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Artist: Veronika Šramatyová
Title: Expanding Collection – Nitra Gallery
Year: 2011
Material: paper
Technique: gouache
Dimensions: 4 x 6 cm

The miniature painting depicts the front view of the County House building, where Nitra Gallery resides, in its state before the restoration of the County Square which took place in 2013. The image is a part of the Expanding Collection series which has been under development since 2010. The artist reflects on the theme of developing collections of gallery institutions by creating “on-demand portraits” of famous Slovak or foreign galleries (Slovak National Gallery; The Central Slovak Gallery in Banská Bystrica; …). Then she offers these hyperrealistic little paintings to the given institutions as a gift and thus becomes a part of their collections. It is a kind of a subversive and ironising “win-win” strategy: the gallery receives a piece of art for free and the artist gets her reputation increased.

The County House in Nitra. Layout of the First Floor.

The four-wing palace building of the former county house is a part of the national cultural heritage and its location makes it a gateway into Nitra’s heritage reserve site called the “Upper Town”.

The County House was built as a Baroque-style palace building in 1823, probably on older foundation. Between 1874 – 1876, it was expanded based on the architect Edön Dümmerling’s design and between 1903 – 1908, it was completely rebuilt in the Art Nouveau-style based on V. Czígler’s project and under supervision of the Nitra developer J. Tomaschek. 

With short-term exceptions, the county house building had been the seat of the Nitra County since its construction until 1945. Between 1923 – 1928, the Slovak writer Janko Jesenský resided here as the county governor. After a territorial reorganisation, the premises were used by local branches of various national bodies and organisations. In 1983, the building became a property of Nitra Gallery, which has been its main occupant ever since. 

An elevated part of the compound, which is located right next to the east wing of the building, was used as a defence wall at the time of Turkish raids in the 17th century. This part, which has become known as Horný Palánok [Upper Fence], is home to the “gallery garden”. In the past, it hosted many cultural events, evenings at the fountain, concerts, exhibitions and outdoor summer public reading area. Between 1990 – 1997, four seasonal archeological researches were conducted on the grounds of the former county house. They turned up various curious findings (remains of a medieval structure dated to the 12th – 15th centuries, remains of an early Hungarian defence wall from around the mid-11th century, a grave with skeletons of two children from the early Bronze Age, but also ceramics from the 9th – 11th centuries and others) which helped clarify many details about other archeological researches in this part of town.

Currently, besides serving as a gallery, the building is also occupied by the Governor of the Nitra Self-Governing Region. 

Artist: Ľudovít Nyulassi 
Title: Before Storm
Year: 1880 – 1890
Material: canvas
Technique: oil
Dimensions: 45 x 36,5 cm

The image titled Before Storm depicts a female shepherd running barefoot and driving sheep and goats home from the pasture as she is worried about the incoming storm. Her head and dark hear are covered with a wide apron she is holding with her left hand. She has a stick in the other hand which helps her with driving the herd. The background shows a flat landscape with deciduous trees on the sides. 

Artist: Rudolf Pribiš
Title: Farmer With a Plow
Year: 1946
Material: bronze
Technique: casting
Dimensions: 38 x 44,5 cm

This agricultural motif depicted in a bronze relief captures a farmer with a sitting woman and a cow in the background. She is sitting barefoot on a plow pushed by the man, wrapped in a large scarf. The scarf covers her hair, shoulders and simple work clothes. The man is also depicted in work clothes consisting of a simple shirt, pants and shoes. The top part of the relief above the woman shows a cow. 

Artist: Milan Paštéka
Title: Man With a Horse
Year: 1972
Material: canvas
Technique: oil
Dimensions: 50 x 70 cm

Even though the oil painting Man With a Horse depicts a figural motif (a human figure motif and a horse motif), it is mostly about capturing the mood. The large body of the horse as well as the robust male figure have no face, with minimal hints of eyes and mouths which are reduced to symbols. It is a stylised representation. On one hand, the figures are large empty shapes, on the other, they are full of emotions. The painting contains expressive colourful pastel areas which only amplify the nostalgic mood of the image. The composition is supplemented by a flat landscape with a small house in the background. 

