Couple 1930

Mikuláš Galanda made this ink drawing, called ‘Couple,’ sometime before his death in 1938. It shows the artist’s interest in synthetizing cubist and surrealist influences, popular at the time. But Galanda was also deeply invested in modernizing Slovak art by looking to its own folk traditions. He saw the need to move away from academic art, which he thought wasn’t relevant to modern life. In this drawing, the silhouetted face of a man contrasts with the full face of a woman. A hat floats above her head. A road and some buildings could suggest a shared journey and home. Yet the chain at the bottom could hint at entrapment within bourgeois life. By researching Slovak art of the interwar period, and the writings of the artist himself, we might be able to better understand how Galanda challenged the conservative artistic establishment of his time. Art is always tied to particular institutions and the social conditions that shape its production.