Ciril Horjak
The case of Slovenian caricaturist's Hinko Smrekar’s (1883-1942) catalogue.
Back in 2018, I have decided to study the work and life of caricaturist and illustrator Hinko Smrekar. I knew a catalogue of all his works would be very useful. But there was no comprehensive catalogue of Smrekar's work.
Could it be me, a humble doctoral student, who would take upon himself the huge task of making a catalogue raisonné, first of its kind in Slovenia? I got my CRSA membership and learned enough to realize that such a task would be gargantuan. The National Gallery of Slovenia that came to the rescue. The project was greenlit and even awarded a grant, and a publication of Catalogue Raisonné was optimistically announced in 2020. The catalogue was to accompany the exhibition of artists' work in 2021/22. (https://smrekar.ng-slo.si/en/)
During production few problems became apparent, some of them typical for post-socialist countries. Eventually, the book had to be scaled down to mere “Catalogue of Documented Works”.
Should the book (published in English in 2022) be considered a failure? Far from it: I believe it is a success in disguise. In spite of all of its shortcomings it’s a stepping stone for my own research – but more importantly – it is a model for the development of comprehensive catalogues of other artists from Slovenia and other post-socialist countries.