The textile collection originated in its current form with the merging of two separate wholes. The first was the Textile Collection of the SNG Department of Applied Art and Design and the second collection was formed gradually from the 1950s as an alternative variant within the framework of the Collection of Modern Painting. The Gobelin tapestry and art protis, which formed the basis of this collection, were understood here as a specific material kind of painting, a hanging painting. At first, the collection contained works woven according to the artistic design by the most renowned Slovak artists (Ľudovít Fulla, Janko Alexy, Ernest Zmeták) in specialized workshops in Jindřichův Hradec, Valašské Meziříčí and in Ústředí uměleckých řemesel (Arts and Crafts Centre) in Prague. The fact that Peter Matejka became the head of the Department of Monumental Painting was of crucial significance for the development of the artist’s work in Slovakia.
In the 1960s, the collection gained not only the works of the students of Matejka’s school implemented by the popular and today almost forgotten technique of art protis, but the first Gobelin tapestries by Karol Baron and Juraj Krén were also created. Furthermore, at the end of the 1960s, the first tapestries woven by Mária Rudavská, Katarína Šujanová, Silvia Fedorová, Lýdia Jergušová-Vydarená, Eva Mináriková-Cisárová, Katarína Zavarská, were among the most valuable acquisitions of the new Textile Collection, which originated in 1974. In the past, the extensive bobbin lace collection representing the life work of Elena Holéczyová, which was based on the classical home technique of bobbin lace, was frequently used in exhibitions and publications. She brought about the successful modern transposition of a marginally used figural motif, understood especially as an ornament, in the centre of the visual plot, so that the figural motif became the central element. Mária Danielová, whose work enriched the collection in the second half of the 1980s, continued in the bobbin lace technique in minimizing compositions and abstracting an almost monochromatic design. The new ambitions of tapestry (detached from the wall, expanded into space) are represented by the works of Remígia Litwinowitzová and Júlia Sabová, which document the new situation in this medium. The experimental line, and not only in the spatial expansiveness of tapestry, but also in its material and functional foundation, is represented by the works by Karol Pichler and Jozef Bajus.

Curato of the Textile Collectionr: Viera Kleinová

The most significant acquisitions of the Textile Collection (selection)

Ľudovít Fulla: Song and Labour, 1957, wool, gobelin tapestry, 240 x 304 cm – O 1240

Ernest Zmeták: Johnny Herded Three Oxen, 1961, wool, gobelin tapestry, 225 x 132 cm – O 1384

Juraj Krén: Morava, 1972, wool, gobelin tapestry, 392 x 259 cm – O 4098

Elena Holéczyová: Blanket with Spiš Motif, 1975, bobbin lace, diameter 32 cm – UP DK 806

Peter Matejka: Bouquet, 1968, wool, gobelin tapestry, 243 x 194.5 cm – O 3433

Katarína Šujanová: Diary, 1971, wool, gobelin tapestry, 290 x 190 cm – O 4225

Silvia Fedorová: Children and Peace, 1972, wool, sisal, gobelin tapestry, 200 x 277 cm – O 4249

Eva Cisárová-Mináriková: The Fifteenth and Twentieth Centuries, 1974, wool, sisal, 250 x 310 cm – UP I 134

Mária Rudavská: Symbolic Triptych, 1978, wool, metal, gobelin tapestry, 300 x 270 cm – UP I 151

Katarína Zavarská: Self Portrait Recordings, 1984, wool, 100 x 90 cm – UP I 177

Jozef Bajus: Horizontal Meditations, 1991, paper, plexiglass, cotton thread, 12 x 12 x 13 cm – UP DK 1780

Karol Pichler: Localisation Destructive, 1988, paper, cut, shaped, paper clips, 84 x 60 cm – UP DK 1403

The most significant exhibitions of the Textile Collection (selection)

Slovenská tapiséria / Slovak Tapestry
Curator: F. Hurajová
Červený kameň, Červený kameň Castle, 15 September – 3 October 1976

Škola Petra Matejku – Tapisérie / Peter Matejka School - Tapestries
Curator: F. Hurajová
Zvolen, Zvolen Castle, 8 June – 27 August 1978

Elena Holéczyová
Curator: A. Žáčková
Bratislava, SNG, 11 September – 31 October 1986

Súčasná slovenská tapiséria / Contemporary Slovak Tapestry
Curator: T. Sarnová
Liptovský Mikuláš, GPMB Liptovský Mikuláš, 9 July – 21 September 1987

Vlákno. Slovenský textil 1984 – 1994 / Fibre. Slovak Textile 1984 - 1994
Curator: A. Schrammová
Bratislava, SNG, 15 March – 7 July 1994, Re-installation Zvolen Castle

Katarína Zavarská
Curator: K. Bajcurová
Dunajská Streda, SNG, 18 December 1998 – 28 February 1999