To immortalise the memory of the heroes of the Slovak National Uprising, memorials and works of art were created and constructed shortly after the end of the Second World War. Not long after the war, a monumental work of art in Slovakia was created: Pamätník hrdinom Slovenského národného povstania (the Monument to the Heroes of the Slovak National Uprising) in Partizánske. This monumental sculpture depicts four partisans. Its author is Jozef Kostka, the founder of contemporary Slovak sculpture. Alongside this unique sculptural undertaking, several art studies and busts were created. A study of a bronze bust of one of the partisans from the sculpture in Partizánske is in the Museum of the Slovak National Uprising collections in Banská Bystrica.
The work was created at a time when art in Czechoslovakia was affected by a struggle in new direction towards realism. However, this particular work cannot be considered an example of socialist realism. It combines a classical type of composition with a modernist effort to capture the expression of the character, which stands out for its pathos but not for its sentimentality or often inappropriate fighting expression, as we know from the works of later artists or sculptors.
The author took a humane approach to the work by portraying a young emaciated man experiencing the most difficult feelings of fear and uncertainty, often facing death in difficult conditions in the mountains, hungry and cold, whose only protection was his military cloak. The sculpture’s cloak pattern is also very distinctive. The Museum of the SNU acquired this work in 1987. For a long time, it was part of the Museum’s permanent exhibition. Currently, it can be seen in the Museum’s Open Depository (visible collections storage).
Jozef Kostka was born on 29 January 1912 in Stupava. He was apprenticed in his uncle Ferdiš Kostka’s jug-making workshop. He studied at Academy of Arts, Architecture & Design in Prague and spent a year at École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. In the 1940s, he worked at the Slovak Academy of Technology (the predecessor of today’s Academy of Fine Arts and Design). In 1949, he co-founded the Academy of Fine Arts and Design, where, together with Rudolf Pribiš, he was mentoring future outstanding sculptors, such as Jozef Jankovič and Juraj Meliš. In the 1970s, however, he was forced to leave the Academy.
In the 1950s, Jozef Kostka installed his sculpture Vďaka I., II. (Thank You I., II.) on Slavín. In 1959-1963 he created a tombstone of Ľudovít Štúr named Slovenská jar (Slovak Spring) in Modra. In 1960, his statue Smútok (Mourning, 1946) was placed in the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum. In 1980, the Slovak National Gallery hosted a large solo exhibition titled Jozef Kostka: The Legacy of the Slovak National Uprising in Sculpture.
Mgr. Ivan Kocák