Martin Benka


Benka, Martin

 

Born Sept. 20, 1888, in Kiripolec, Slovakia. Painter; one of the founders of 20th-century Slovak art. People’s Artist of the Czechoslovak SSR (1953).

Benka studied in A. Kalvoda’s school in Prague. His sweeping monumental canvases (Across an Overflowing River, 1927, Slovak National Museum, Martin; Loggers Near Salatin, 1931, Slovak National Gallery, Bratislava; and others) depict poetically generalized scenes from peasant life, as a rule, against the backdrop of a majestic Slovak landscape.

REFERENCE

Váross, M. M. Benka. Bratislava, 1952.

E. B. GEORGIEVSKAIA