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Jozef Jankovič

Jozef Jankovič

Born November 8 1937, Bratislava
Died June 6 2017, Bratislava

A sculptor, one of the most distinctive representatives of his generation, and an initiator of public confrontations in the early 1960s. Through his expressive style and sense of black humour and ironical exaggeration, the sculptor examined the depths of an individual, the social fate of man and his existential limits. He introduced unconventional methods of artistic expression and over the years he further transformed and developed them into new forms.


painting, sculpture, graphics, design, collage, show in map


1961

The first non-public presentation of artists entitled Confrontation 1 was held at Jankovič's studio in Bratislava. In the following years, he exhibited his works at other "confrontational" exhibitions (Confrontations 2 to 6 between 1962 and 1965).
Confrontation 1 (Bratislava, 1961) (group exhibition, Bratislava)

1962

Confrontation 2 (Bratislava, 1962) (group exhibition, Bratislava)

1963

Created his first assemblage from the cycle entitled Prison, to which he kept adding until 1971. As a member of the Parabole group (1962–69), he participated in Confrontation with groups of artists from Brno in the Brno House of Arts.
Confrontation of art groups (Brno, 1963) (group exhibition, Brno)
Contemporary Slovak Fine Art (group exhibition, Prague)
Creative Group Parabola (group exhibition, Olomouc)

1964

Created hanging assemblages entitled Testimony from objects he found (until the end of the 1960s).
Confrontation 4 (Bratislava, 1964) (group exhibition, Bratislava)
Parabola (group exhibition, Brno)
Confrontation 5 (Bratislava, November 1964) (group exhibition, Bratislava)

1965

The first independent exhibition in the Cyprián Majerník Gallery in Bratislava. He exhibited at Sculpture Review between 1955 and 1965 in the Regional Gallery in Olomouc. He participated in an exhibition entitled 5 Cecoslovacchi (with A. Mlynárčik, D. Valocký, S. Filko, M. Haberernová) in at Numero Galleries in Florence, Rome, Milan and Venice.
As the chairman of the Youth Committee of the Union of Slovak Visual Artists, he helped organize important exhibitions, such as the exhibition of young Slovak artists in 1966 at the IXth Congress of Art Critics AICA in Brno, in the Brno House of Art, and the international biennale of young artists Danuvius ´68 at the Bratislava House of Art. His works Great Fall and Testimony were awarded the Grand Prix Danuvius ´68.
Confrontation 6 (Bratislava, 1965) (group exhibition, Prague)
Jozef Jankovič. Sculptures. Paintings (solo exhibition, Bratislava)
Sculptural Balance 1955-1965 (group exhibition, Olomouc)
Object (group exhibition, Prague)

1966

His brother L'udovít died tragically. The first solo exhibition at the Jaroslav Král Gallery (Brno House of Art) and the first exhibition abroad at the Czechoslovak Cultural Centre in Budapest.
Creation of young and middle generation of SNG Collections (group exhibition, Bratislava)
Jozef Jankovič. Sculptures (solo exhibition, Brno)
Jozef Jankovič (solo exhibition, Budapest)
The New Ways: Parade of Contemporary Avant-garde (group exhibition, Zlín)
Exposition des jeunes / Exhibition of Young (group exhibition, Brno)
Slovak Sculpture 1966 (group exhibition, Liberec)

1967

Künstlerhaus art scholarship in Vienna. Member of Q Association, a group of Czech and Slovak artists from different fields (dissolved in 1970, re-established in 1991).
Created the monumental sculptural group entitled Victims' Warning for the Memorial to the Slovak National Uprising in Banská Bystrica (co-operation with architect Dušan Kuzma).
Shadow I
Shadow I (sculpture)
Victims' Warning
Victims' Warning (sculpture)

Received grant from Künstlerhaus (Vienna)

