Jozef Hanula

A painter of the Slovak village and its churches who united realism with the national idea. Born in Liptovské Sliače, he studied at the Provincial Drawing School in Budapest, at the private school of Simon Hollósy and at the Munich Academy under Gabriel von Hackl, Franz von Defregger and Carl von Marr; he taught drawing in Žilina and in Spišská Nová Ves, where he spent the rest of his life.

He painted the interiors of churches in Višňové (1901), Banská Bystrica (1935), Sásová and Radvaň, portrayed the figures of national life and from 1908 was among the pioneers of Slovak children's book illustration. In 1919 he co-founded the Union of Slovak Artists in Martin, in 1941 he received the State Prize; his memoirs appeared as Recollections of a Slovak Painter. His self-portrait of 1933 is held by the Slovak National Gallery.