Gustáv Mallý was born on 21st of May 1879 in Vienna and died on the 3rd of August 1952 in Bratislava. In 1894-96 he studied at the private school of painter Záhorský in Prague, 1896-98 at the School of Applied Arts in Prague (professor Liška), in 1898-1900 Mallý studies at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Dresden (professors Walter, Bantzer and Pohle). The personality and peculiarity of Gustáv Mallý perceived in generational and social-graphic modelling of the history of our modern painting could never be properly evaluated: “The work of Gustáv Mally is only rarely mentioned among the creative peaks of the Slovak painting of the first half of the 20th century. On the other hand, Mallý is usually on the first place in the chronological chain of personalities who made the greatest contribution to the development of our graphic art” (M. Váross). Indeed, as late as in 1927 (i.e. at the time when Benka concluded the most important period of his own heroization genre concept) and then mainly at the beginning of the 1930s Mallý for the first (and the last) time attempted to transform his monumental tribute to the folk genre. In this respect, the path Gustav Mallý selected was truly lonely and exceptional at the same time. And it brought quite binding although so far not fully appreciated results. It naturally required further abstraction away from details, simplification, and consolidation of painting expression. This abrupt stylisation then culminated during the peak period of Mallý’s painting, that is 1932-1937, right after he dissolved his private painting school in Bratislava, which enabled him – perhaps for the first time in his life – to dedicate his efforts exclusively to his own painting. A distant reaction to Cézanne’s painting but particularly the closer and stronger example of the Czech painter Špála, helped Mallý to find the way out from a certain tension, which until then was a result of the previously unclarified principle of ‘double drawing’. After this peak, the development of Mallý’s painting was basically brought to a halt. The years 1935-1936 represented a certain threshold for him, as afterwards he only alternated his own style from 1924. However also in these times of visible retroactivity of his painting, we can find several pieces reminding of his best “Špála-inspired” period. Bibliography: Wagner, V.: Gustáv Mallý. Bratislava 1952; Váross, M.: Gustáv Mallý. Bratislava 1964; Veselý, M.: Gustáv Mallý. Bratislava 1975; Váross, M.: Gustáv Mallý. Bratislava 1989.