Koloman Sokol

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Koloman Sokol (* 12 December 1902 in Liptovský Mikuláš; † 14 January 2003 in Tucson, Arizona) was one of the most prominent Slovak painters, graphic artists and illustrators. He was a founder of modern Slovak graphic art. He is frequently deemed Slovakia's Picasso.

1 Biography
2 Style
3 Recognitions
4 Works
5 External links

[edit] Biography

A Mother with Child - Koloman Sokol

Born in a poor family, Sokol's father died when he was very young, and his stepfather intensively sought to Magyarize the family. Sokol's creative talent soon brought him away from his job as a butcher apprentice and he entered private art schools, studying first with Eugen Krón in Košice and then with Gustáv Malý in Bratislava. A real breakthrough in his career occurred at the Prague Academy of Creative Arts where Max Švabinský and Tavík František Šimon recognized Sokol's talent. He fraternized with the Slovak university students at the Štefánikova kolej (Štefánik Hall of Residence). Sokol acknowledged, Prague made me realize I am a Slovak, not a Magyar. This stage of his artistic career was marked by his expressive, socially engaged graphics.

The Golden Lady - Koloman Sokol

Sokol's talent gave him an opportunity to study art in Paris where he made contacts with the famous painter František Kupka and the composer Bohuslav Martinů. In Paris, in 1933, he met and married Lydia Kratina, herself a painter and the daughter of a well-known Czech-American sculptor Joseph Kratina, who had worked as an apprentice of Rodin. Before World War II Sokol was invited to teach in Mexico City at the Escuela de las Artes Libro, where he founded the Department of Graphic Arts. An exhibition of his work in Mexico in 1938 was appreciatively titled Giant of Graphic Arts. This was a major accomplishment in a country with renowned graphic artists like Diego Rivera with whom Sokol had personal contact. But with Mexico sympathetic to the Nazi regime, the Czechoslovak mission was closed and Sokol and his wife moved to New York City.

After World War II, the family attempted to start a new life in Bratislava. Once again, the beginnings were very difficult, and the Sokols with their young son had to spend several days at the railroad hostel in Bratislava, before the poet Ladislav Novomeský came to their aid. Sokol became a member of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. By that time, though, he had become accustomed to the world of democracy. In 1948, in the face of the impending totalitarian communist regime, Sokol was finally given a permit to travel with his work to an exhibit in Paris at the Galerie Rouch-Henschel. He now took the final step of immigrating to the United States, and he never set foot again in his country of birth. After a very difficult start, during which he earned his living as a superintendent in a Harlem apartment building, Sokol and his family found a haven in Bryn Mawr, where Lydia taught art at The Shipley School while Sokol devoted all his time to painting. This stage of his artistic career was marked by a symbolical-mythological style. In the 1990's he moved to Tucson, Arizona, where he died at the age of 100.

[edit] Style

New Mexican Act - Koloman Sokol

The long life of this proud giant of Slovak illustrative art was full of social and political struggles in the periodic upheavals marking the 20th century, many of which greatly influenced his style. Sokol was immensely creative and active almost to the end of his life. His work expresses intense inner tensions, sometimes he intentionally deforms his figures and constantly returns to his works, adding new lines and brush strokes of paint. Sokol's work was inspired by Vincent van Gogh, Käthe Kolwitz, George Grosz, and strongly by the expressionism of the Die Brücke Group. Initially, he concentrated on graphic techniques, which he later enriched by drawing and painting in Mexico. His paintings are often dramatic in presentation which led to the belief that he created a Slovak variation of expressionism at a European level. Artistic, ethnic, and social aspects merge in his work. Although the primary motive of his works was man, social motives did dominate his expressive work. This tendency equates to the hard and harsh style of his engravings and drawings. His works frequently depicted suffering, penury and human pain. He also created numerous woodcuts.

[edit] Recognitions

In December 2002 Sokol's contribution to arts and culture was honored by the designation of Chancery Gallery at the Slovak Embassy in Washington D.C. as the "Koloman Sokol Gallery". In 2002 Slovak Television produced a documentary entitled "Koloman Sokol: From the Labyrinth of the World into the Paradise of the Soul". Sokol's artistic and humanistic legacy remains to profoundly influence generations to come. Hundreds of figurative paintings reminiscent of Picasso that are not at the Slovak National Gallery in Bratislava or at the Koloman Sokol Gallery in Liptovský Mikuláš, his birthplace, are still in the possession of his family in the United States.