1968

Jankovič's brother Peter emigrated to Canada. Attended the Artchemo symposium in Pardubice (East Bohemian Gallery in Pardubice), which was cut short due to the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Warsaw Pact armies. Cyprián Majerník Award.
Received grant from the Joseph Károlyi Foundation
Received award from Cena Cypriána Majerníka
Jozef Jankovič. Sculptures (solo exhibition, Prague)
Sculpture tchècoslovaque de Myslbek à nos jours (group exhibition, Paris)
Jozef Jankovič. Sculptures (solo exhibition, Bratislava)
Artchemo (public program, )

1969

Beside the Memorial to the Slovak National Uprising in Banská Bystrica, the Memorial to the Slovak National Uprising in Kováčová was unveiled on the 25th Anniversary of the Slovak National Uprising. Jankovič co-operated the Memorial with architect Anton Cimmermann. Exhibited his works at the Vth Le Biennale de Paris in Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, and was awarded one of the five prizes. Won a scholarship the Fondation Károlyi in Vence, France.
Great Destiny
Great Destiny (sculpture)

Jozef Jankovič (solo exhibition, Düsseldorf)
VI. Biennale de Paris (group exhibition, Paris)
Contemporary Art in Czechoslovakia/ Arte contemporanea in Cecoslovacchia (group exhibition, Rome)
Artchemo. Pardubice 1968 (group exhibition, Pardubice)

1970

Scholarship stay at the Cité des Arts, Paris. Represented Slovakia at the XXXVth Eposizione internazionale d´arte Biennale di Venezia.
The moving hands
The moving hands (sculpture)


1971

Symposium Forma viva in Portorož – the last big event abroad that he was allowed to attend. Started to regularly enter his drawings in periodical drawing exhibitions. Created his first jewellery.

1972

Jankovič's membership in the newly established Union of Slovak Visual Artists was suspended, as a result he could not hold solo exhibitions or attend official collective exhibitions at home and abroad
Jozef Jankovič. Drawings, Graphics (solo exhibition, Hradec Králové)

1973

Started to work with computer graphics. Completed the fountain in the Pošeň neighbourhood of Bratislava (destroyed in 1976).
Jankovič (solo exhibition, Brno)

1974

Created the relief on the facade of the Bratislava Transport Computing Centre (architect L. Jenderják). Visited Poland and East Germany with J. Valoch and J. H. Kocman.
Jozef Jankovič (solo exhibition, Brno)
Tschechische Künstler (group exhibition, Düsseldorf)


1976

Established contact with art collectors and organisers of exhibitions in the Ostrava region (long-term co-operation, solo exhibition at the House of Culture in Orlová and a collection of works by 46 Czech and 19 Slovak artists entitled Album 76).
Serial Works (group exhibition, Székesfehérvár)
Jozef Jankovič. Jewel (solo exhibition, Orlová)

1977

His passport was seized after he allegedly exhibited one of the Albums at the 'dissident' Venice Biennale. Continued to unofficially send small works of art to organisers of exhibitions (XIIth Biennial of Graphic Art in Ljubljana).

1978

At the conference entitled Computer Graphics '78 in Smolenice, he and Daniel Fischer presented their works.

1979

Jozef Jankovič. Computer Graphics 1974/79 (solo exhibition, Bratislava)
Slovak Graphic Creation 1970 - 1978 (group exhibition, Olomouc)

1980

At the VIIIth International Biennale of Graphics in Krakow, he was awarded 3rd prize for his graphic entitled Room at the Top. Created glued drawings - paper reliefs and a series of small plastic works, the Landscapes (until 1984).


