Matko Laginja, politician and writer, was born in Klana near Kastav [in Istria] on August 10, 1852. He attended primary school in Kastav, then went to the Croatian grammar school in Rijeka and afterwards studied law in Zagreb and Graz, where he also received his Ph.D. He also received a scholarship from the Croatian government and completed his studies at the Academy for trade and industry in Graz and an advanced course in trade in Trieste. After he had finished his studies, he worked for a short time as senior clerk of the Zagreb town hall government, in 1880 he took the post of secretary in the Kastav municipality and then started as a solicitor's trainee in Volosko. In 1890 he established a solicitor's office in Pula, but he had to close it in 1915 due to the war. He spent the rest of his life in Zagreb where he died on April 18, 1930.

Matko Laginja, političar i književnik, rođen je u Klani, kod Kastva [Istra], 10. kolovoza 1852. godine. Osnovnu školu je polazio u Kastvu, hrvatsku gimnaziju u Rijeci, a pravo studirao na Pravoslovnoj akademiji u Zagrebu i na Pravnom fakultetu u Grazu, gdje je i doktorirao. Kao stipendist Hrvatske vlade u Grazu je završio studij na Akademiji za trgovinu i industriju, a zatim i Viši trgovački tečaj u Trstu. Nakon završenog studija kratko je vrijeme bio perovođa Gradskog poglavarstva u Zagrebu, a 1880. postaje tajnik općine Kastav i zatim odvjetnički pripravnik u Voloskom. Godine 1890. je otvorio odvjetničku pisarnu u Puli, ali ju je morao zatvoriti 1915. zbog rata te je do svoje smrti 18. travnja 1930. živio u Zagrebu.

In his young days, as a student and secretary of the Kastav municipality, he intended to start upon a literary career. He wrote and published Fables, specially adapted for the Istrian people (published anonymously in 1876), he used to write Istrian short stories for the journal "Vijenac" (1879-1880) and also published Croatian folk songs sung in Istria and the Kvarner Islands, that have been reprinted from the journal "Naša sloga" from Trieste and printed under the special sponsorship of the Matica Hrvatska in 1880. He then published the booklet Kastav, town and municipality in 1889, and wrote the folk play "Šilo za ognjilo" (Tit for Tat) in which much fun is made of the custom of copying Italian manners. The play was successfully performed by amateur theatre groups in Istria as long as 1914. In the magazine "Pravo" (Law) from Zadar he wrote legal-historical treatises. However, his political work has drawn him away from literature and science into the area of everyday political activity that was imperative to be continued in Istria following the death of Bishop Juraj Dobrila (1882).

U mladosti, kao student i tajnik općine Kastav, mislio se baviti književnim radom. Napisao je i izdao Basne. Prekrojene poglavito za hrvatski puk u Istri (1876. anonimno), objavljivao je u "Vijencu" Istarske pričice (1879. - 1880.), izdao je Hrvatske narodne pjesme što se pjevaju po Istri i Kvarnerskih otocih, koje su pretiskane iz tršćanske "Naše sloge" i posebno tiskane potporom Matice hrvatske, 1880., te je objavio knjižicu Kastav, grad i općina 1889. godine. napisao je i pučku dramu Šilo za ognjilo, u kojoj se ismijava povođenje za talijanštinom, koju su s uspjehom izvodili kazališni amateri u Istri sve do 1914. Pisao je i pravno-povijesne rasprave u zadarskom časopisu "Pravo". Ipak, politički rad ga je odveo od književnosti i znanosti na polje svakodnevnog političkog djelovanja koje je u Istri bilo nužno prihvatiti, posebice nakon smrti biskupa Jurja Dobrile (1882.).

