Miloš Alexander Bazovský Gallery, Trenčíne, Slovakia

The Gallery Milosa Alexandra Bazovsky (Slovakia: Galéria Miloša Alexandra Bazovského v Trenčíne GMAB), constituted 40 years ago, was named after M. A. Bazovský, one of the founders of modern Slovak painting who spent the last years of his dramatic life in this town. The gallery found its home in the architecturally attractive baroque Piarist monastery. In 2001 the gallery had to leave the monastery and moved to a fin–de–siecle palace – like building on 27 Palackého Street. Until recently a railway vocational school, it is situated in the town centre, too, and is one of Trenčín´s most beautiful buildings.

The Gallery in Trenčín is a gallery institution with a program focus on the presentation of the work by Miloš Alexandr Bazovský, but at the same time also for the presentation of modern and contemporary art. A significant part of the Bazovské work is part of the permanent exhibition, together with the collection of artists of the Trenčín region at the beginning of the 20th century.

The Gallery was founded on February 1, 1969 by a group of artists around the painter Ladislav Mosk. Together with the artists Svetozar Abel, Andrej Barčík, Vladimír Kompánek, Jozef Fizel and Andrej Rudavský, they founded a district gallery of Miloš Alexandr Bazovský in Trenčín. The monastery complex of the Order of Piaristov was chosen as the seat of the gallery. However, it was necessary to reconstruct and rebuild the exhibition spaces. In addition to reconstruction, the gallery started organizing the first exhibitions outside its future headquarters. Temporary use of the premises of the Trenčín Museum and the Delta bastion of the Trenčiansky Castle. At the same time, she started building a collection fund, from which three permanent expositions were created. The public were only available in 1979. In addition to M.A.Bazovský’s works, the collection fund focused on the Slovak art of the 20th century and the fine arts of authors from the Trenčín region. Trenčín III. – Selection from contemporary Slovak graphic art, was the first exhibition organized by the gallery. It was installed in the Delová bastion of the Trenčín Castle in 1969. The first foreign exhibition was held in Yugoslavia where she presented the artists of the Trencin region.

Between 1972 and 73 , the gallery acquired the estate of M.A. Bazovsky and received 368 paintings, 614 drawings and 5 graphics of this great Slovak art. This is the most extensive and most valuable acquisition of the gallery. At present, the collection of M.A. Bazovsky consists of 1182 pieces, of which 478 oils, gvašov, tempier, 699 drawings and 5 graphics. The gallery went under the administration of the West Slovak Regional National Committee in Bratislava in the same year.

The exhibition called “Selection from the Contemporary Slovak Chamber Sculpture, which took place in 1981, has already grown into a nationwide, Czechoslovakian chamber sculpture exhibition in 1983. It exists in the form of biennial to the present and represents contemporary chamber sculpture.

In 1991, the Gallery of Miloš Alexandr Bazovský passed under the administration of the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic in Bratislava and under Act no. 338/91 Coll. it had to gradually release space to its original owner in ten years – Reholi piaristov in Slovakia. At the end of 1996, the reconstruction of the building of the former Secondary Technical School of Railways at Palacký 27 was started, where the gallery moved definitively in July 2001. The Trenčín Regional Office became a new founder of GMAB in 1999, and in 2002 it moved to the Autonomous Region of Trenčín.

The first director of the gallery was named one of its founders, Ladislav Moško, on 1 February 1969. He remained in this position for 23 years, when PhDr. Danica Lovišková.

Miloš Alexander Bazovský (11 January 1899, Turany – 15 December 1968, Trenčín) was a prominent Slovak painter, one of the most representative representatives of the Slovak painting and graphics of the 20th century. His inspiration was folk art. He created suggestive works of ballad poeticism. For his innovative artistic expression he belongs to the founders of Slovak modernism.

The district gallery of Miloš Alexandr Bazovský was the official name of the Trenčín Gallery since its official foundation on February 1, 1969. The idea that the gallery was to bear the Bazovský name was also agreed by the artist himself , but not officially founded. He died on December 15, 1968. On January 1, 1972, the Gallery under the administration of the West Slovak National Regional Committee in Bratislava was transferred, and the name District was changed to Regional (Miloš Alexander Bazovský Regional Gallery in Trenčín). The Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic became the Gallery Manager in 1991 and the name was changed to the present form – Gallery of Miloš Alexandr Bazovský in Trenčín.

Collections:
The collection of the gallery includes works by several prominent Slovak artists. The best known are:

Janko Alexy
Mária Balážová
Blažej Baláž
Tibor Bártfay
Miloš Alexander Bazovský
Ľudovít Fulla
Vincent Hložník
Juraj Hovorka
Viliam Chmel
Vladimír Kompánek
Jozef Kostka
Imro Weiner-King
Ester Šimerová-Martinčeková
Ladislav Medňanský
Rudolf Pribiš
Koloman Sokol
Pavol Tóth
Alexander Trizuljak
Rudolf Uher
Ernest Zmetak

Gallery space:
The first official headquarters of GMAB was the baroque monastic complex at the Square of Trenčín. The three-winged four-story complex originally belonged to Reholi piaristov, which focused mainly on education. The building was dated between 1653 and 1662. During the 17th and 18th centuries, two new wings were brought to the building. For the needs of the gallery it was reconstructed in 1973 by the design of Ing. Arch. Ferdinand Koncek. It was made available after the reconstruction in 1979 and served the gallery until 2001, when the premises were returned to the original owner.

The new home of the M. A. Bazovský Galleria became a historic building from the late 19th century on Palacký Street in the year 2001. In this three-storey, three-wing pseudo-baroque building was originally a former secondary vocational school. It was built by Eugen Marsovsky, a trenchian underwear, between 1881 and 1884. In 1888 a warehouse, a place for a horse and a mansion, were also provided for the house. He got to the hands of the state in 1945, after the imposition of the national administration. At the end of 1996, it was decided by the City of Trenčín that the building, based on the project of the academic architect Marián Stříženec, would be reconstructed for GMAB needs. The gallery moved to the reconstructed premises in July 2001 and on March 22, 2002, the exhibition of Václav Cigler was held in new premises.