The Ceramics Collection was founded with its first purchase in 1961.
It monitors and records the development of this type of applied art in
Slovakia from the 1960s until the present.
The set of works
of Júlia Kováčiková-Horová, the key figure in creating the contours of
ceramics as a modern discipline in Slovakia, is significant. Several
outstanding works of this collection might also be connected with her
pedagogical work at the School of Applied Arts in Bratislava.
Dagmar
Rosůlková, Zuzana Zemanová, Eva Trachtová, Teodor Lugs, Eugénia Lugsová
and Miloš Balgavý, artists whose works reflect life on the art stage in
the 1960s, are represented in this collection by more extensive sets.
An attempt to overlap free art depicting figurative tendencies was
distinctively applied in their work.
The experiment with
plate technique is represented in this collection by the works by
Ľubomír Jakubčík, while the tendency toward decorative exterior
sculpture is represented by the works of Juraj Marth. The vases by Pavol
Uhrík reflect the articulated, plastically modelled shape of applied
ceramics referring to the traditional shapes of folk ceramics. The set
of ceramics by Jozef Sušienka is an equally valuable acquisition. It
documents the transition of his work from heavy stoneware garden vases
to small interior ikebanas cultivated in colour and shape. Painting by
coloured glazes on clay, which was so common in the 1970s, is
represented by several works by Ivica Langerová. Imrich Vanek's work is
particularly representative of the 1980s when the author began to
distinctively apply the fine art effect of golden glaze and articulate
sculpting modelling of shapes and when, for a certain period of time, he
switched to a new material - porcelain. Eugénia Lugsová and, by the end
of the 1970s, Bernardína Lunterová from the older generation, also used
porcelain in their work in fragile shape variations balancing on the
edge of applied function and decorative object. The set of works of
brothers Ivan and Marián Polonský is relatively extensive.
The
end of the 1980s belongs to ceramists Gabriela Luptáková and Elena
Kárová. The ambition to incorporate spatial vectors led artists in the
1990s to the creation of object and installation; they are represented
by the works of Ivica Vidrová and Anna Horváthová. The post-Moderna
gesture of everyday items by Vladimír Havrilla, moderate in terms of
design, enriched not only the collection, but also the expressive
positions of Slovak ceramics.
The collection as a whole is oriented on the borderline of applied ceramics and free art. In terms of design, the representation is minimal and features only a few rare prototypes for production. The collection was also enriched by works donated by Gabriela Luptáková, Ivica Langerová, Anna Horváthová and Miloš Balgavý.
The most significant exhibitions
Jubilejná výstava Dagmar Rosůlkovej / Jubilee Exhibition of Dagmar Rosůlková
Curator: E. Pišútová
Bratislava, Výstavná sieň ZSVU Bratislava, 10 September - 20 October 1974
Eugénia Lugsová
Curator: A. Kmošková
Bratislava, SNG, 29 November 1979 - 5 March 1980
Súčasná slovenská úžitková keramika / Contemporary Slovak Applied Ceramics
Curator: A. Žáčková
Bratislava, SNG, 17 December 1980 - 16 February 1981
Imrich Vanek
Curator: B. Felová
Bratislava, SNG, 22 August - 15 September 1991
Mária Rudavská - Jozef Sušienka
Curator: D. Poláčková
Bratislava, SNG, 19 June - 24 August 1997, Re-installation Zvolen Castle
Vidrová - G. Luptáková - A. Horváthová: Hlinený objekt / Clay
Object Curator: D. Poláčková, Š. Oriško
Dunajská Streda, SNG, 11 June - 12 September 1999
The most significant acquisitions
Júlia Kováčiková-Horová: Quail, 1956, red clay, modelled, glazed, 17 x 31cm - UP F 1010
Dagmar Rosůlková: Vase I-IV, 1968-1975, red body, spun, modelled, glazed, h. 22, 52, 48, 56 cm - UP DK 424, UP F 945, 946, 986
Miloš Balgavý:Table Vases I-III, 1960, red clay, shaped, glazed, h. 33, 24, 37 cm - UP F 1206-1208
Jozef Sušienka: Fountain Design, 1975, paper, pencil, colour pencils, 21 x 30 cm - UP F 1184
Imrich Vanek: Fugue I, 1987, electro-porcelain, shaped, modelled, gold plated, h. 135 cm - DM 37
Eugénia Lugsová: Object, 1973, porcelain, modelled, h. 13 cm - UP DK 677
Ivica Vidrová: Decorative Plate, 1970, red clay (high content of ferrous oxide), spun, shaped, painted, diameter 39cm - UP DK 543
Gabriela Luptáková: Dream of a House, 1993, fire clay, shaped, glazed, h. 16.5 cm - UP DK 2700
Anna Horváthová: Silkworm I, 1995, fire clay, shaped, painted, threads, 37 x 75 cm - UP DK 2775