December 20, 1940 – Celje painter and graphic artist August F. Seebacher died, born July 17, 1887 in Celje
Avgust Friderik Seebacher came from a German family in Celje. After finishing high school in Celje, he studied painting in Vienna, and later refined his skills in Munich and Graz. After returning to Celje, he painted landscapes and genre motifs, mainly oils and pastels, but he mostly dealt with graphics, for which he is best known.
The culmination of his work today is a two-volume work of great value, entitled Celeia antiqua et nova. The first part, published in 1926, contains 12 original etchings with motifs from the reconstructed Roman city of Claudia Celeia and from the early Christian era, with additional explanations. The work attracted great attention upon its publication, as the edition was limited to only 100 copies.
In the second part, also in 1930, he depicted the history of the famous Celje dynasty, especially their dramatic rise and fall, with 12 etchings. Historical explanations were added by Prof. Janko Orožen.
The people of Celje were able to view Seebacher's painting oeuvre several times at exhibitions, the most notable exhibitions being in 1939 and 1940.
Art criticism does not attribute any special artistic value to the painter, but his work is locally very important as a document of a certain place and time.
The Celje Central Library published facsimiles of the aforementioned work in 2007 (Volume II) and 2010 (Volume I).
Sources:
http://www.slovenska-biografija.si/oseba/sbi556826/
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Friedrich_Seebacher
The graphic collection "Celeja – antiqua et nova" is published in digital form on the Kamra portal.
https://www.kamra.si/digitalne-zbirke/item/celeja-antiqua-et-nova.html
https://www.kamra.si/digitalne-zbirke/item/avgust-friderik-seebacher-1887-1940.html