Ivan Kos, the Maribor painter and professor of drawing, was an important member of the Brazda (Furrow) artist’s club, the predecessor of today’s Maribor Artists Association (DLUM), established in 1931. Its members, Karel Jirak, Ante Trstenjak, Franc Ravnikar, and others, shared an interest in social issues, which was the club’s main focus of attention from the onset of its activities. Kos’ art, too, often displayed a social dimension. Beggar is the portrayal of a man whom Kos probably often depicted, since his facial features are reminiscent of the portrait of Dr. Frnikola from 1933. Although Kos’ landscapes and portraits are usually noted for their attention to detail, he depicted the beggar in a slightly different way. Save for the thumb and index, the Beggar’s fingers are only implied, and his left foot is highly abstracted. This gives the drawing an impression of incompleteness and haste. Only the head is deserving of the artist’s particular attention. The facial features are painted in a precise and portrait-like manner; the eyes seem minimized, probably due to corrective glasses. Despite the title, it is not clear if the man really is a beggar, since his clothes give the impression of a bourgeois gentleman.
(Lejla Kruško, in the framework of the Creative Path to Knowledge project, Virtual Legends; The investment is co-financed by the Republic of Slovenia and the European Union from the European Social Fund)
