Artists of the Collection
Vojtech (Béla) Marx
1885 Bratislava–1963 Vienna
A native of Bratislava (born 23 August 1885), he spent his final years in Vienna, where he died in 1963. His path to painting was unusually varied: Professor Eierer laid the foundations at the upper gymnasium in Bratislava, he learned the craft of theatrical painting in the workshop of G. Wintersteiner and later with the Viennese professor Streblow, and he received his teaching qualification under Professor Zemplényi at the Budapest school for drawing teachers. Alongside this he pursued art history and, under Professor Schäffer in Vienna, trained in the restoration and conservation of paintings.
The restorer's craft took him for two years to Berlin, Cologne and Hamburg, and he also worked in Bohemia and Moravia. Between 1919 and 1945 he lived and worked in Bratislava, spending the rest of his life in Vienna; he broadened his horizons on study journeys through Italy and Egypt. The heart of his painting lay in landscape, architecture and the vanishing corners of old Bratislava — the Bratislava City Gallery holds no fewer than 46 of his oils, preserving the face of the historic city for future generations.
Literature: Trojanová: Hľadanie slohu (Umenie okolo 1900), Bratislava City Gallery 1980; Ortvay, T.: Pozsony város utcái és terei, Budapest 1905, p. 339.
