Jubilee celebrant, painter, educator, photographer, and occasional curator Štefan Orth, presents a retrospective selection of his nearly sixty-year-long drawing and painting work in two exhibition spaces in Senica. The significant collection of artwork provides a brief glimpse into the development of the author’s oeuvre, with a focus on the ontogeny of his creations. One essential part of the exhibition is concentrated at the Záhorie Gallery of Ján Mudroch in Senica, while another part is displayed at the Záhorie Enlightenment Center. The exhibition comprehensively demonstrates the constant connections to classic genre painting, particularly the phenomenon of the profane rural landscape and the sovereignty of the natural, minimally civilization-affected world in general. The author occasionally touches upon floral or still-life themes and occasionally delves into figurative motifs, as evidenced mainly by the collection installed at the Záhorie Cultural Center.

Štefan Orth’s landscapes are an apotheosis of colorism, glorifying colorful matter in a broad range of spectral values, richly rearranging tones and values to emotionally reflect the subject matter and its distinctly lyrical diction. They are an ode and a tribute to the sacred rituals that were ignited by the bold example of the Barbizon school and eventually led to the birth of the Impressionist revolution over a century and a half ago.

Orth’s artistic expression does not disrupt conventions or seek violent parallels with the trends of the time. Instead, the author smoothly and continuously projects his relatively early, already genre and subject-oriented program. He diagnoses the landscape through local and sensory connections, gradually reducing the objective perspective in favor of emotional aspects and freer, more impressive, and imaginative citations. His sensual landscapes from the early period respond to the legacy of modernism, while the works of the last two decades reflect more suggestive parameters of painting, approaching the threshold of abstraction. His personal and visual relationship with the identification of the painting’s theme is not limited to the observer’s dimensions; on the contrary, it increasingly takes on the role of an active participant.

The exhibition is preceded by the ceremonial placement of the commemorative wheel “Štefan Orth – Artist and Educator” on the Záhorie Wall of Fame at the Cultural House in Senica at 4:00 PM on the day of the vernissage. The artist received this award for his exceptional contribution to the cultural life of the city of Senica and the Záhorie region.

Božena Juríčková