Janko Alexy was born on 25th January 1894 in Liptovský Mikuláš and died on 22nd September 1970 in Bratislava. In 1912 he worked as a chimneysweeper’s assistant in Liptovský Mikuláš and in 1913 – 1915 he worked as a pharmacy assistant in Prievidza. In 1916 – 1917 he studied at the Philosophical Faculty of the University in Budapest, and during the 1st World War he was drafted as a solider of the Austro-Hungarian army and fought on the Russian and Italian front. After the war, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague (1919 – 1925) in the class of professor Bukovac, Pirner and Švabinský. As a student in 1919, he participated in a scientific expedition to Slovakia. His drawings from the expedition were compiled to the album of reproductions titled Pictures from Slovakia (1920). Between August and December 1919, he stayed and studied in Paris. In 1922, together with G. Vámoš he founded the student literary magazine Svojeť. He graduated as a pedagogue from the Czech University of Technology and Charles’ University in Prague in 1923. In 1924 – 1928 he worked as a substitute professor of Slovak language and drawing in Bratislava, and after 1929 as a freelance painter in the town of Turany, where he worked with collaborated with Miloš Bazovský and Zolo Palugyay. In 1932, Alexy moved to Piešťany, where he organised an art colony (1934 – 1935). In 1940 and 1942 he stayed in Sliač and the Tatra mountains and in 1942 he becomes one of the co-founders of Comprehensive Homeland Museum in Liptovský Mikuláš. After the war, between 1945 and 1946 he lived in Čáčov near the town of Senica. He spent the rest of his life with active work, painting and social interaction in Bratislava. Contribution of Janko Alexy should mainly be seen through the search for modernist elements of his – in a certain way – national style (secession, post-impressionism, expressionism). This stage of his work culminated in 1929 – 1933. At the end of the 1930s and during the WWII, his modernistic folklorism was subdued and followed by the period of atmospheric vistas and painting of historical towns (Bratislava, Košice, Nitra, Trenčín). The third important area of Alexy’s work is the painting by pastel media, where the shapes and forms are simplified, the theme is rationalised and the whole composition is dominated by a non-debauching sensual colourism (derived from the character of traditional folk textiles). Bibliography: Hronský, J. C.: Janko Alexy. Bratislava 1934; Váross, M.: Alexy. Bratislava 1944; Güntherová-Mayerová, A.: Janko Alexy. Bratislava 1949; Veselý, M.: Janko Alexy. Bratislava 1967; Halaša, P.: Janko Alexy (personálna bibliografia). Martin 1974; Abelovský, J.: Janko Alexy – súborné dielo. Kat. výst. Bratislava, Slovak National gallery 1984.