A prolific and versatile painter, Ciuha had his oeuvre displayed at Ljubljana's Jakopič Gallery just over a year ago in a major retrospective exhibition.

Born in Trbovlje in 1924, Ciuha was forcedly mobilised to the German army during the war, which he deserted to join the allies and later the Partisan resistance.

After the war, he graduated from the Ljubljana Academy of Fine Arts and then travelled to different parts of the world extensively in the 1950s and 60s.

Among other things, he studied Buddhist culture and philosophy at Yangon University in Myanmar in 1959-61. He also ran a seminar at the Salzburg International Summer Academy in 1974-78.

Moving to Paris in the 1980s, he met poet and art critic Alain Bosquet, who helped him to make a breakthrough on the Parisian fine arts scene.

Ciuha's works make part of major world art collections. He had more than 300 independent exhibitions and several group shows. He also wrote three books on his travels in Asia, South America and the US.

Ciuha used various techniques in his paintings, form paintings, watercolours, drawings, illustrations, mosaics and tapestries.

Many of his works are marked by Ciuha's travels, starting with Macedonia during his studies and later in the Buddhist east. He also illustrated fairy tales, poetry for children and folk tales.

He received a number of awards for his work, including Prešeren Fund Prize in 1967 and the peers' Jakopič Prize in 1981, as well as a lifetime-achievement award for book illustrations in 2014.