Fine art has been associated with man since time immemorial. It prevented writing and codified speech. And that’s because it is able to appeal to the soul, feelings and heart. It helps us better navigate in this fast, sometimes colorful and sometimes gray world, it brings depth, thought, emotions to the originally white canvas. And so we meet him wherever there are documents about human civilization. Wherever a person feels the need to express a relationship, highlight beauty and evoke desires or dreams. Throughout its existence, the city of Prešov was not only able to deal with adversity, but also proved its viability by maintaining a certain proportionality in development. Even in the most difficult times, it did not forget about spiritual cultivation – through education and culture. This is the origin of the artistic tradition in our city.
A large community of artists of various age groups lives and works in Prešov. However, the past offers interesting stories of artists from Prešov that cannot be forgotten. Surely everyone knows the name Jakub Bogdan, who was born in Prešov and who successfully represented this city far beyond the borders of Slovakia in the first half of the 18th century. Bogdan was among the first students of the Evangelical College in Prešov. He later studied and worked as a still life painter in Vienna and Amsterdam, from where he then moved to London. There, from 1694, he worked as a painter at the royal court and worked for Queen Maria II. Stuart and subsequently also for Anna Stuart. In his works, he mainly devoted himself to floral still lifes and animal motifs, in which rich colors and a sharp contrast between light and dark stand out.
It is interesting that since 1703, Bogdan had access to Admiral George Churchill’s bird aviary, thanks to which he began to actively paint birds. In his paintings from this period, we also often see exotic birds, such as cockatoos and macaws, which were probably brought to Europe for the first time at that time. The birthplace of Jakub Bogdan is currently still standing, namely on Hlavná street no. 5 in Prešov. His paintings can be found in world galleries and museums.
Another interesting phenomenon in the field of visual arts is Ján Rombauer, who was not born in Prešov, but spent many of his creative years here. His father was a Levoč craftsman, which undoubtedly gave him the desire to create. In his youth, he worked as a painter in Levoča, but at the beginning of the 19th century, the Polish aristocrat Józef August Iliński invited him to his residence in Romanov. He later settled in St. Petersburg, where he worked as a painter at the Tsar’s court. In 1825, he arrived from St. Petersburg to Prešov, where he created portraits of Hungarian (especially Spiš and Šariš) nobility and Prešov townspeople until his death. His works are currently in the collections of the Hermitage (Art History Museum in St. Petersburg), the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, the Slovak National Gallery and the Regional Gallery in Prešov.
For the people of Prešov, the work of the German painter Max Kurth is also of extraordinary importance. at the end of the 19th century Kurt traveled around Europe after receiving a scholarship, and on the way back home, Prešov enchanted him. In 1899, after getting to know the region, making several portraits and forming close friendships with Prešov artists (e.g. Pavlo Szinyei Mers, one of the pioneers of impressionism in Hungary), he decided to settle permanently in Prešov. From this period come his most important works, which are characterized by depth, a sense of detail, a certain amount of melancholy, a play with light and shadow, but also Šariš folklore and the colorful and captivating nature of Slovakia. Kurth also devoted himself to religious themes, as evidenced by his altarpieces in the churches of the villages of Kojatice, Torysa, Ľutina and Bardejov.
n the second half of the 20th century, Prešov was a city in which several dozen artists – graduates of art academies in Bratislava, Prague, Warsaw, Krakow, but also young talented graduates of the Prešov Departments of Art Education at the universities in Prešov – were gradually grouped together. It is important, for example the work of Ján Bartek, who, in addition to his landscape paintings, is also known in Prešov for his teaching work at the Department of Art Education at the University of Prešov. In his paintings, Bartko captures the Slovak landscape, largely represented by the city of Prešov.
Fresh pastel colors dominate here, while the focus is on distinctive elements of the individual seasons and thus highlights the gaiety of spring, the warmth of summer or the color and variety of autumn. In his works, paintings of the Slovak landscape alternate with the landscape of Greece, to which he is bound by human and artistic admiration. Bartko completed stays of several months, during which he worked at some Greek universities, his work is therefore known to art enthusiasts not only in Slovakia, but also in Greece, Italy, the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary.
Vladimír Ossif is also a contemporary Slovak painter from Prešov, whose works are represented in the holdings of the world’s leading state and private collections, galleries and museums. Ossif worked as an artist in the 1980s in Paris and later in Madrid, the south of France and New York. Currently, he alternates life in Paris with life in Cuba and Slovakia. His works are characterized by abstract geometry, which sometimes resembles the world of cells and microorganisms. Vladimír Ossif’s paintings thus offer a wide range of interpretations that the recipient can create himself according to his imagination.
There are still many artists from Prešov who are currently known in the world. For example, Eva Dušenková and Mikuláš Gajdoš have had exhibitions of their works in the USA, Juraj Daňo, Andrej Gaj, Ivan Šafranko and Dušan Srvátka exhibited in Cuba, in China they know the works of the painter and calligrapher Petr Kocák, in Mallorca Marek Lukáč, in India Mária Prokopovičová , in Canada by Fedor Vic or Slavomír Brezin. Edita Vološčuková exhibited her works in Norway and Argentina, Martin Zbojan in Japan and painter Anna Hausová in Belgium.
The artistic life in Prešov is undoubtedly varied and regularly produces erudite and talented people. This is evidenced by the creative activities of many of our compatriots, whom they know in different corners of the world. The fact that these creatives represent us should not be forgotten and they should be remembered. They inspire us about the world outside, and they inspire those beyond our borders about our inner world, which surrounds and shapes us.
This is how we envision life in Presov. Strawberry City brings energy, flavor, refreshment, joy, and dynamism to the city. The event, Strawberry Night, was exactly about that and was appreciated by thousands of visitors.
For the second time, we organized a tour of the Prešov – Strawberry city with a renowned guide for people. The interest was enormous.
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We are an independent initiative whose goal is to support life and tourism in the city of Prešov.
2023 © Strawberry City
