Ladislav Guderna

The founder of Slovak Surrealist painting, who completed his work on the other side of the world. Born in Nitra, he attended Ľudovít Fulla's evening courses at the Bratislava School of Arts and Crafts, trained with Maximilián Schurmann and, from 1938, in Ján Mudroch's studio at the Slovak University of Technology, from which he was expelled in 1942 for his political views; he graduated in 1944 from the Academy in Belgrade. At the age of twenty he had already published the theoretical treatise Form in Painting and illustrated the collections of the Surrealist poets.

He was a founding member of the Group of Fine Artists of 29 August (1945), exhibited at the Venice Biennale (1948), won a silver medal at Expo 58 in Brussels and in 1957 headed the Union of Slovak Artists. In protest against the occupation of 1968 he emigrated to Canada; in Vancouver he joined the Surrealist groups Melmoth and West Coast Surrealist and published the magazine Scarabeus with his son Martin. His ironic, formally simplified paintings are held by the Slovak National Gallery, the Bratislava City Gallery, the Nitra Gallery and the Nedbalka Gallery.