Artist: František Studený
Title: Fish on a Plate
Year: 1941
Material: canvas on cardboard
Technique: oil
Dimensions: 27,5 x 41 cm

One of František Studený’s favourite still life motifs was the motif of fish (mackerels, smoked mackerels, little red fish). The image Fish on a Plate is one of them. The composition is predominated by a little red fish on an oval plate. The perspective the artist implemented makes objects positioned further away look smaller and deformed. This is why the wooden board and the piece of paper resemble trapezium and the circular plate is painted as an oval one. Another characteristic feature of Studený’s paintings is the paste technique where the artist applies thick layers of oil paint on top of each other using brushes of various widths. 

Artist: Ladislav Guderna
Title: Girl
Year: 1959
Material: paper
Technique: tempera
Dimensions: 24 x 19,5 cm

The portrait of a blue-eyed girl with blonde hair is an example of geometric stylisation of shapes. The portrait is divided by the central axis into two equal halves which differ in colour. Guderna reduced the facial details to a minimum and thus created a geometrical web of triangles, trapeziums and other polygons, only a few of which have one or more curved edges. Each shape is coloured with a single colour. 

Artist: Ernest Zmeták
Title: Illustration for Aesop’s Fables – A Goat and a Wolf
Year: 1965
Material: paper
Technique: woodcut
Dimensions: 8,5 x 17,8 cm

The small woodcut is an example of illustrations for Aesop’s Fables. The central part of the print depicts a tree trunk with the bottom part of the treetop having no leaves. There is a sitting wolf on one side, playing a pipe, and a dancing goat on the other side, facing the wolf with its back and its head.

Artist: Jozef Mészároš 
Title: Nitra Castle
Year: 1935
Material: bronze
Technique: casting
Dimensions: 26 x 13 cm 

The almost square relief depicts the castle entrance gate with the bridge, a part of the fortification and cathedral. The bottom part shows the stone bridge with sculptures and vases that leads to the castle gate. The central part contains the outside fortification with the Baroque gate. The fortification is slightly covered by trees over the Gothic moat. The top part portrays different towers and pieces of roof of the St. Emmeram’s Cathedral, which was created by combining three buildings of various construction styles. It is the Romanesque Church of St. Emmeram (11th cent.), the Upper Church (14th cent., originally in Gothic style) and the Lower Church (17th cent.). To the left of the highest tower, there is the roof of the Bishop’s Palace and to its right there is the roof of the Vazul’s Tower. 

Artist: Ľudovít Slamka
Title: Old Corgoň
Year: 1964
Material: cardboard
Technique: oil
Dimensions: 59 x 46,5 cm

The painting depicts the well-known sculpture of Nitra’s Atlas Corgoň, which is situated on the corner of the Kluch Palace which was built for canons between 1818 – 1821. The statue of Atlas is a functional architectural support element in the form of a muscular man. The name is derived from Greek mythology and its Atlas who was sentenced to hold the sky on his shoulders for eternity as a punishment for his uprising against the Olympian gods. Nitra’s Atlas Corgoň was made between 1820 – 1821 by Vavrinec Dunajský and it is interesting to note that this half-naked strongman he has lion paws thrown across his shoulder and lower back. The history of art depicts him covered in lion fur and portrayed as Hercules. 

Corgoň is a popular tourist attraction and one of the town symbols – Nitra hockey players have him on their jerseys and there is a beer named after him. He supposedly lived in the 16th century and his name was Juraj, he was a blacksmith in the Upper Town. Due to his robust figure and strength, people gave him the nickname Corgoň – meaning strongman in the local dialect. A legend says he deflected a Turkish raid on the town by throwing large rocks on the soldiers, while covered in ashes and roaring with his strong voice. They thought he was the devil and ran away. The sculpture is also a source of several modern myths: if a girl wants to get married, she is supposed to kiss Corgoň’s right big toe, if she wants an offspring within a year, she is supposed to kiss the left big toe. His magical powers have been a source material for many other legends spread among students, claiming that if they kiss all of his toes, they will pass all of their exams. In reality, the sandstone sculpture just gets damaged by too much touching and even painting its nails. 

Artist: Milan Marciňa
Title: A Fragment of Old Nitra I
Year: 1981
Material: bronze
Technique: casting
Dimensions: 26 x 27 cm 

Title: A Fragment of Old Nitra II
Year: 1980
Material: bronze
Technique: casting
Dimensions: 33 x 24 cm

Title: A Fragment of Old Nitra IV
Year: 1980 – 1988
Material: bronze
Technique: casting
Dimensions: 30 x 30 cm

The bronze reliefs depict themes from old Nitra. The artist used a part of the castle entrance gate’s arch where he positioned the famous sculpture of Nitra’s Corgoň, a piece of the Plague Column (an angel with a tower) and a couple of sheep. Each relief is marked with Nitra’s coat of arms which depicts Ladislav’s right hand in knight’s armour, but it is not holding an axe as he was usually portrayed, but rather a flag with a Byzantine two-barred cross on it. 

