WAITING for Spring.photo: Courtesy of GMB
IN PRAISE of Troubled Dreams, Feverish Inaction, Continual and Persistent Trying for Ownership, Drunken Dragon, A Boat Named the Torture Chamber of Love - these are not insane hallucinations, but the titles of some of the numerous artworks by Albín Brunovský.
He is known to the masses not only for the banknotes he designed but for his singular and immensely evocative style.
The Bratislava City Gallery (GMB) is now offering a unique opportunity to see his complete graphic collection of more than 650 pieces, including 26 paintings on wood.
"The exhibition is the biggest ever organized by the gallery. For the first time we have had to take down all the permanently displayed works in order to make space for Brunovský's pieces," said the gallery's director and exhibition curator, Ivan Jančár.
The admirable interconnecting of fantastic and realistic elements, the controlled handling of expression and the absolute mastery of classical graphic techniques characterize Brunovský's graphic works.
His oeuvres carry traces of baroque ostentation, romanticism, the mysterious messages of symbolism and the ornamentalism of secession.
Brunovský was also an explorer and discoverer of new creative paths, and contributed significantly to the development of graphic arts in Slovakia and abroad.
SAD Conclusion of Falcon's Flight.photo: Courtesy of GMB
The 26 paintings on wood in the exhibition are commissioned works created between 1972 and 1974 for the government's Bôrik Hotel in Bratislava.
After they had been completed, they were rejected by a high representative of the then Communist regime and ended up in a basement of the national heritage institute, Matica Slovenská.
Later they were moved to the Orava Gallery in Dolný Kubín, where they were kept as the most significant single collection of Brunovský's paintings in Slovakia.
These monumental masterpieces show Brunovský's enchantment with the wood used - precious Persian walnut, on which he sought a balance between the grain of the wood, part of which he left unpainted, and the painting itself.
"We will not find here any painter's compromises, which were so characteristic for the artistic works created during the [communist] 1970s and 1980s," said Jančár.
The exhibition is open daily except Monday between 11:00 and 18:00 in Bratislava City Gallery, housed in Pálffy Palace, Panská 19 until February 20. Tickets cost Sk80. For more information call 02/5443-3627.
