Mira Pintar

Marija Ana Frančiška Pintar, also known as Mira Pintar, (5 February 1891 – 23 June 1980) was a Slovenian bank clerk, artist, and art collector. Closely associated with her aunt, the painter Ivana Kobilca, she played an important role as the custodian of her aunt's artistic estate after the painter's death. Her mother was a private needlework teacher Marija Kobilca (1860–1946), sister of the painter Ivana Kobilca, and her father was the librarian and writer Luka Pintar (1857–1915). She had an older brother, the physician Ivan Pintar (1888–1963). Both of her parents, especially her mother, helped Ivana Kobilca sell paintings and manage commissions. At the end of 1907 Ivana Kobilca moved to Berlin, but remained in close contact with her niece and taught her painting when they were together. She also painted extensively, mainly still lifes, and drew portraits in charcoal and pencil. There she met the writer Ivan Cankar, who in 1911 named the second part Mira of his novella triptych Volja in moč after her, as well as the painter Matija Jama, the poet Oton Župančič, the writer Vladimir Levstik, and other notable Slovenian intellectuals. She also introduced Ivana Kobilca to the salon and its visitors; Kobilca later portrayed several of them.

Ivana Kobilca’s estate Even after taking up employment, she maintained close ties with her aunt. In letters, her aunt gave her detailed instructions on handling paintings and even entrusted her with restoring her faded signatures. At the end of 1926 Ivana Kobilca died, and in her will appointed Mira Pintar as custodian of her legacy and heir to most of her unsold paintings. After twelve years as a bank clerk, she left her job in the 1930s and devoted herself to caring for her aunt's estate and to her own artistic work.

Later life and death She never married and had no children. She lived in Ljubljana with her mother, who died in 1946. She died in Ljubljana on 23 June 1980.