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Designer of the National Myth

Just as van Gogh had one ear missing, Martin Benka lacked one phalanx in his right-hand thumb. Since his childhood, he suffered from a "vocational disease", turpentine allergy, which led to his having that thumb completely removed later on.

Today, Benka (1888–1971) is breaking records at the Slovak art auctions where, however, one finds little more than landscapes, even though his scope was much broader – Benka tried to elaborate a design for the entire country, designing his own fonts, postage stamps, banknotes, architecture and even musical instruments.

Although his work indicates that he loved the Slovak hills and mountains, he was actually born in the plain region of Záhorie and lived in Prague for a long time. Benka idealised not only the land but also its inhabitants: the statures of Slovak men are very brawny, with peculiar proportions (large bodies and small heads), in which they often resemble the comic strip hero Hulk. Most of Benka's women are accordingly stalwart, as if their bodies were not only to be beautiful but also useful for manual labour.

Benka did not depict the real Slovakia but rather some mythological land where people still wear traditional costumes. Even one of his rare nudes portrays a naked woman with a traditional bonnet. It is unclear whether nudity could possibly be fully folkloric but in the case of Benka, even this is conceivable.

The painter did in fact come across cubism and surrealism, but these failed to draw his attention and so he remained faithful to the style he assumed already in his younger years. Due to this, he was very conservative but simultaneously unique. Thanks to the apparent simplicity of his motifs, he was easily accepted by all regimes with which he quietly collaborated. His national programme was more important to him than politics.

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Benka combined socialist thinking (which he explained with his poverty-stricken background) with religious faith. However, his most pronounced political stance was passivity, although he lost many of his friends and co-workers due to political changes – many of them chose to emigrate after WWII, whereas many priests were imprisoned by the communists.

The prime essence of Benka's life and creation was his work and his national programme, to which he subordinated his entire work. His relationship with women is very unclear and can only be inferred. Benka voluntarily chose to remain a bachelor and for many years he was confronted with pestering questions about why he had not married. It seems that he chose this asceticism deliberately, just as the national revivalists of the 19th century renounced women for the sake of other national programmes. Allegedly, women would have distracted them unnecessarily.

Benka was obsessed with his work and felt bothered by numerous visitors. An amusing incident in his life occurred when he was visited by Diego Riviera, the husband of Frida Kahlo. Benka was told that the visit would not take more than ten minutes, however, the fanatic Mexican communist and painter had no intention to leave even after two hours' time, which made Benka prematurely bid him farewell. This caused a kind of a scandal but Benka's attitude was understandable as he had often complained that visitors wasted his time and that he was completely oblivious as to how important those visiting people might have been.

Author: Jan Gregor