Fran Tratnik was undoubtedly known to be an excellent draughtsman and painter, as well as a predecessor of expressionism. He was also one of the first Slovene artists, who understood drawing as an independent form of art and not only as an accompaniment to painting or a technical accessory. In my thesis I analysed his drawing from 1936, titled Escape from the Turks. The artwork is created in charcoal on cardboard technique in the size of 163 x 54 cm. It is currently located at the Faculty of Education in Ljubljana.
The main purpose of my thesis was to accomplish a detailed analysis of the drawing, which has never been fully realized. It was also the primary reason why I decided to research this specific drawing in the first place. I began the analysis of the artwork with basic information, which I gained from a detailed overview of the drawing. This helped me with further research. After the basic information I concentrated on pre-iconographic description with formal analysis, where I defined creation of physicality, formation of space and the use of lines in drawing. I also analysed different contrasts of light and shadow and compositions. With the help of iconographic analysis I then discerned the meaning of different elements in drawing, which I tried to interrelate as a whole. In the end followed contextual analysis in which I examined the overall cultural background of the drawing Escape from the Turks and its author. I thoroughly analysed factors of creation for this particular artwork, I presented Tratnik's life, time and place in which he worked, different artistic influences on his work as well as his own emancipation of drawing. I also focused on cultural and historical circumstances such as the time of World War One and refugeeism.
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