Ervín Semian — harvest drawings

We have decided to include three drawings from Ervín Semian’s sketchbook into our Agronauts selection.

The three drawings were made in late July 1956. They were officially transferred into Nitra Gallery’s collection fund on January 30, 1969. At the time, the gallery had been operating for four years and the themes of most acquisitions were related to agriculture as the Nitra region is generally known for its agricultural focus. Semian’s drawings are from a village called Lehota which lies close to Nitra, and they were a part of one of Ervín Semian’s sketchbooks. 

The drawings: Combine Harvest in Lehota, From a Harvest in Lehota and Harvest in Lehota bear typical characteristics of open-air sketching. 

The yellowed sketching paper contains simple drawings of people and combines working in the fields.  These summer records/diaries are mostly about capturing seasonal work in the field during harvest time using combines and grain transfer trailers. His drawings feature fixed dynamics with precise and distinct lines. There sketches might also have been a part of his skill improvement training sessions. Although Semian is better known for his lyrical and erotic drawings of “a woman with bread hair” or drawings very closely related to the world of children or the one showcasing “a dreamland without the Moon”. Drawings represent a significantly large portion of the artist’s portfolio. Ervín Semian is permanently recorded in the history of Slovak painting as a painter of love desires and lyrical honesty whose inspiration comes from children’s drawing style. He is also known for his illustrations – the most successful ones include Sládkovič’s Marína or the works of J. A. Rimbaud. Inspired by the purity of childhood, he entered the art scene at the beginning of WWII. After the war, Semian’s world is slowly letting go of the seemingly naive imagination. He starts leaning more toward reality and political engagement. Between 1948 – 1953, his work is interrupted by psychasthenia. After his recovery, his language slowly changes direction, but it has never regained the originality and impudence of the early poetics of his youth