1982

Participated in Aktuelle Kunst aus Osteuropa i Oldenburg and the third part of Bilder aus der Slowakei 1965-1980 at the Pragxis Galllery in Essenu. His passport was returned.
Received award from Herder Prize

1983

Was awarded the Herder Prize and subsequently allowed to travel to Vienna to accept the prize.
Contemporary Czechoslovak Art Jewelery (group exhibition, Trenčín)

1984

Visiting professor at Hochschule für angewandte Kunst in the studio of drawing of prof. A. Frohner.
Transformation
Transformation (graphics)


1985

At the International stone sculpture symposium in Labin, Croatia created a monumental sculpture entitled Gate. Presented computer graphics at ACM/SIGGRAPH, Exhibition of Computer Art in San Francisco, Colorado Springs, Tokyo and Don Mills, also in Dallas in 1986. Exhibitied computer graphics in Sendai, Japan as part of the Travelling Art Show and they were reinstalled in Madrid.
Jankovic. Computer Graphics (solo exhibition, Havířov)
The Current Czechoslovak Chamber Sculpture (group exhibition, Trenčín)

1986

Participated in Digitart international exhibition of computer graphics in the Szépmüvészeti Múzeum, Budapest. Started to create a series of reliefs with the theme of Heads and created sculptures.
The monument
The monument (mixed media)

Rudolf Fila, Jozef Jankovič, Rudolf Sikora (group exhibition, Helsingborg)
A4 (group exhibition, )
Jankovič (solo exhibition, Bratislava)
Rudolf Fila, Daniel Fischer, Viktor Hulík, Jozef Jankovič, Juraj Meliš (group exhibition, Novi Sad)

1987

At the international sculpture symposium in Seoul, he created the monumental sculpture entitled Place at the Top and the statue Sebastian. Created a number of reliefs and sculptures (Marching Monument, Ecce Homo, Following in Our Fathers´Footsteps). On his 50th birthday, an exhibition was held at the Little Carpathian Museum in Pezinok in the House of Jan Kupecký (the biggest presentation of his work in Slovakia since 1968).
The ladder
The ladder (mixed media)


1988

Created a monumental sculptural installation entitled E.U.R. Readmitted to the Union of Slovak Visual Artists. Contributed to the Album In memoriam Kassák, for the Kassák Museum in Budapest. A retrospective exhibition at the gallery of the Old Townhouse in Brno. With programmer Imrich Bertók, he worked on the newest computers at the University of Hamburg (invited by professor H. Flessner).

1989

Travelled to Canada and the United States
Was member of Gerulata

1990

Became a co-opted member of the Federal Assembly in Prague but soon gave up his political activities and did not stand as a candidate in the elections of May 1990. Created the sculpture Red Wedge.
Rector of the Academy of Fine Arts and Design, Bratislava.
Artists Tribute to Jiří Chalupecký (group exhibition, Prague)
Jozef Jankovič – Intervention of the Conscience (solo exhibition, Banská Bystrica )
Jozef Jankovič. Rudolf Fila (solo exhibition, Bratislava)
Hulík, Jankovič, Kern, Meliš, Sikora, Tóth (group exhibition, Liptovský Mikuláš)
Hulík, Jankovič, Kern, Meliš, Sikora, Tóth (group exhibition, Liptovský Mikuláš)
New Leaves of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (group exhibition, Dresden)
Jozef Jankovič: Graphics, Alena Kučerová: Graphics, Ondřej Michálek: Graphics, Jan Naš: Sculpture (group exhibition, Sovinec)
Jozef Jankovič (solo exhibition, Budapest)
Jozef Jankovič 1960 – 1990 (solo exhibition, Bratislava)


1992

E.P.A.D. bought his sculpture Following in Our Fathers´Footsteps (1987), which became part of the sculpture collection in La Défense, Paris.
Czech and Slovak Contemporary Art 1950 - 1992 (group exhibition, Novara)
Minisalon (group exhibition, Prague)
Insights - Czech and Slovak Contemporary Art (group exhibition, Cologne)
Twenty Czechoslovak Graphic (group exhibition, Ostrava)
Association of Czech Graphic Artists Hollar: Members Exhibition for the 75th Anniversary (group exhibition, Prague)
Contacts ´92 (group exhibition, Regensburg)
Czech and Slovak Drawing 1989 - 1992 (group exhibition, Žilina)

1993

Participated in the exhibition entitled Space ´93, dedicated to the memory of Polymusic Space and the interrupted tradition of Statues of Piešťany Parks between 1969 and 1970 (installations Crucifix and Final Solution). Installed a sculpture in Gürlingen entitled Left Wing and Right Wing (from 1992). Created sculptural installations entitled Incognito and Backward Glance.

