The Slovene nation entered the Eumpean history as
a»small nation«having previously constituted parf of the
»foreign «empire. In Slovenia, cu/ture had for centuries been
identified with art, u>hich actually represented its most
significanć and almost only secfion; under such historical
and social circumstances, the art oi >ergrew its fundamental
function and acquired certain ideological, i. e. political identification.
Thus, the art had to accomplish the comp/ex role
of national consciousness, politics, science, etc. In this paper,
an atte>npt is made to elucidate the establishment of our
institutions in the field of visual arts, thereby referring to
institutionalization in a broad sense, i. e. not only organization
of institutions but also of i >arious societies, programs,
exhibitions, some epoch-making publication, etc. A myth on
the national-liberation role of cu/ture, uhich appears to be
a specific feature of the Slovene cu/ture, also includes problems
related to the institutional level of v<sual avt production,
therefore having fortified national emancipation