Matko Laginja has, like most Croatian intellectuals, accepted the political ideas and programme of the Croatian Party of Rights led by Starčević. Together with two more members of the party, Vjekoslav Spinčić and Matko Mandić (referred to as the "Istrian trefoil"), he introduced a recognizable Croatian spirit into Istrian life and a more severe controversies with Italians and Italophiles (certain Croats and Slovenes). This used to take place in the Istrian local parliament as well as with the administrations in Istria and on the pages of the journal "Naša sloga" that was transferred from Trieste to Pula. The Italian minority in Istria - with a higher level of education, more affluent and favoured by the Austrian authorities - used to have many more rights than the Croatian and Slovenian majority. This was the reason that the Croatian village community had to be politically and economically organized, in order to prevent and expose the usuriousness of the Italian tradesmen and bankers, organize education, cooperatives and savings banks. It was necessary to achieve the equality of the Croatian language in the Istrian local parliament, in administration, schools and courts of justice. Laginja was the first one to try speaking in Croatian in a parliamentary session in Poreč (granted by the rules of procedure), but he was prevented from doing so. As a solicitor he used to defend the Istrian farmers before the unjust courts, often doing it pro bono. In order to strengthen village estates and the national consciousness in Istria, he organized the founding of savings cooperatives and the Trade Association. He supported the founding and opening of libraries and Croatian elementary schools that were taken care of by the Istrian Brotherhood of Saints Cyril and Methodius. All this hard and patient work on the enlightenment and independence of the Croatian village community was cut short and made impossible when Italy occupied Istria, and particularly when fascists came into power in Italy. The fascist rule with its coarse and aggressive chauvinism and many atrocities took it out on the Croats of Istria and the Slovenes in the Slovene coastland.

Matko Laginja je, kao i većina hrvatskih intelektualaca, već u mladosti prigrlio političke ideje i program Strarčevićeve Hrvatske stranke prava. Zajedno s Vjakoslavom Spinčićem i Matkom Mandićem ("Istarski trolist"), također pravašima, u politički život Istre unio je prepoznatljiv hrvatski duh i oštriji govor s Talijanima i talijanašima (određenim Hrvatima i Slovencima), i to jednako raspravama u Istarskom pokrajinskom saboru, kao i u općinskim upravama u Istri i na stranicama "Naše sloge" koja je iz Trsta prenesena u Pulu. Talijanska manjina u Istri - bogatija, obrazovanija i politički protežirana od austrijskih vlasti - imala je tada daleko veća prava nego hrvatska i slovenska većina. stoga je trebalo politički i gospodarski organizirati hrvatsko selo, spriječiti i razobličiti lihvarenje talijanskih trgovaca i novčara, organizirati školstvo, zadrugarstvo i štedionice. trebalo se izboriti za ravnopravnost hrvatskog jezika u Istarskom pokrajinskom saboru, u upravi, školstvu i sudstvu. Laginja je prvi pokušao u Saboru u Poreču govoriti hrvatski (što je Poslovnikom bilo uređeno), a u čemu je bio spriječen. Kao odvjetnik, branio je istarske seljake pred nepravednim sudovima (često besplatno). Da bi ojačao seljačka gospodarstva i narodnu svijest diljem Istre, organizirao je otvaranje posujilnica (štednih zadruga) i Gospodarske sveze. Pomagao je osnivanje i otvaranje čitaonica ("čitalnica") i hrvatskih osnovnih škola, o kojima se brinula Družba svetog Ćirila i Metoda za Istru. Sav je taj mukotrpan i strpljiv rad na prosvjećivanju i osamostaljivanju hrvatskog sela bio prekinut i posvema onemogućen kad je Italija okupirala Istru, i posebice kad je u Italiji na vlast došao fašizam, koji se svom oštrinom grubog šovinizma i zločinstva iskaljivao nad Hrvatskima u Istri i nad Slovencima u Slovenskom primorju.

For a short period Laginja was the president of Starčević's Croatian Party of Rights (1917-1918). He was appointed Commissioner for Istria in the National Council in Zagreb, and for a time was also Banus of Croatia and Slavonia. However, this was only to honour the man, intellectual and national fighter, as his chief political, economical and educational work, so exceptionally important for Istria, was closely bound to his activity in the area where he was highly esteemed and loved by the people who have given him the honourable name of "Father of Istria".

Laginja je kratko bio predsjednik Starčevićeve stranke prava (1917. - 1918.). Bio je imenovan povjerenikom za Istru u Narodnom vijeću u Zagrebu, i jedno vrijeme ban Hrvatske i Slavonije. Ipak, to je bila samo počast čovjeku, intelektualcu i narodnom borcu, jer je njegov glavni politički, gospodarski i prosvjetni rad, od iznimne važnosti za Istru, bio vezan uz njegovo djelovanje na području gdje ga je narod cijenio i volio i dao mu časno ime "Otac Istre".  

