Božidar Jakac (July 16, 1899 – November 20, 1989) was a Slovene Yugoslavian expressionist, realist and symbolist painter, printmaker, art teacher, photographer and filmmaker.

In 1918, after World War I ended, Ivan Vavpotič, his former professor, introduced him to the prominent Slovene Impressionist painter Rihard Jakopič, who exhibited Jakac's paintings and became his first true tutor.

[citation needed] From November 1919, Jakac studied painting and printmaking at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague (under professors Jakub Obrovský and Franz Thiele).

[citation needed] In September 1943, Jakac joined the partisan resistance in the Province of Ljubljana, where he promoted culture and education and noted the events in numerous graphics.

At that time he contributed significantly to the establishment of Ljubljana Academy of Fine Arts, which was realised in 1945, and then served as its dean for three terms (1945–1947, 1947–1949, and later in 1959–1961) and taught printmaking till his retirement in 1961.

He was the president of the Association of Fine Artists of Yugoslavia, a republican and federal deputy, and in 1955, the initiator of the international Biennial of Graphic Arts in Ljubljana.

[citation needed] In his teenager years, he created watercolors of scenes from nature and of the Novo Mesto landscape, distinguished by reduced Realism, Mood Impressionism and the exploration of light effects, as well as by discovery and establishment of his pastel technique.

[citation needed] After the departure to Prague he progressed rapidly in his artistic development and incorporated many of the elements of Cubism, Expressionism and Abstract art in his works.

divizija na Štajerskem ("The 14th Division in Lower Styria") in 1949, and for his rich exhibition activity in the past years and a vivid fine art presence in the Slovene and Yugoslav cultural space in 1980.

Jakac was named the honorary academician of Accademia dell'Arte del Disegno in Florence (1965) and a full member of European Academy of Arts, Sciences and Humanities in Paris (1982).