Still life

Ferdo Mayer was born in Maribor, Slovenia, on March 8, 1927. He had his first independent exhibition in secondary school, which he attended in Maribor, in 1941. He continued his education in painting at the Secondary Art School in Graz, and was accepted as a student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana in 1946. He studied drawing with Professor France Mihelič, printing with Professor Božidar Jakac, painting with Professor Anton Gojmir Kos, and graduated from the Academy in 1950. He completed a master class in monumental painting with Professor A. G. Kos. He was then employed as a teacher of drawing at the Maribor Grammar School, was a teacher in Kamnik from 1954, and his last employment was at the Fran Albreht Primary School in Kamnik. Ferdo Mayer was awarded two scholarships for study tours abroad. The first Moša Pijade Scholarship (Belgrade), enabled him a tour to Paris in 1960. Mayer was highly impressed by the works of modern painters, French culture, and the attitude to culture in France. This experience stimulated his youthful spirit and temperament to intensify his artistic work. The second Moša Pijade Scholarship took him to Sweden in 1966. He also made study tours in Austria, Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Italy, where his main interest was monumental painting. Mayer's works reveal his attitude to painting, emancipation from academic influences, and determination to go his own way. His paintings include all techniques and forms, but his preference arguably went to figural composition. Mayer's favourite colours were contrasting red and black. Being a realist, he rejected fictional phrases and idealised figurative painting. Mayer died in Ljubljana, on March 14, 1994.