Mikuláš Galanda

Mikuláš Galanda (Mar 4, 1895 – Jun 5, 1938) was a renowned painter, illustrator, and one of the most important pioneers and propagators of Slovak modern art. He is buried in the National Cemetery in Martin.

In all his work, he strove to formulate the Slovakian artistic modernism on the basis of achievements in the development of European painting. He was inclined towards expressionist and cubist trends, and created his own form of painting on this basis. From the very beginning of his career he was oriented more into graphics but lately he decided for paintwork. His thought was oriented towards domestic content, associated with the Slovak landscape and people. He was considered to be a lyric painter of female beauty and charm. His whole masterpiece is predominated with melancholy while happiness is being repressed.

He was born in Mala Vieska near Turčianske Teplice. After graduating from grammar school in Lučenec, he began to study painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest in 1914. From 1914 to 1916 he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest.

In 1922 he enrolled in the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague, where he studied under Prof. V. H. Brunner.

From 1923 to 1927 he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague under August Brömse and Franz Thiele. During his studies in Prague, he coached with Ľudovít Fullm. Together, they published the “Private Sheets of Fulle and Galanda, which became a manifestation of Slovak art.

From 1924 to 1926, Galanda was the first graphical editor for Dav magazine. He was given approval to teach drawing in 1928, and in that year in Prague he met Maria Boudova, who he married in 1931. He moved to Bratislava in 1929 and started to teach at 1st girls’ town school.

From 1929 to 1932 he shared an atelier together with Ľudovít Fulla situated in 5, Trnavska street in Bratislava. In 1930 he worked as a teacher at 2nd boys’ school and at School of handcrafts in Bratislava. He joined Umelecka beseda slovenska. In autumn of 1930 he traveled to Paris, and had an exhibition in Kraków.

During 1930–1932, Galana and L. Fulla released four issues of their Private Letters, in which they had been talking over new progressive opinions in fine arts and its function in modern society. In 1933 he became a professor at School of handcrafts in Bratislava, and won Krajinska cena M. R. Štefánika.

In 1935 he had exhibitions in Siena Elanu and Prague. In 1936 he had a holiday in Zdiar, and exhibited in the Venice Biennale. In 1937 he exhibited his works in Moscow and at the 1937 Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne in Paris, where he won a Silver Medal for inventive art genre – illustrations and book designs.
In 1938 he participated in an Exhibition of Slovak Art in New York. He signed the manifesto of 300 cultural, artistic, scientific and religious representatives “Verní zostaneme! (Forever faithful!)” in protest against ČSR separation.
Mikuláš Galanda died on 5 June 1938 in Bratislava.

Mikuláš Galanda was a renowned painter, illustrator, and one of the most important pioneers and propagators of Slovak modern art. He is buried in the National Cemetery in Martin.

At the beginning of the thirties Mikuláš Galanda and his friend Ľudovít Komplet came out to the public with the manifesto “Private sheets of Fulle and Galanda”, in which: “they expressed the need to put an end to the old, unconfirmed artistic methods and the manners, and asked to break and free the way through new means of expression And procedures that would correspond to the dynamic transformations that were characteristic of the life of man and society of the 20th century. ”

After a sudden death, Mikuláš Galanda was buried in Turčianske Teplice and in 1978 his physical remains were transferred to the National Cemetery in Martin. In his native house in Turčianske Teplice, a gallery with a permanent exhibition of his works has been made available since 1991.

Exhibition:
In addition to a number of exhibitions throughout Czechoslovakia, Mikuláš Galanda exhibited his works in New York, in Moscow, and in 1937 at the World Expo in Paris, where he won a silver medal for graphic graphics and illustrations. His bibliophiles were immensely popular in the Moravian Society of Bibliophiles – he cooperated, for example, with B.Buchlovan or J. Dvořák and others. He has participated in the creation Nedeľa, DAVisti, etc.). The Galand bibliophiles are among the best things that have been created in our country.