© Slovak Post, 2007 Ján Želibský (1907 – 1997) - painter. He studied at the private school of G. Mallý in Bratislava (1924 – 1925), at the School of Arts and Design under Professor A. Hoffbauer (1930 – 1933), and at the Academy of Arts under Professor V. Nowak (1933 – 1936) in Prague. In 1935, he stayed on a three-month internship in Paris, over 1936 – 1937 he worked in the Committee for Aid to Democratic Spain. He held his first independent exhibition at the Elán showroom in Prague (1937). In 1938 – 1939 he attended a one-year internship at Écol des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he attended the atelier of Professor Sabatien. In 1938 he became a member of “Umelecka Beseda” (Artistic discussion club) in Prague, in 1945 he became a member of the “29th of August Group” in Bratislava. He taught as a professor at the AVU (Academy of Visual Arts) in Prague, in the period 1946 - 1952 as the Academy's vice-rector. He continued his pedagogical activities as professor at the Academy of Arts in Bratislava (1952 –1979), as rector 1952 – 1955. At the same time, he was Head of the Department of Figural and Scenery Art. The origins of his painting and drawing are rooted in Post-Impressionism - the echo of Cézanne - from the analysis and synthesis of objective reality in cubist morphology and iconography, mainly depicted through still-lives (1934 – 1935). Such works aimed at the presentation of the figural motive from the urban and rural environment. In 1936, he created stimulating figural compositions - Lucia, Wedding, a reproduced piece of art – Bouquet of Chrysanthemums - in which he focused on the issue of light and colour in an expressive interpretation. During the war and shortly afterwards (1939 – 1949) he developed the figural compositions of fugitives: refugees from the artistic world of theatre and concerts. In the post-war period he returned to the rural and urban motive, which thereafter became a constant theme. His paintings and drawings are characterised by clear design and expressive colours. The art of Ján Želibský has an important and intrinsic place in the history of Slovak visual arts. Klára Kubíková