Added note:

He was jurist, administrative employer, lawyer, editor, journalist, printer, writer, the historian of law, actor, producer, economist, the deputy in the Parlament, ethnologist etc., but first of all, he was e politician and patriot. He was e leader of the second generation of the revivalists of Istria and the islands of Kvarner, as well as the governor/viceroy of Croatia and Slavonia of those times, being the only governor/viceroy who originated from Istria.

He published his "Istrian tales" in Zagreb (1879 and 1880). As a literary genere, the "Istrian tales" are in the form of travelogue which also comprises elements of other prose generes - literary portrait, anecdote, humouresque, but also bears some social messages which were actual at that time.

Source: http://www.mzt.hr/projekti9095/6/03/066/rad_cc_e.htm

Flowers on the Window, 1932
tempera and oil on cardboard; 88.3 x 65cm

Antun Motika, (1902-1992), was born in Pula and has become, both by his place of birth and education, an eminent representative of multicultural Istria. He was an artist who had received a thorough education in the three languages of the then Austro-Hungarian Empire. He attended the German Imperial State Gymnasium in Pula, then, in the war years, he continued his education in the Croatian language when he attended the famous gymnasium in Pazin. In 1918 all the Croatian schools in Istria were closed, so Motika continued his education in the Italian language. In 1919 he moved to Sušak where he became seriously engaged in both painting and sculpture studies in the atelier of Rudolf Matković.

Cvijeće na prozoru, 1932.
tempera i ulje na kartonu; 88,3 x 65 cm

Antun Motika (1902-1992) rođenjem Puljanin, a zavičajem i školovanjem istaknuti predstavnik multikulturne Istre, umjetnik je temeljito školovan na čak tri jezika nekadašnje K. und K. monarhije. U Puli je pohađao njemačku Carsku i kraljevsku državnu gimnaziju, tijekom ratnih godina školovanje je nastavio na hrvatskom jeziku u glasovitoj Pazinskoj gimnaziji, a kada su 1918.g. bile zatvorene sve hrvatske škole u Istri Motika je nastavu slušao na talijanskom jeziku. Godine 1919. preselio je na Sušak gdje počine s ozbiljnim kiparskim i slikarskim radom u ateljeu Rudolfa Matkovića.

In 1921 he finally passed the school-leaving exam in Croatian at the Royal secondary modern school in Sušak. As a poor but exceptionally talented Croatian student he was given a modest grant by the Matica Hrvatska, the Central Croatian Cultural and Publishing Society, which enabled him to immediately leave for Zagreb and start the course of study at the Royal Academy in professor Rudolf Valdec’s sculpture class. Living in a great city, Motika had ample opportunity to visit interesting exhibitions of paintings in the season 1921-1922: the first exhibitions of Vidović and Gecan, and the third exhibition of Becić at the selective collective Spring Salon, usually referred to as the “Blažuj period”. This prompted Motika to supress his wish for the study of sculpture and he changed from Valdec’s class to start his study of painting in the class of professor Maksimilijan Vanka.

Konačno, godine 1921. položio je ispit zrelosti na Kraljevskoj realnoj gimnaziji u Sušaku, dakako, na hrvatskom jeziku. Skromna stipendija Matice hrvatske (za izvanredno nadarene i siromašne hrvatske talente) omogućila mu je, odmah po maturi, odlazak u Zagreb i studij na kiparskom odjelu Kraljevske akademije kod prof. Rudolfa Valdeca. Živeći u velikom gradu koji u sezoni 1921/1922. obiluje zanimljivim slikarskim izložbama (Vidovićeva i Gecanova prva, Becićeva treća "blažujska", znakovita selekcija Proljetnog salona…), Motika potiskuje kiparstvo i 1923.g. prelazi u slikarsku klasu Maksimilijana Vanke.

