Hinko Smrekar

Life & Legacy

Hinko Smrekar (13 July 1883 – 1 October 1942) was a Slovenian painter, draughtsman, caricaturist, graphic artist, and illustrator. Smrekar was a member of the Vesna Art Club, which was active in Vienna, and a partisan in the Liberation Front of the Slovene Nation during the Nazi occupation of Yugoslavia.
The Hinko Smrekar Primary School in Ljubljana and the Hinko Smrekar Prize in Celje, the highest Slovenian award in the field of illustration (since 1993), are named after him. As a collaborator of the Slovene Liberation Front, he was hastily shot by the Italian fascists in the vicinity of a gravel pit used for summary executions (now the Gramozna Jama Memorial). At the time, he was living in the "Villa Kurnik" on Alešovčeva Street (No 38) in Šiška. He is buried in the Memorial Park of Fallen Combatants and Hostages at Žale.