Mednyanszky, Barbizon and Stimmungsimpressionism
Ladislav MEDNYÁNSZKY (1852 Beckov – 1919 Vienna, Austria) was one of the most significant artists at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries and the most famous Barbizon artist in Slovakia. During his lifetime, Mednyánszky was recognised mainly as a landscape painter. The Barbizon School of painting complied with his inner world, and he brought the landscape painting in the manner of lyrical realism, which preferred artist´s experience, his individual feelings and moods, to a masterful level. Though he later added some experience of Impressionist painting, he often returned to the pictures of misty moods in dark shades, interiors of woods and swamplands.
The exhibition presents 25 paintings relating to the Barbizon School of painting from the collections of the Slovak National Gallery, the Bratislava City Gallery and private collections.
Ladislav Mednyánszky
Mednyánszky was born on 23 April 1852 in Beckov (today the Slovak Republic) as Ladislaus Josephus Balthazar Eustachius von Mednyánszky. Until 1863 he lived in Beckov, later at a family manor house in Strážky. In 1864–1865 he took private lessons from the Austrian painter Thomas Ender, who also provided him with plaster models and other tools. Between 1872 and 1874 he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich (Prof. Alexander Strähhuber, Prof. Otto Seitz), between 1874 and 1875 at the École des Beaux Arts in Paris (Prof. Isidor Pils). Yet, he soon realized that he did not want to continue in academic studies. In 1875 he visited Barbizon for the first time, and befriended László Paál, Karl Bodmer, Odilon Redon and other artists. Between 1875 and 1876 he divided his time between Paris and Barbizon, and displayed his works at the Paris Salon. In 1876 he was greatly influenced by François Millet. In the spring of 1877 he visited Szolnok, where he met August Pettenkofen and Tina Blau. He made study trips to Italy (1877–1878) and France (1889–1892, 1896–1897). He regularly hired a studio in Budapest and Vienna. He travelled extensively (Hungary, Austria and Italy), but until the end of the 19th century he regularly returned to Beckov and Strážky. During WWI he worked as a front-line painter and created the series of artistically difficult and stirring statements about the meaning of human existence and the value of human life.
He was increasingly interested in philosophy, Buddhism and theosophy, which he intended to somehow incorporate in his paintings. In the course of time he added expressive strokes of the brush and vigorous way of painting, and in the first decade of the 20th century even the expressive paintings.
Mednyánszky was born on 23 April 1852 in Beckov (today the Slovak Republic) as Ladislaus Josephus Balthazar Eustachius von Mednyánszky. Until 1863 he lived in Beckov, later at a family manor house in Strážky. In 1864–1865 he took private lessons from the Austrian painter Thomas Ender, who also provided him with plaster models and other tools. Between 1872 and 1874 he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich (Prof. Alexander Strähhuber, Prof. Otto Seitz), between 1874 and 1875 at the École des Beaux Arts in Paris (Prof. Isidor Pils). Yet, he soon realized that he did not want to continue in academic studies. In 1875 he visited Barbizon for the first time, and befriended László Paál, Karl Bodmer, Odilon Redon and other artists. Between 1875 and 1876 he divided his time between Paris and Barbizon, and displayed his works at the Paris Salon. In 1876 he was greatly influenced by François Millet. In the spring of 1877 he visited Szolnok, where he met August Pettenkofen and Tina Blau. He made study trips to Italy (1877–1878) and France (1889–1892, 1896–1897). He regularly hired a studio in Budapest and Vienna. He travelled extensively (Hungary, Austria and Italy), but until the end of the 19th century he regularly returned to Beckov and Strážky. During WWI he worked as a front-line painter and created the series of artistically difficult and stirring statements about the meaning of human existence and the value of human life.
He was increasingly interested in philosophy, Buddhism and theosophy, which he intended to somehow incorporate in his paintings. In the course of time he added expressive strokes of the brush and vigorous way of painting, and in the first decade of the 20th century even the expressive paintings.
The exhibition has been financially supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic.
