Ivan Seljak

Who is Ivan Seljak?

Ivan Seljak, nom de guerre Čopič was a Slovene painter and illustrator.

Seljak was born in Idrija in 1927. During the Second World War he joined the Slovene Partisans as a young military courier, where he met Božidar Jakac and other artists who encouraged his artistic talent. After the war he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana, from which he graduated in 1951. His main medium was painting, but he also illustrated numerous children's books. He won the Levstik Award for his illustrations three times: in 1955, 1963, and 1976. He also won the Prešeren Foundation Award in 1975 for the exhibitions of his paintings. He died in 1990.