SNG Logo

The silhouette drawing of the Water Barracks by Dušan Kuzma, which was featured on the posters for exhibitions by the Slovak National Gallery (not quite regularly) during the 1950s, can be seen as a form of proto-logo. There are records of its use since 1952, rather eccentrically located at the bottom of the posters. On the occasion of the installation of the permanent collections of 19th and 20th century and the opening of the whole gallery building in 1955, the perspective of the gallery is justified and covered with SNG acronym in a serif font. Graphic artist Anton Hollý, who created successful graphic solutions for posters and catalogues for the SNG during this period, attempted to make the hitherto rather inconspicuous drawing of the SNG building defined in space and in colour.

Graphic marketing used nowadays by the SNG was proposed in the middle of 1960s by Miroslav Cipár. It was the first branding by the emerging artist that resonated with the wider public, together with the logo of the Biennial of Illustrations Bratislava and Triennial of Naïve Art (also organized by the SNG initially). The logotype has found a firm place in Cipár's universal creation since then. He has created approximately three hundred brands, much of which are still used - he is the leading authority for this segment of the graphic design in Slovakia.

Slovak National Gallery logo is a combination of linear textual and figurative abbreviations and the collection of the SNG also includes several variants, which preceded the final design. It is obvious from them that from the very start he was thinking about right angles and block arrangement only to finally arrive at a convincing combination of letters and symbols to represent the Gallery as a window into the world of art but also represent a specific object of presenting works of art - the frame. He elaborated on the logo so that it can be flexibly used in a variety of settings (three versions of the thickness of the logo, with the use of letters, etc.). He was later invited to work further with the logotype - a series of spatial applications in a variety of forms were created in the 1980s, in form of a monumental sculpture / roadside banner (that should have been located along motorways), smaller object in front of the gallery and as a interior object.

These ambitious manifestations of visual identity of the SNG have not been implemented and neither have the special versions of the logo for respective departments. However, they found their application eventually, for example as the visual at the finishing of the SNG building in 1977, when the calligraphic font and the silhouette of Dedeček's extension were added to the brand. In the 1990s, Cipár designed a set of accompanying objects for an exhibition using the multiplied logo as a form of decorative grid. Cipár's brand was used and applied on all materials (letterhead, posters, catalogues, etc.) in the process of building identity for the Gallery. The latest upgrade of the logotype has been created for the 60th anniversary of the Slovak National Gallery, where the logo was presented as a gift from Komplot advertising agency.