Artist: Július Bártfay
Title: Shepherd 
Year: 1961
Material: wood
Technique: cut
Dimensions: 111 x 59 cm

The wooden relief contains a folk motive depicting two shepherds of sheep. A shorter young man with a lamb thrown across his shoulders walks alongside an older man playing overtone flute. Both men are wearing period folk clothes (a shepherd coat, pants, shirts, barefoot leather shoes). The man with the sheep has a shepherd pouch with a wide craft strap across his shoulders. His short hair are covered by a typical shepherd hat. The man with the flute has multiple braids on his head and a traditional folk axe stuck behind his belt. 

Artist: Ľudmila Cvengrošová
Title: Princess With Koceľ
Year: 1975
Material: bronze
Technique: casting
Dimensions: 36 x 18 cm

The historical motif if this bronze relief depict the Princess with little Koceľ, son of Pribina, the Prince of Nitra. Koceľ as a small child is hugging the Princess who is holding one of his hands while the other one is resting on his shoulder. Both of them are wearing period clothes. The Princess is wearing a long dress with long sleeves. She has a wide ribbon above her waist. Her loose hair are covered in a long scarf with a headband. She is wearing a necklace and round earrings. Koceľ is wearing a shirt ending above his knees and fastened with a belt with a knife attached to it. 

Artist: Július Bártfay
Title: Michelangelo
Year: 1953
Material: bronze
Technique: casting
Dimensions: 18 x 21 x 11 cm

The bronze bust of a bearded man depicts the Italian Renaissance sculptor Michelangelo. Michelangelo Buonarroti (March 6, 1475, Caprese, Italy – February 18, 1564, Rome, Italy) created the fresco ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City and the famous marble statue of David. 

Artist: Vojtech Baďura
Title: Youth
Year: 1973
Material: bronze
Technique: casting
Dimensions: 55 x 20 x 39 cm

The bronze statue titled Youth portrays a girl sitting on a cube. The barefoot girl has her hair braided into two braids decorated with a ribbon. She is wearing a simple long dress. Her sleeves are rolled up to the elbows. Her hands resting on her thighs are holding a thin book and playing with the end of a scarf wrapped around her thighs. 

Artist: Július Bártfay
Title: Torso
Year: 1930 – 1939
Material: marble
Technique: cut
Dimensions: 34 x 13,5 x 17 cm

The marble statue depicts a naked female sitting torso with the head. Torso in sculpture language means an incomplete or unfinished sculpture of a human figure depicting a human torso without any extremities or the head. The person who the sculpture is based upon thus becomes anonymous. The viewer is able to tell if it is a male or female body. Bártfay broke some of the rules and left the head and parts of the arms and thighs on the female torso. 

Artist: Ľudmila Cvengrošová
Title: Slavic Warriors
Year: 1975
Material: bronze
Technique: casting
Dimensions: 36 x 23 cm

The second historical motif by the artist Ľudmila Cvengrošová depicts two Slavic warriors. Both of them are standing upright. Looking in the same direction. They are holding a long throwing spear in one hand and a shield in the other one, wearing an axe behind their belts. One of the warriors is barefoot. He is only wearing pants ending below his knees, fastened with a belt. The other one is wearing leather shoes with long laces which are tied up all the way up to his knees. He is wearing a long mid-thighs tunic, fastened with a belt and decorated with a necklace with a medallion. 

Artist: Teodor Lugs
Title: Head
Year: 1971
Material: iron
Technique: welding
Dimensions: 48/43 x 29 x16 cm

Title: Tambor
Year: 1968 – 1971
Material: iron
Technique: welding
Dimensions: 75/69 x 32 x 14 cm

The works titled Head and Tambor are examples of welded sculptures which Lugs often created using nuts, nails or various other pieces of iron he came across. The head is made of an iron rod and pitchforks representing long hair. Tabor’s head is made of a hoe, his torso is a rake and his extremities are made of cut iron rods. He is holding sticks made of nuts and thread rods.