6th Exhibition of photographs by Tihomir Pinter: Portraits of Ljubljana old town

Pinter’s photographs of Ljubljana, which were created in the last 50 years, more precisely from 1970 onwards, are the result of the author’s way of observing and depicting reality with the help of a photographic camera. However, this is not a chronicle of the growth and transformation of the city, just as it is not a catalog of the most realistic depiction of buildings, their spatial coherence or picturesqueness, but rather the author’s completely personal interpretations of the city, its ambiences and images, just as these can be drawings or paintings by painters . With an artistically sensitive eye and a special sensitivity to geometric composition, spatial depth, scale, proportions and materiality, he is able to use his camera to connect and assemble parts of buildings and their details into new, unexpected wholes that tell as yet unknown stories about the city, houses and spaces. And especially about the magical dialogue of light and shadow. Photography is essentially a record of light. It seems as if Josif Brodski had Pinter’s images of Ljubljana in front of his eyes when he wrote that at sunset “the reliefs become looser, the columns more rounded, the capitals more undulating, the crowning walls bolder, the pointed tops of the bell towers stronger, the niches deeper, the apostles more draped, the angels they fly”. (Aleš Vodopivec)

About the author

Tihomir Pinter was born on January 19, 1938 in Bjelovar, Croatia, where he completed primary and secondary school. His older brother inspired him for photography as a child. Between 1954 and 1958, he attended a military medical school in Ljubljana, and in 1958 he moved to Sarajevo, where he got a job as a military technician. In 1960, he enrolled at the Faculty of Pharmacy and Biochemistry in Zagreb, where he graduated (1965), master’s (1973) and doctorate (1975). In parallel with his studies, he devoted a lot of time to photography. He was an active member of photography societies and clubs, exhibited independently and at group exhibitions. To date, Pinter’s photographs have been exhibited at 94 solo and more than 600 group exhibitions at home and abroad. For his creative work in the field of photography, he received many awards and recognitions, including the Janez Puhar Lifetime Achievement Award (2006). The National Association of Photographers awarded him the title of “Master of Art Photography”, and the International Photographic Organization awarded him the title of “Excellence FIAP”.