Kolë Idromeno

Nikolla " Kole " Idromeno [ ˌ nikɔɫa kɔl idɾɔ ˌ mɛnɔ ] (also Kol Idromeno; born August 15, 1860 in Shkodra, † December 12, 1939 ) was an Albanian artist. He is considered one of the first photographers and cinematographers Albania. His artistic work in the field of painting is one of the most influential in the history of painting in his home country.

Life and work

Kole Idromenos father, arsenic Idromeno, was medium-sized contractors. He was originally from Arta and had long been resident in Shkodra, where he had married a local woman Roza Saraçi. In his home city of Shkodra learned Kole Idromeno of Pjetër Marubi, a family friend, know the basics of photography. At age eleven, he began to paint watercolors first. At the urging of Marubi and with whose support he studied for six months in 1876 in Venice at the Accademia di belle arti di Venezia painting. After abandoning his studies, he worked in the studio of a local painter as his assistant.

From 1878 on, back in Albania, he worked in various fields: He worked as an architect, sculptor, photographer, stage designer, Cinématographe, engineer, trumpet player in the city orchestra and painter. In addition, he strengthened himself, and for the Albanian independence, which is why he had to emigrate in 1897 for a year to Ulcinj.

As an architect, he drew the plans for around 50 buildings. In addition to private and public buildings he also designed industrial facilities, cinema Rozafa, a bank building and the Kafja e Madhe ( The Grand Café). The ceiling of the cathedral of Shkodra is also from Idromeno.

Idromeno was founded in 1883 with the help of Marubi a thriving photo studio. In 1912 he was the first in Albania with its own projector films before. In the same year he founded the first theater in the country. With the Lumière brothers in Paris he corresponded regularly. Idromeno taught art, collected contemporary art and proposed in 1923 the first art exhibition in Shkodra on.

Work and reception

" As a first genuinely Albanian artist you will be the painter Kol Idromeno call ... "

Idromeno is the most important painters of the Albanian National Revival and founder of realism ' in Albania.

By 1896 he painted mainly paintings with religious themes. He later painted as probably first Albanians secular and realistic images with historical events and everyday subjects, such as festivals ( Shkodraner wedding) and costumes. Idromeno was the first landscape painter in the modern Albanian Painting ( yard of a house in Shkodra ). The realism in his paintings passed through an almost photographic Faithful expression. Idromeno also created many portraits - often by family members or individuals from Shkodra. His most famous work is Motra clays, showing his sister Tona and is sometimes referred to as Albanian Mona Lisa. Painted in 1883, it is his first known work after his return from Venice. It is considered the first secular portrait of the visual arts in Albania.

His work has been shown at international exhibitions, for example, 1898 in Budapest, 1900 in Vienna and 1939 in New York, and at the first National Art Exhibition in Tirana in 1931. Today they are seen in Shkodra and Tirana in the National Art Gallery, which owns 26 stations, and in Mezuraj museum that has at least one image.

Idromenos photographic work is obtained by numerous postcards are especially created during the occupation Shkodras by Austro-Hungarian troops during the First World War. Again showing his work - inspired by the photography of Pjetër Marubi - along with photographs of the city and scenes of everyday life, such as the market, many portraits of particular women in their traditional costumes, also veiled in part. The photograph served him partly as a template for pictures, but was mainly independent expression of his artistic career.

In 1985 Idromeno (Albanian Piktor i Popullit ) was in communist Albania posthumously appointed painter to the people.

Oborri i shtëpisë shkodrane ( courtyard of the house Shkodraner ) Oil, around 1920, National Art Gallery Tirana

Dasma shkodrane ( Shkodraner wedding) Oil, 1924, National Art Gallery Tirana

View of Shkodra Postcard, circa 1910

Woman from Shkodra in Catholic garb Postcard, circa 1910

Ceiling of the St. Stephen's Cathedral in Shkodër