1994

Professor and Head of the Department of Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design, Bratislava.
Along with A. Mlynárčik and R. Sikora, he represented Slovak modern art at the exhibition entitled Europa – Europa at the Bonn Federal Museum (relief Memory of Red from 1992). Participated in Riss im Raum at Martin-Grophius-Bau in Berlin and Zachęta in Warsaw.

1995

Represented Slovakia at XLVI. Biennale di Venezia (End of One Paradigm, Accident and Coincidence I-VI). International sculpture symposium in Labine, Croatia (monumental sculpture Raspelo).
Jozef Jankovič. Sculpture. Graphics (solo exhibition, Orońsko)
Jozef Jankovič (solo exhibition, Košice)
Jozef Jankovič (solo exhibition, Nové Zámky)
XLVI. Esposizione Internazionale d´Arte/ La Biennale di Venezia (group exhibition, Venice)

1996

Jozef Jankovič 1961 – 1964 (solo exhibition, Bratislava)
Jozef Jankovič (solo exhibition, Bratislava)
Sculpture and Object I. Bratislava Statue courtyard streets and squares (group exhibition, Bratislava)

1997

Slovak National Gallery prepared an exhibition of his collected works dating between 1958 and 1997, accompanied by an extensive monograph. Martin Benka Prize.
Jozef Jankovič (solo exhibition, Nitra)
Sculpture and Object II. (group exhibition, Bratislava)
Jozef Jankovič. Creation of the Years 1958 – 1997 (solo exhibition, Bratislava)
Jozef Jankovič. Sculptures, Reliefs, Drawings (solo exhibition, Dunajská Streda )
Jozef Jankovič. Graphics 1959 – 1997 (solo exhibition, Banská Bystrica )

1998

Artist in Residence at the University of Houston – Clear Lake. Awarded the state order, Pribina Cross, 1st Class. The Order of Danica Hrvatska (for culture).
Jozef Jankovič and Rudolf Fila (solo exhibition, Bratislava)
Sandria Hu + Jozef Jankovič. Mixed Media Works on Paper (solo exhibition, Houston (TX))
Drawings by Jozef Jankovič (solo exhibition, Houston (TX))

1999

Presented his works at the exhibition entitled Aspekten/Positionen. 50 Jahre Kunst aus Mitteleuropa 1949–1999 at Palais Lichtenstein in Vienna and at Global Conceptualism: Points of Origin 1950s–1980s at the Queens Museum of Art, New York City and at Walker Art Museum in Miami, USA. He attended Bildhauersymposium in Greize, Germany, and entered the contest Stahlskulpturewettbewerb im Offentlichen Greizer Stadtraum (3rd prize, realisation of the statue entitled Experiment Vereinigung / Division.)
Jozef Jankovic. Sculpture – Painting – Drawing (solo exhibition, Senica)
Jozef Jankovič (solo exhibition, Hranice na Moravě)
Aspects / Positions. 50 Years of Art in Central Europe 1949-1999 (group exhibition, Vienna)

2000

Artist in Residence, Universidad Veracruziana, Xalapa, Mexico.
Donations (group exhibition, Bochum)
Art in Central Europe 1949–1999 (group exhibition, Barcelona)
90 Years of the Brno House of Arts (group exhibition, Brno)

2001

Scholarship in Cité Internationales des Arts in Paris. Started to work on the cycle of paintings entitled Humanised Geometry.
Jozef Jankovič (solo exhibition, Bratislava)


2003

The most beautiful book of the year 2003 - bibliophile edition of Rudyarda Kipling's poem entitled If, Ex Tempore 2003.

