WORKS OF ART IN HOTEL DEVÍN****
Hotel Devín****, Bratislava’s jewel, our national cultural monument, was built by the well-known architect Emil Belluš in 1954. Its iconic premises were furnished with sensitivity, and well-known artists and leaders of Slovak visual arts collaborated on its premises. It is still a gallery of works of art that are exhibited in public spaces and apartments. The hotel still retains its face and you won’t find there any printed reproductions. The artists who were involved in the birth of the hotel knew each other, influenced each other, and were members of various art associations of that time. We will present you a small part of the works that you can find on the ground floor of the hotel today.
Work: Komu sa nelení, tomu sa zelení (The early bird gets the worm)
Author: Janko Alexy and Šarlota Alexyová
Year: 1954
Technique: oil on canvas, double
Exposition: in front of French restaurant
Dimensions: 260x143cm
This work of respectable dimensions was created by Janko Alexy together with his wife, artist and writer, Šarlota Alexyová. In the picture you will find people doing seasonal work. On four levels, work appears to be ongoing from spring to fall. In accordance with the context, the authors used colours typical for Slovak folklore themes. The idyllic depiction of the working people was approved by the then regime, the poses used are static, the characters realistic.
Work: Tancujúci pár č. I., Tancujúci pár č. II. (Dancing couple n° I., Dancing couple n° II.)
Author: Ladislav Ľudovít Pollák
Year: 1955, 1956
Technique: wood carving, cherry wood
Exposition: Café Devín and breakfast room
Dimensions: height 136cm
Ladislav Ľ. Pollák was a close friend of Janko Alexy and collaborated with Mr. Belluš on other projects. Since 1949, he had been a member of the TVAR artists’ organization and ranks among the members of the 1909 Generation. Two dancing couples elaborated in detail, one in a costume from Detva, the other in a costume from Horehronie, confirm his brilliant craftsmanship and effort to capture the physical and psychological appearance of the portrait subjects.
Work: Na Orave (In Orava region)
Author: Mária Medvecká
Year: 1956
Technique: Oil on canvas
Exposition: French restaurant
Dimensions: 160cmx250cm
Painter Mária Medvecká focused on depicting the difficult life of her native Orava people. She devoted herself to landscape painting and realistic portrayal of the rural genre in an effort to monumentalize scenes from everyday life. This painting of respectable dimensions 160cmx250cm dominates the French restaurant.
Work: Žánrový motív (Genre theme)
Author: Ctibor Belan
Year: 1954
Technique: etched, sandblasted glass
Exposition: French restaurant
Dimensions: 228x173cm
In addition to the dominant painting by Mária Medvecká, her husband, Ctibor Belan, created the windows for the French restaurant. Four etched glasses, depicting the harvest, were installed at the birth of the hotel and have been decorating it for almost 70 years. Like the mentioned previous works, the author dedicated the motif to folk themes. Ctibor Belan also created a number of other works, for example the etched wall of the Czechoslovak Embassy in China. He exhibited in India, Moscow, Budapest and Warsaw. He was the director of the Orava Gallery in Dolný Kubín and established the Mária Medvecká Gallery in Medvedzí for his wife.
Work: Fragment veselice (Fragment of the festivities)
Author: Svetozár Králik
Year: around 1981
Technique: oil on canvas, double
Exposition: Hall in front of the French restaurant
Dimensions: 286x200cm
Another of the works celebrating the life of the Slovak people is a painting by Svetozár Králik, which depicts a couple at a folk festival in a diagonal composition. In contrast to the figurative descriptiveness of the Alexy couple, the work leaves more space for the viewer’s imagination. By patient dotting and gentle strokes of the brush, the author achieves the final impression of the work. Svetozár Králik was the director of the SŠUP in Bratislava and trained many important graphic artists and artists. In addition to painting, he also devoted himself to graphics, illustrations and animated films. The picture in Hotel Devín is rather an exception in his work and therefore also a certain rarity.
Work: Chrám (Temple)
Author: Ján Ťapák
Year: bought from Mr. Ťapák in 1997
Material: wood, metal
Exposition: Hall in front of the French restaurant
The hotel has records of the purchase of works of art from the academic sculptor Ján Ťapák from 1997. It is a set of five sculptures with sacral names: Temple, Temple of the Wise, Altar no. 1., Altar no. 2nd and Wing. These sculptures are located in the halls and lobby of the hotel. In addition to the sculptures, the hotel also purchased a set of six paintings. His epic sculptural artifacts exude spontaneous creativity, interest in the unknown and strong technical skill. The artist is a unique figurative narrator with a strong intellectual family background. He confronts the philosophies of distant civilizations with today’s lifestyle and takes them to unexpected dimensions.
Work: Vidím ťa, Ráno, Horizont s baránkom (I see you, Morning, Horizon with the lamb)
Author: Ingrid Zámečníková
Year: 1997
Material: canvas, wool
Exposition: Breakfast room
The black-and-white paintings by Ingrid Zámečníková are plastic, created from fine natural wool glued to a black canvas, they let you enter your imaginative quiet world and contemplate infinity while having breakfast. The works give space to the play of light, which plays a decisive role in the author’s work. He situates the characters and the landscape in an indefinite space-time, from which ethereal beings emerge only in hints. The hotel bought the works of art from Mrs. Zámečníková in 2004, but it was not the first cooperation. In 2001, the hotel acquired seven other paintings from her.
The mentioned works are only a small selection of the hotel’s artistic property, which has much more than just financial value. Hotel Devín**** is a proof of its period and it is a great rarity that it has kept its face until today. If you’re in the area, come and see us sometime, just for the sake of it, during a Sunday walk in the centre of Bratislava.
We are looking forward to your visit!
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