Janko Alexy (25 January 1894 in

Liptovský Mikuláš Liptovský Mikuláš (; until 1952 ''Liptovský Svätý Mikuláš'', german: Liptau-Sankt-Nikolaus; hu, Liptószentmiklós) is a town in northern Slovakia, on the Váh River, about from Bratislava. It lies in the Liptov region, in Liptov Bas ...

– 22 September 1970 in

Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approximately 140% o ...

) was a famous painter, writer, and publicist of Slovak origin. He is generally recognized (together with

Martin Benka Martin Benka (21 September 1888, in Kostolište – 28 June 1971, in Malacky) was a Slovak painter and illustrator. He is regarded as the founder of Modernist 20th century Slovak painting. He was given the title ''National Artist.'' He is buri ...

and

Ľudovít Fulla Ľudovít Fulla (27 February 1902, Ružomberok – 21 April 1980, Bratislava) was a Slovak painter, graphic artist, illustrator, stage designer and art teacher. He is considered one of the most important figures of Slovak creative art in the 20th ...

) as one of key personalities in the beginning of Modern Slovak Art.

Life

He studied at the Akademie Výtvarných Umění (Academy of Visual Arts) in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

Vlaho Bukovac Vlaho Bukovac (french: Blaise Bukovac; it, Biagio Faggioni; 4 July 1855 – 23 April 1922) was a Croatian painter and academic. His life and work were eclectic, for the artist pursued his career in a variety of locales and his style changed grea ...

, Maximilian Pirner and

Max Švabinský Max Švabinský (17 September 1873 – 10 February 1962) was a Czech painter, draughtsman, graphic artist, and professor in Academy of Graphic Arts in Prague. Švabinský is considered one of the more notable artists in the history of Czech ...

. He lived in

Martin Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Aus ...

and from 1937 in

. He began his creative artistic career with socially motivated expressive works from the environment of the urban periphery, as he called it. He developed genre painting in an original way, inspired by

ballads A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or '' ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

folk songs Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has ...

and legends (''Hôrni chlapci'' – Mountain Robbers). He also devoted attention to stained glass and tapestries.

Pastel A pastel () is an art medium in a variety of forms including a stick, a square a pebble or a pan of color; though other forms are possible; they consist of powdered pigment and a binder. The pigments used in pastels are similar to those us ...

was his most characteristic artistic technique. Alexy's decorative genre of pastels is prevalent throughout his rural pieces (''Kúria Baanovcov v Trstenom'' – Curia of the Baans in Trstené). Alexy was especially adept at painting cityscapes, though peculiarly, for usually an air of

abstract expressionism Abstract expressionism is a post–World War II art movement in American painting, developed in New York City in the 1940s. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve international influence and put New York at the center of the ...

resided in the works. He also created several models for architectural projects, e.g. the window-pane at the P. O. Hviezdoslav Theatre in Bratislava. In his literary works J. Alexy preferred themes from the life of Slovak bohemia and autobiographical topics: ''Život nie je majáles'' (1956, Life is Not a May Festival), ''Osudy slovenských výtvarníkov'' (1948, Destinies of Slovak Graphic and Plastic Artists). {{DEFAULTSORT:Alexy, Janko 1894 births 1970 deaths Writers from Liptovský Mikuláš Slovak painters 20th-century Slovak painters