June 18, 1977 – Celje photographer Josip Pelikan, born on December 9, 1885 in Tarvisio, died.

He was a descendant of photographers – the Czechs from Prague, which was then considered a very developed city in terms of photography. In Tarvisio, where there was a vacancy for a photographic trade at the time, the young Pelikan first encountered photography, which marked him professionally for the rest of his life.

After his mother's death and his father's remarriage, the family moved to Idrija in 1894, and the son began to learn more about his father's art of photography, which included not only the technique of dry, factory-made, but also homemade, wet photographic plates, which gave the photograph more beautiful tones.

At a Sokol performance in Brežice, Josip met a girl whom he married in 1910 and founded an initially modest photography studio in the town. Two years later, Pelikan built a new house with a studio in Idrija and became independent.

During the First World War he was mobilized, after which he returned home, but due to disagreements with the fascists he first moved across the state border to Žira, from there to Brežice, and in 1920 he moved to Celje, to the house of Prof. Jarc, who had the studio of the former Celje photographer Lenz next to the courtyard. He bought the house and studio, and Celje became the center of his photographic creativity until his death.

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