Miloš Alexander Bazovský

The balladeer of the Slovak landscape and one of the founders of Slovak modernism. Born in Turany near Martin, he studied at the Budapest Academy of Fine Arts under István Réti, at the Prague Academy under Vlaho Bukovac, Max Pirner and Jakub Obrovský, and at a private painting school in Vienna; in 1924 he opened his first studio in Turany, in 1929 he studied French modern art in Paris, and from 1931 he worked in Martin, which together with Janko Alexy and Zolo Palugyay he turned into a centre of Slovak artistic life.

From folk art and the villages of Detva, Orava and Liptov he distilled a suggestive, lyrically abbreviated image of Slovakia — Detva Melody, Yellow Bridge and Evening in the Village are among his best-known canvases. In 1961 he was named Meritorious Artist and in 1964 National Artist; from 1962 he lived in Trenčín, where the Miloš Alexander Bazovský Gallery was founded a year after his death. His paintings are among the most sought-after at Slovak auctions.