Ideas of Slovakness: The formation of national identity discourse in the visual arts of the 1930s

Abstract

After 1918, in the changed socio-political landscape following the establishment of Czechoslovakia, the search for national identity emerged as a key topic in intellectual discussions. Questions of self-definition in relation to Hungarians, Czechs, and Europe became prominent within the Slovak cultural and intellectual landscape. The leading figures in Slovak modern visual art developed a distinctively Slovak style, primarily focused on themes of the Slovak countryside and traditional folklore. This paper examines the creation of “Slovakness” in art and the role of Czech cultural actors in Slovakia. It highlights the importance of national identity in visual arts through texts published in periodicals that aligned with the programmatic Slovak orientation of significant modern Slovak artists, including Janko Alexy (1894–1970), Miloš Alexander Bazovský (1899–1968), Ľudovít Fulla (1902–1980), and Mikuláš Galanda (1895–1938). The analysed articles played a significant role in shaping ideas about the identity of Slovak art, often having a broader social impact than the artists’ exhibitions—even though the programmatic Slovak orientation they advocated was not always fully reflected in them.

Keywords

• modernism in art
• the first czechoslovak republic
• czech-slovak relations
• national identity