Prvá slovenská investičná skupina, a. s. (The First Slovak Investment Group), which is a wholly owned subsidiary of PROXY-FINANCE a. s., was one of the first companies established in the former Czechoslovakia after 1989 to start collecting works of visual art. The company has been building its collection since 1992, which to this day is known as the Prva slovenská investičná skupina's Collection.
This collection focuses on 20th century Slovak visual art. The core of this collection comprises work from the liberal 1960s and the following ‘normalisation’ period, albeit only those created outside the official doctrine of Socialist realism. The collection includes works of indisputable artistic value, the quality of which is comparable with that of European and American visual art. The owners of the collection have succeeded in supporting artists who faced difficulties during the ‘normalisation’ period of the 1970s and 1980s, thus combining financial, artistic and philanthropic goals into one. In 1993, the art historian Mgr. Zuzana Bartošová, PhD., became the collection's curator and has been actively working on it ever since to pursue the above-mentioned goals.
The carefully curated collection includes pieces from renowned artists known both domestically and internationally, such as Július Koller, Mária Bartuszová, Jana Želibská, Milan Dobeš, Alex Mlynárčik, Rudolf Uher, Jozef Jankovič, Rudolf Fila, Stano Filko, Milan Paštéka, Andrej Rudavský, Rudo Sikora, and Klára Bočkayová.
Ten years after it was established, the collection started making its way into representative exhibitions in important galleries and modern art museums - national, regional and private in Slovakia (Bratislava, Nitra, Košice, Prešov, Banská Bystrica, Žilina, Trenčín) and abroad (Cracow, Prague, Passau, Vienna, Sibiu, Bucharest, Budapest, Györ, Ljubljana, London). So far there have been 18 exhibitions, three of which in the exhibition spaces of our embassies as well as Czech and Slovak cultural centres. Prvá slovenská investičná skupina's Collection is gaining prestige, as evidenced by prominent exhibitions in prestigious European and American modern art museums borrowing the collection’s masterpieces.
2005 also saw the establishment of the Foundation for Contemporary Slovak Visual Arts to document the Slovak arts scene in the second half of the 20th century. The foundation collects, archives and documents Slovak visual arts in an international context, focusing on the artists' activities outside the official visual arts scene. It makes documents and funds available to experts through reading rooms, the media, lectures, publications and exhibitions, and in special cases even by lending works to renowned expert institutions who want to exhibit in Slovakia or abroad. The foundation supports contemporary Slovak art exhibitions, with corresponding lectures at home and abroad.
Klára Bočkayová: Netušené odhalenie (Pocta Chagallovi), 1991
Akryl na plátne, 90 x 80 cm
Milan Dobeš: Pohyb svetla I., 1966
Objekt, kov, zrkadlo elektrický motor, 67 x 67 x 31 cm
Rudolf Fila: Premaľba, 1991
Olej na plátne, 95 x 95 cm
Stanislav Filko: Oltár, 1965 – 1966
Objekt, kombinovaná technika, v. 185 cm
Jozef Jankovič: Pohyblivé ruky, 1970
Objekt, kombinovaná technika, v. 140 cm
Július Koller: Československo, 1968
Latex na textile, 82 x 136 cm
Juraj Meliš: Autoportrét s ideou, 1980
Fotografia, drevený rám, 60 x 38 cm
Alex Mlynárčik: Agence Argillia Press I., 1977
Serigrafia na striebornom podklade, kartón, 61 x 85 cm
Alex Mlynárčik: Agence Argillia Press II., 1977
Serigrafia na striebornom podklade, kartón, 61 x 85 cm
Milan Paštéka: Tichý smiech, 1970
Olej na plátne, 60 x 108 cm
Andrej Rudavský: Postava, 1966
Bronz, v. 100 cm
Rudolf Sikora: Z mesta von III., 1970
Autottypia, papier, 70 x 50 cm
Rudolf Uher: Paralely, 1965
Drevo, v. 76 cm
Jana Želibská: Ona, 1966
Kombinovaná technika a materiál, 70 x 122 cm