NATAŠA GOLOB, art historian and literary historian (1987, 2010)
Painted wooden ceilings in Slovenia before the mid- 17th century. Mentor: Nace Šumi. Promotion: March 30, 1987 Slovenian literature in the Middle Ages and its audience. Mentor: Boris A. Novak. Promotion: January 12, 2010
She has been a lecturer in Medieval Art History since 1986. Through her research in the field of medieval art, iconography and medieval literary painting, she has established herself at home and abroad especially as a top expert in medieval manuscripts. She skillfully included her research in her many years of pedagogical work and has greatly contributed to the popularization and significance of art history and cultural history in the general public, as well as to the validation of the subject of art history in primary and secondary schools in the Slovenian curriculum.
Nataša Golob standing in front of the Robba fountain at the National Gallery.
Decision on successful completion of the doctorate in comparative literature, with a meaningful footnote by a member of the committee that the defense was performed with the greatest distinction - Summa cum laude. Archive of the Faculty of Arts, doctorate folder of Nataša Golob.
Summary of the evaluation of Nataša Golob's second doctoral dissertation, as read by her mentor, Boris A. Novak, at the promotion. Source: Archive of the Faculty of Arts, doctorate folder of Nataša Golob.
Ph.D. document in Art History of Nataša Golob. Source: Archive of the Faculty of Arts, doctorate folder of Nataša Golob.
Tine Germ, art historian:
When I was deciding on pursuing the doctoral degree after completing my master's degree, choosing a mentor was a logical continuation of my previous study path: under the mentorship of Nataša Golob, who was my favorite professor at the Department of Art History at the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, throughout the years of studying, I have prepared the thesis, and soon after successfully defended my master's thesis. My only issue was my desire to pursue an interdisciplinary and quite challenging topic for my doctoral dissertation, but at the same time, it was different from the topics that prevailed in the doctoral study of art history in the 1980s and 1990s. The philosophical thought of Nikolai Kuzansky and Renaissance art in Italy; many people shrugged and advised me against the topic that seemed too exotic and extravagant. Nataša Golob was ready to accept it and even caught flak from certain colleagues. She made sure I got two great co-mentors: Professor Lev Menaše, who lectured New Age European Art at the department, and Professor Lev Kreft from the Department of Philosophy, who received the co-mentorship with great enthusiasm. Professor Golob gave me clear instructions and guidelines with fondness, the project started, and by 1997, I became one of her first Ph.D. students. I realized only later, when I myself lectured at the department, that I would never have completed my Ph.D. at the University of Ljubljana without her openness, breadth, and understanding. I wouldn't be able to choose another topic since I would not be able to research something I was not genuinely interested in. I am as grateful today for her selfless support and all the years of working together and friendship as when I was her student.
I am an art historian, but I have two PhDs: The Art History one on painted wooden ceilings in the Middle Ages, and the Literary History one on the Slovenian literature in the Middle Ages and its audience. Both PhDs are related both to each other and to what I received from my mentors, Luc Menaše and Nace Šumi. Luc Menaše gave me a wonderful framework for international developments in art history, while Nace Šumi influenced me with a very problem-oriented mentoring approach. Both were students of Izidor Cankar and France Stele, who brought to the University of Ljubljana only the best of what they received from the University of Vienna.
I had no idea where my work would take me. It was a pursuit that led me to new monuments, new events, and new problems. Time and again, I found myself facing questions that demanded answers. As an art historian and literary historian, I follow the principles that were set at the beginning of the 20th century; namely that Slovenism is based on its history, its language, and its culture. I've been drawing from it all the time. On the other hand, my work has strengthened me in the belief that our realm was artistically, culturally and intellectually at an absolute height, completely equivalent to what happened in university cities such as Padua, Venice or Imperial Vienna, where our people played an important role. In all periods, they contributed to the formation of the intellectual and cultural pinnacle, especially during the period of Renaissance humanism. I have presented many of the findings of my research in books. I publish everywhere, mostly in England and Belgium, where there is a publishing house that specializes in the Middle Ages.
I have also presented many of my research findings in short TV shows, exhibitions, and catalogs. This exhibition [on Ljubljana during the period of Bishop Lamberg, which reveals the lively but less-known era at the turn of the 14th to the 15th century; author's note] is my fifteenth. Each exhibition is a dialogue with the audience. The opportunity to display hundreds of manuscripts and fragments that are the most protected and rarely shown material from our heritage is actually a reader about our intellectual Middle Age. Members of the younger generation of art history in Slovenia are present everywhere in the world, especially in the field of Baroque and 20th-century art, with scholars from all over the world visiting us.