Lot 71

Jan Hála (1890 - 1959) GIRL IN FOLK COSTUME

Jan Hála studied at Ferdinand Engelmüller’s private painting school and the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague under Professors Vlaho Bukovac and Maximilián Pirner in 1910–1915. In 1923 he permanently settled in the village of Važec in the foothills of the Tatra Mountains, which was an inexhaustible source of inspiration for him. Although he was Czech, Hála joined the Slovak Modernism movement, which was represented by Benka, Bazovský, Fulla and others. In 1925 he became a member of the Union of Slovak Visual Artists. In addition to painting, he also wrote and illustrated books and is one of the founders of modern Slovak illustration for children. Figurative motifs, often interpreted as ethnographic studies, initially dominated  his work; a large part of his work as a painter was devoted to documenting Slovak folklore. This is also the case in this painting, in which he portrays a young woman in a brightly colored folk costume standing by the window in a traditional village interior. Hála’s painterly execution uniquely works with light and color to achieve an inimitable, at times expressively relaxed style. The acclaimed oeuvre of Jan Hála was exhibited abroad during his lifetime (in New York and at the Venice Biennale).