Bratislava Snopek Ladislav plastika Martin Benka

Martin Benka (21 September 1888, in Kostolište – 28 June 1971, in

Malacky Malacky ( German: ''Malatzka'', Hungarian: ''Malacka'') is a town and municipality in western Slovakia around north from capital Bratislava. From the second half of the 10th century until 1918, it was part of the Kingdom of Hungary. It is one ...

) was a Slovak painter and illustrator. He is regarded as the founder of

Modernist Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

20th century Slovak painting. He was given the title ''National Artist.'' He is buried in the

National Cemetery in Martin The National Cemetery ( sk, Národný cintorín) in Martin, Slovakia is the final resting place of many important personalities of Slovak history. The list includes writers, poets, national activists, pedagogues, etc. The reason why Martin was se ...

Style

Benka's ornamental style, influenced by

folk art Folk art covers all forms of visual art made in the context of folk culture. Definitions vary, but generally the objects have practical utility of some kind, rather than being exclusively decorative. The makers of folk art are typically tr ...

, contrasted sharply with the functional and purist approach of the German

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 20 ...

and

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

avantgarde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or 'vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical D ...

movements of that time. A contemporary of the famous

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

generation of

cubist Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...

artists, Benka lived in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

for 30 years. Benka, along with Ľudovít Fulla,

Mikuláš Galanda Mikuláš Galanda (4 May 1895 – 5 June 1938) was a painter and illustrator who was one of the most important pioneers and propagators of Slovak modern art. He is buried in the National Cemetery in Martin. Birth and education He was born in Mal ...

, and the Czech Jaroslav Vodrážka created

Slovak

typography Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable and appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, point sizes, line lengths, line-spacing ( leading), ...

. He was a prolific creator of different

fonts In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a " sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of such fonts that shared an overall design. In mod ...

– between 40 and 60 of them.

Inspirations

Whilst searching for characteristic features,

form Form is the shape, visual appearance, or configuration of an object. In a wider sense, the form is the way something happens. Form also refers to: *Form (document), a document (printed or electronic) with spaces in which to write or enter data ...

s and

colours Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associ ...

of Slovakia, Benka would visit regions where people lived simply, in communion with nature. Benka would often travel around the countryside, documenting

rural In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are descri ...

life and nature in his works, many of which he did outdoors and spontaneously. In addition to this, Benka built himself a countryhouse, where he lived from 1959 to 1971. This is today ''The Martin Benka Museum'' as outlined in his will, in which he bequeathed his work to the state.

Paintings

*''Rieka Orava'' (''The Orava River'') *''Jeseň na Spiši'' (''Fall in Spiš'') *''Dve ženy'' (''Two women'')
''Na pole''
(''Into the Field'') *''Drevári pod Ďumbierom'' (''Woodcutters below Ďumbier Mountain'') *''Za umením'' (''On the quest for art'')
''Po búrke''
(''After the storm'')

References

External links

Benka typographyArtworks by Martin Benka
{{DEFAULTSORT:Benka, Martin 1888 births 1971 deaths People from Malacky District Slovak painters Modern painters Burials at National Cemetery in Martin Slovak illustrators