painting, sculpture, puppet making, illustration, music workshops.
From 2011 to 2013 it hosted (O)Živela kultura, a project in the field of preserving the heritage of local countryside, and the main theme was a museum activity. The project resulted in an exhibition about the painters of the Šubic family.
From 2012 to 2016, part of Šubic House programme was also the Slovenian Caricature Festival, gathering the best Slovene caricaturists.
The Šubic House functions also as a tourist information point for the Poljanska Valley.
External links
- Article in Delo about the history of the Šubic House (in Slovenian)
- The opening on the RTV Slovenia
- Poljane nad Škofjo Loko on Wikipedia (in Slovenian)