In the course of study and later, while attending special classes in the atelier of Ljubo Babić, he supported himself by working in the journals “Obzor” and “Koprive”, proofreading and drawing caricatures. The following era, popularly referred to as the “Mostar era” (1929-1940), played a key role in the development and maturing of the painter’s personal style. I refer here, of course, to the landscapes from Mostar and figurative compositions lit up by the Herzegovinian sun, painted before the year 1930. Even more important was the study experience during his several-months’ stay in Paris , when he deliberately acquired the Parisian costume, to quote Ljubo Babić. He returned to Mostar and started working there at the gymnasium, and this is when he finally rounded up his productive creative work by numerous works of art of high quality. The Paris experience turned Motika’s art from modelling to modulating, from description to coloristic expression. This is why his coloristically harmonious vibrations of forms and drawings in the gouaches and water-colours from the early 1930s are the best representatives of the attained quality of his distinctive style or, to put it differently, the trademark of Motika’s framework: the play of twofold lighting while watching the nature from indoors.

Tijekom studija i kasnije "specijalke" kod Ljube Babića ispomaže se korekturama i karikaturama u «Obzoru» te «Koprivama». Uslijedilo je, popularno zvano, mostarsko razdoblje (1929-1940) u Motikinu stvaralaštvu koje, po razvoj i sazrijevanje osobnog slikareva rukopisa, ima ključnu ulogu. Dakako, tu poglavito mislim na hercegovačkim suncem rasvijetljene mostarske pejzaže i figuralne kompozicije prije 1930. godine, potom još važniji višemjesečni studijski boravak u Parizu i promišljeno usvajanje – kako se izrazio Ljubo Babić, pariškog kostima, te, konačno, brojem i kvalitetom, osobito plodno stvaralaštvo po povratku u Mostar i službu u tamošnjoj gimnaziji. Pariško je iskustvo ispravno okrenulo Motiku od modeliranja ka moduliranju, od opisivanja ka izražavanju bojom pa su koloristički skladne vibracije forme i crteža u gvaševima i akvarelima s početka tridesetih godina ponajbolji reprezenti dosegnute kvalitete osebujna rukopisa i, rekla bih, zaštitnog znaka Motikina kadra: igra dvojakog osvjetljenja u pogledu iz interijera u prirodu.

The painting “Flowers on the Window” is one of his best still lifes, i.e. live frameworks of pulsating atmosphere by which the painter, inspiringly and skilfully ennobled the otherwise modest contents of the motive. The painting was bought by the Modern Gallery and has been among the pictures constantly on display ever since the year 1935. It was also among the fifty other paintings exhibited at Motika’s second individual Zagreb exhibition in 1935, together with his landscapes, atelier interiors, or his modest home, figures of girls and panoramas of Mostar. By this exhibition Motika succeeded in attracting the attention of the critics and public alike, and significantly announced what and how he was going to paint until the next turning point in the early 1950s. It is important to refer to what Jerolim Miše, the critic and regular member of the “Group of Three” (the group with whom Motika exhibited his works as a guest painter in 1933 and 1934), characterized Motika’s performance: ”Everything is carried away by the rhythm of festive fanfares. The colour and line are entirely free to play the minuet”, (Hrvatska revija, No.4, Zagreb, 1935).

Slika «Cvijeće na prozoru» upravo je jedna od ponajboljih mrtvih priroda, odnosno živih kadrova pulsirajuće atmosfere kojom je slikar nadahnuto i vješto oplemenjivao sadržajnu skromnost motiva. Otkupljena je za Modernu galeriju i već desetljećima krasi njezin stalni postav, još od daleke 1935.g., kada je, pored pedesetak drugih radova (krajolici, interieurijeri atelijera ili skromna doma, figure djevojčica i mostarskih veduta) bila izložena na Motikinoj drugoj samostalnoj izložbi u Zagrebu. Tom je izložbom Motika uspješno privukao pozornost kritike, i publike te značajno najavio što i kako će slikati sve do sljedećeg prijelomnog razdoblja s početka pedesetih godina prošlog stoljeća. Vrijedi zabilježiti riječi kojima je Jerolim Miše, kritičar i stalni član Grupe Trojica (s kojom je kao gost izlagao i Motika 1933.i 1934.g.), predstavio Motikin nastup: "Sve je to poneseno ritmom blagdanskih fanfara. Boja i crta slobodni od svega igraju menuet" (Hrvatska revija,br.4, Zagreb,1935.).