Ferdinand Katona — Harvest

Ferdinand Katona, by his own name Nathan Kleinberger, lived at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. In his artistic programme, he was primarily devoted to landscape painting, with a special focus on the motif of the Tatra landscape. Currently, there are around six thousand paintings with this motif in the collections of various Slovak galleries. The choice of the motif is related to the fact that he was born in the northeast of Slovakia in Spišská Stará Ves, and spent his childhood and youth in Kežmarok, which is about 20 km away from the High Tatras. Katona’s talent as a painter was discovered by Ladislav Mednyánszky, with whom he studied between 1880 and 1884. Several paintings and drawings of the Mednyánszky family residence in Strážky date from this period, and there is even a preserved picture of Mednyánszky at work in a plein-air studio, or a portrait of his niece Margita Czóbelová. Although he later studied at the academy in Budapest (1884-1890), Mednyánszky clearly remained a strong and significant influence on his work. This was manifested in several typical features of his painting, especially in the smaller paintings of more intimate proportions, in their depiction of atmosphere and mood – different seasons (Spring in the Tatras, Landscape in Winter), or even stages of the day (Landscape before Evening, Twilight, The Tatras at Night). At the same time, they are characterised by a certain bleakness and melancholy. Later, while studying in Paris (1890 – 1894), the artist was influenced by Impressionism. In 1891 he even visited Barbizon, a famous village in France, where he painted, following the tradition of the Barbizon School, which leaned towards Romantic Realism, favouring painting in real nature – en plein air – as a contrast to studio painting. 

Katona’s small oil painting Harvest (1920-1930) comes from the late period of the artist’s work, from the last years of his life (he died in 1932). The work breaks away from the artist’s characteristic artistic programme. The motif of agricultural work depicted in the painting is atypical in the context of the artist’s work, as is the insertion of a small figurative composition. His landscapes are mostly depicted without the presence of people. On the other hand, the scene is set in a typical mountain setting. The artist’s handwriting is relaxed, rather dramatic with bold and saturated shades of yellow, green and blue. In the collections of the East Slovak Gallery in Košice there is a painting of a similar theme, At Harvest (1910-1920), but it is a completely different concept, a depiction of a flat landscape with four figures.

The work Harvest was acquired by the Nitra Gallery in 1969 through a transfer from the District National Committee.