2004

After 32 years the Victims' Warning sculptural group was returned to its original place at the Memorial to the Slovak National Uprising in Banská Bystrica. Worked on a cycle of computer graphics entitled Folded Artist. Ludovít Štúr Order, 2nd class.
Jozef Jankovič. Transfiguration (solo exhibition, Budapest)
Jozef Jankovic. Testimony 1964 – 1969 (solo exhibition, Banská Bystrica )
Behind the Glass. From the Collection of Jaroslav Krbůšek (group exhibition, )
Between Us Groups (group exhibition, Brno)

2005

Jozef Jankovič. Computer Graphics (solo exhibition, Bratislava)
Jozef Jankovič. Paintings, Graphics, Sculptures (solo exhibition, Karviná)
Jozef Jankovič. Poworót do łat 60 (solo exhibition, Kraków)
Contemporary Slovak Art 1960 - 2000 (group exhibition, Budapest)
IV. New Zlin Salon (group exhibition, Zlín)
Private View (Josef Chloupek Collection) (group exhibition, Brno)

2006

Autopoesis (group exhibition, Bratislava)
Jozef Jankovič. Pro et contra (solo exhibition, Bratislava)
Kalendáře pro Jindru Štreita (group exhibition, )

2007

Awarded the Prize of the Chairman of the National Council of the Slovak Republic. Created a large statue entitled Limited Space for the Danubiana Meulensteen Art Museum in Bratislava. International sculpture symposium Forma Viva, Portorož, Slovenia.

2008

Honorary title Dr.h.c. of the Technical University in Košice.

2009

Created the sculpture entitled Balance in the Campus of the Masaryk University in Brno.

2010

Retrospective exhibition of works from 1985–2010 at Danubiana Meulensteen Art Museum in Bratislava.
Jozef Jankovič. Testimony on the Edge. 1985 - 2010 (solo exhibition, Bratislava)
Jozef Jankovič (solo exhibition, Houston (TX))

2011

Honorary title of Dr.h.c. of Uniwersytet artystyczny in Poznan and a solo exhibition at the Galeria Miejska Arsenal and Galeria Aula Uniwersytetu artystycznego. Co-ordinated an exhibition and book project entitled Bratislava Confrontations in the Cyprián Majerník Gallery in Bratislava. His monumental non-figurative composition Time from 1966 in Bratislava – Ružinov was removed because of the construction of a shopping mall.

2012

Co-operation with glass artist Palo Macho. International glass symposium, Lednické Rovné. Initiated and helped with the book project entitled Sculpture Works in Bratislava 1945-2012 (Resculpture.sk and art historians S. Jankovičová and R. Popelár).


2014

Statue Private Manifestation (1968) was part of the exhibition entitled World Goes Pop at the Tate Modern, London. His statues Attempted Encounter and Red Ladder installed in the Slovak Pavilion at EXPO 2015 in Milan.

2015

The soft codes. Conceptual Tendencies in Slovak Art (group exhibition, Wrocław)
The World Goes Pop (group exhibition, London)

2016

Bratislava City Gallery held a retrospective exhibition entitled The Flow of Time, encompassing his work of more than fifty years. The Olomouc Museum of Art holds an exhibition with the same name in 2017.
Jozef Jankovič │Flow of Time (solo exhibition, Bratislava)
MONODIALOGY. Jozef Jankovič and Palo Macho (solo exhibition, Budapest)
Conjunction / Concurrence (group exhibition, Trnava)

2017

Nitra Gallery, Slovakia, presented works by Jozef Jankovič in confrontation with the selected works of 15 sculptors - graduates from the Statue and Space studio of the Academy of Fine Arts and Design, a studio which was led by Jankovič for more than 20 years. His monumental work entitled Great Fall was presented at the exhibition Like at Home. Model Situation of Slovak Sculpture in the 20th and 21st Centuries, at Kunsthalle, Bratislava. Imro Weiner-Kráľ Award in memoriam.

Muzeum umění Olomouc 2011-2024