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ABOUT MAKS BERGANT

Plečnik and Bergant with the master mason, Stranje, 1947.
Bergant in his workshop, Bajtica.
Plečnik's personal dedication in the book Architectura prerennis, gifted to Bergant as a sign of respect at the beginning of their collaboration: You are God: we praise you; You are the Lord: we acclaim you; You are the eternal Father:all creation worships you as do Maks Bergant in Kamnik and Jože Plečnik in Ljubljana In memory of 7th July 1947 [Original text in Slovene: Tebe Boga hvali Tebe Gospoda poveličujeTebe večnega Očeta časti vsa zemlja ter Maks Bregant v Kamniku v Ljubljani pa Jože Plečnik v spomin na 7. julij 1947]
Plečnik and bergant with the master mason, Stranje, 1947.

“Why is our life so brief that it cannot even encompass what has already been
accomplished?”


(A sight from one of the letters letter from Jože Plecnik to Maks Bergant)

 

Realisation of designs does not put an end to it (N.B. the creative process); on the contrary, it opens the door to a space of infinite possibilities in which the realised concept is just one of the variants; for an artist, completion is just another beginning.


Maks Bergant knew that, and lived it.

​

(An excerpt from the book "WOODCARVER MAKS BERGANT, A LIFE DEDICATED TO BEAUTY", author of the text: Miklavž Komelj)

Miniature ornamental leaf. Gilded wood. Artist: Maks Bergant.

1933/36​

Travelled to Split to perfect his knowledge, and made frames for the Passion of the Christ

1925/26

Completed the primary school in Kamnik and passed admission tests for the grammar school in Ljubljana

1912

Born in Trieste on 15th April​

1918

​The family moved to Podgorje near Kamnik

1919

First visit to Ivan Klemen’s workshop (his mother sent him to the woodcarver to have the family copy of Our Lady of Brezje framed) sparked his enthusiasm and led to frequent visits

1944​

Deaths of his father Lovrenc and Ivan Klemen

1946​

Fell seriously ill in June (meningitis with a partial paralysis in his right hand); his health improved towards the end of the year and he declared his dedication to beauty

1947​

Began collaboration with Prof. Jože Plečnik​

1949​

The main works in the church in Stranje are completed

1951​

Birth of a son​; braid altar frame for the copy of the painting of Our Lady of Help in the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Šutna, Kamnik

1953​

Birth of a daughter, who dies three days later due to the consequences of a birth injury; Bishop's throne with angels and ornaments in the Cathedral od St. Nicholas in Ljubljana

1960​

Admitted to the Slovenian Association of Fine Artists of Applied Arts

1971​

Admitted to the Association of Fine Artists of Applied Arts of Yugoslavia (showed his works in several group exhibitions)

1977​

Finished his largest altar frame: altarpiece base for Leopold Layer’s painting of Mary Help of Christians in Brezje

1996​

Died in Ljubljana on 30th June

MILESTONES

1950​

Married Prof. Zora Prohinar

THE MEMORIES...

An excerpt from the book "WOODCARVER MAKS BERGANT, A LIFE DEDICATED TO BEAUTY" | Authors: dr. Miklavž Komelj, mag. Damijan Bergant, dr. med.​

Portrait of Bergant, around 1932.

THE MASTER

Bergant found his vocation in life at a very early age […]. As a first-grader, he was asked by his mother to visit the local carver Ivan Klemen to ask him to frame the family’s copy of the painting of Our Lady from the church in Brezje. Even at such an early age Bergant was captivated by Klemen’s workshop in Parmova Street in Kamnik. Drawn by childhood curiosity, he returned to the workshop on several occasions and soon took up carving and sculpting.

​

As a teenager he had already made up his mind to become a woodcarver. 

CARVED MINIATURES

Bergant in his workshop, Bajtica.

THE WORKSHOP

Originally, Bajtica housed the studio of his first unofficial teacher, woodcarver Ivan Klemen, who also used it for his living quarters. Bergant fell under the spell of its mysterious atmosphere as a child when he walked past it on his way to school. One day he summoned up all his courage and stepped in. The master carver soon began to introduce his young visitor to the intricacies of his craft. Eventually, Bergant started working there as a carver, and cared for his elderly colleague during the last years of his life. A few years after Klemen’s death, Bergant bought the house and continued to run the workshop. As I now look at the photographs of Maks Bergant in Bajtica, I can hardly recognize the place. No photograph could ever capture its ambience. It was one of the most mysterious places I had ever seen.

Black and white: Prof. Jože Plečnik, Maks Bergant, and friar Martin Perc having a lively conversation in the Church of St. Benedict in Stranje, 1949.

COLLABORATION WITH JOŽE PLEČNIK

When friar Martin Perc, the parish priest in Stranje, invited him to participate in the renovation of the church, Bergant’s artistic career took an important turn, since it was on this project that he met Prof. Jože Plečnik. Collaboration with Plečnik fostered Bergant’s abilities and set the course of his artistic journey.  Encountering Plečnik gave Bergant an opportunity to rise from the status of an ordinary executor of work to a collaborator in the process of superior art creations. In his creative pursuits, Bergant had transcended beyond the level of craft long before.

". . . I wish you good spirits and sharp chisels!"

A greeting from a letter from Jože Plecnik to Maks Bergant (30th April 1948)

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