In the collections of the Nitra Gallery we have four works by Ladislav Majerský – Prince Pribina, 1933; Suffering (Workers’ Family), 1932; Suffering, 1932; Maximilian Schurmann’s Posthumous Mask, 1960) The last-mentioned collection object is not a work of art in the true sense of the word. It is a plaster cast of the face of the deceased artist Maximilian Schurmann. This object of cultural and commemorative value complements the size of the work of Maximilian Schurmann, whose largest collection of artefacts from his estate (more than 300) is managed by the Nitra Gallery. Maximilian Schurmann is buried in the cemetery in the street Slávičie údolie in Bratislava. He died on 24 March 1960 in Bratislava. (More detailed information about M. Schurmann is available on this page.)
Posthumous masks were made after a person’s death and in our cultural context often served as a model for the creation of a possible next portrait sculpture of the deceased. In the past, busts of death masks were also used as part of memorials, often replacing a photograph – but they were also an interesting collector’s curiosity. The material from which artists created the masks varied (clay, wax, plaster). Time is extremely important when casting a death mask, because the dead body changes its elasticity and form very quickly (it deforms and decomposes), not forgetting the fact that not every dead body is suitable for casting a death mask (diseases, too long storage in a refrigerated box, etc.).
In contemporary (and funerary) culture, we try to erase death from our lives, and so we can view the death mask as an act of morbidity. However, this phenomenon is present throughout human history in all the diverse cultures in which we can observe a common feature of the phenomenon – it was both about preserving visual memory and showing respect for the dead in the present. In the 20th century, posthumous masks were cast especially for famous personalities.
The purchase of the acquisition was supported by the Nitra Self-Governing Region.
Ladislav Majerský (11 March 1900, Hliník nad Hronom – 22 March 1965, Bratislava) worked as a sculptor, medallist and teacher.
He studied at the grammar school in Banská Bystrica (1911 – 1915), continued his studies at the teacher’s institute in Turčianske Teplice (1915 – 1918), and later graduated from the teacher’s drawing course in Bratislava (1920). He gradually moved from teacher education to art education. In Prague, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts (1922 – 1926) under the guidance of professors J. Mařatka and O. Španiel. From 1927 he worked as a professor of drawing and modelling at the Higher State Industrial School in Bratislava. He undertook several foreign study visits to Austria, Poland, Italy and the Balkans (1930 – 1937).
From the initial civilistic manifestations (echoes of the Prague environment) Majerský gradually moved towards a naturalising realism. He devoted much attention to figural compositions of working people, but also to independent figures (representatives of public life). Majerský was also one of the representatives and founders of the medallist expression, in which he tried to look for a possible experimental position. He strove for the unity of the letter and relief part. He designed, for example, the medal of the Bratislava Stock Exchange (1927), the plaque for the national exhibition of postage stamps (1937) and the ten-crown coin (1944). Significant are his realisations of memorials (Monument to Freedom in Ružomberok, 1929; Monument to the Fallen in the First World War in Malacky, 1929). Sculpture in the 1920s and 1930s was in the service of the national idea. That is why Slovak sculpture began to develop preferentially as an artistic discipline with a predetermined purpose: it did not have time to become something other than a likeness, a monument, a medal, or a traditionally understood genre. From the initial civilistic manifestations (echoes of the Prague environment) Majerský gradually moved towards a naturalising realism. He devoted much attention to figural compositions of working people, but also to independent figures (representatives of public life). Majerský was also one of the representatives and founders of the medallist expression, in which he tried to look for a possible experimental position. He strove for the unity of the letter and relief part. He designed, for example, the medal of the Bratislava Stock Exchange (1927), the plaque for the national exhibition of postage stamps (1937) and the ten-crown coin (1944). Significant are his realisations of memorials (Monument to Freedom in Ružomberok, 1929; Monument to the Fallen in the First World War in Malacky, 1929). Sculpture in the 1920s and 1930s was in the service of the national idea. That is why Slovak sculpture began to develop preferentially as an artistic discipline with a predetermined purpose: it did not have time to become something other than a likeness, a monument, a medal, or a traditionally understood genre.1
Majerský participated in national exhibitions. Several of his works are in Slovak museums and galleries.
— Ľudmila Kasaj Poláčková
Sources
1 RUSINOVÁ, Zora a kolektív: Dejiny slovenského výtvarného umenia – 20. storočie. Bratislava: Slovak National Gallery, 2000.
www.skolske.sk/clanok/52722/pred-120-rokmi-sa-narodil-sochar-a-medailer-ladislav-majersky
www.pohrebnictvo.sk/slavne-pohrby/
www.webumenia.sk
Inventory No.: P 466
Artist: Ladislav Majerský
Title: Posthumous Mask of Maximilian Schurmann
Year of origin: 1960
Technique: casting
Material: plaster
Dimensions: 35 × 26,5 × 20,5 cm
Signature: unmarked
The purchase of the acquisition was financially supported by the Nitra self-governing region.