Andrej Bacsa, Jul Blaas, Andor Borúth, Jozef Hanula, Eduard Hriňák, János Istók, Ferdinand Katona, Ladislav Medňanský, August Meissl, Emil Alexay-Olexák, Viktor Olgyai, Wünsche R. Streliský, Eugen Szepesi-Kuszka, Július Štetka

The exhibition Dialogues with Hanula is loosely inspired by the Reminiscences exhibition project which itself interprets the work of Jozef Hanula in a wider context. The exhibition presents works by artists from the late 19th to mid 20th centuries found in the collection of the Gallery of Spiš Artists, and the artworks are placed in dialogue with other pieces by Hanula drawn from the collections of the Liptov Gallery of Petr Michal Bohúň in Liptovský Mikuláš and the East Slovak Gallery in Košice. The exhibition draws attention to the diversity in terms of genre, with an emphasis on contemporary intersections and the provenance of the artists. Presented as part of the Collection in Dialogue dramaturgical cycle, the exhibition is comprised of three thematic areas: portraits and figural compositions, the animal motif of horses and landscapes.

Realistic portraits and preparatory sketches for figural works from the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries are represented by the works by Jozef Hanula, Andrej Bacsa, Andor Borúth, Ladislav Medňanský, János Istók, Július Štetka and Wünsche R. Streliský. The range of Hanula’s oeuvre is extensive, encompassing figural studies, portraits, works in the folk genre, landscape scenes and sacral works. Andrej Bacsa produced official portraits of the Hungarian nobility and upper middle classes which feature all the attributes of illusory naturalism, but he also created genre pieces in which the inspiration of the rural environment is apparent. Andor Borúth was a Hungarian artist based in Slovakia whose works included numerous portraits, genre and sacral themes and scenes from social environments. The collection of works also features two depictions of the lawyer and patron of the arts Aurél Münnich: a portrait by the painter Július Štetka and a bust by the Budapest sculptor János Istók.

The theme of horses appears in the work of several artists, either in military compositions or in scenes with working or agricultural motifs. The motif of the horse was the primary focus of the work of the Italian painter Július von Blaas, but his interest in Hungarian folk costumes is also apparent in his portraits of farmers and peasants. He also painted landscape works and documented the Austro-Prussian War and the occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Military themes were also the domain of August Meissl, a painter and illustrator born into a Hungarian noble family in Pezinok, but he also painted compositions featuring zoomorphic motifs.

Landscape paintings from this period are represented by the Tatra panoramas of Ferdinand Katona, the majestic prospects depicted by Eugen Szepesi-Kuszka and Jozef Hanula, and the winter scenes of Viktor Olgyai and Emil Alexay-Olexák. Ferdinand Katona (original name Nathan Kleinberger) was a classmate of Hanula’s in Budapest where they studied together. In 1898, Eugen Szepesi-Kuszka had also met Medňanský, and it was under his influence that he began to focus on landscapes, depicting scenes for the Tatras and the Spiš region. The influence of Medňanský was also felt by Viktor Olgyai.

Olgyai concentrated on depictions of wintry landscapes in which he perceived the light effects of snow and ice on forest panoramas. The countryside around Prakovce was the focal point of the art of Emil Alexay-Olexák, an artist whose talent was supported not only by his immediate family but also by his uncle Eduard Hriňák. In 1920, Alexay-Olexák emigrated to America where he worked as a painter and teacher. Hriňák painted landscape scenes which he enlivened with genre motifs, including depictions of fairs, markets and figural and zoomorphic decorative elements.