Veno Pilon (22 September 1896 – 23 September 1970) was a Slovene expressionist painter,

graphic artist A graphic designer is a practitioner who follows the discipline of graphic design, either within companies or organizations or independently. They are professionals in design and visual communication, with their primary focus on transforming l ...

and photographer. He was born and died in

Ajdovščina Ajdovščina (; ,trilingual name "Haidenschaft, Aidussina, Ajdovščina" inGemeindelexikon, der im Reichsrate Vertretenen Königreiche und Länder. Bearbeit auf Grund der Ergebnisse der Volkszählung vom 31. Dezember 1900. Herausgegeben von der K. ...

Biography

Pilon was born in

, then part of the

Austro-Hungarian Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...

province of

Gorizia and Gradisca The Princely County of Gorizia and Gradisca (; ; ), historically sometimes shortened to and spelled "Goritz", was a crown land of the Habsburg dynasty within the Austrian Littoral on the Adriatic Sea, in what is now a multilingual border area of ...

(now in

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

). After he had finished the Gorizia Grammar School, he was drafted by the

Austro-Hungarian Army The Austro-Hungarian Army, also known as the Imperial and Royal Army,; was the principal ground force of Austria-Hungary from 1867 to 1918. It consisted of three organisations: the Common Army (, recruited from all parts of Austria-Hungary), ...

during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. He fought on the Eastern front and was captured by the

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

army. He later described his experience as a

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

in the autobiography ''Na robu'' ("On the Edge"). He returned to

in 1919, where he took up painting and studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. In the late 1920s Pilon moved to Paris, where he explored photography and translating Slovene literature into French. After a donation by his son, Dominique, his work in on permanent display at the Pilon Gallery in Ajdovščina.

Notable works

* Lacemaker (Portrait of Štefka Batič), 1923.

References

External links

The Pilon Gallery
Slovenian male painters Slovenian photographers 1896 births 1970 deaths People from Ajdovščina Prešeren Award laureates 20th-century Slovenian painters 20th-century Slovenian male artists {{Europe-photographer-stub