Ján Granec was born in Šenkvice into the family of a master bricklayer. As a child, he enjoyed drawing, and as the years went by, his creations became more and more successful, until his parents enrolled him in the Folk Art School in Modra. There he was taught by the painter and illustrator Štefan Cpin, thanks to whom he discovered...
Ján Granec was born in Šenkvice into the family of a master bricklayer. As a child, he enjoyed drawing, and as the years went by, his creations became more and more successful, until his parents enrolled him in the Folk Art School in Modra. There he was taught by the painter and illustrator Štefan Cpin, thanks to whom he discovered the alchemy of the artistic world and began to see the world through artistic eyes. He further developed his skills in private lessons with the academic painter Jaroslav Knil, but ultimately did not choose a painter’s life.
During a school excursion to the Slovak Folk Majolica, he was captivated by the work of potters throwing on a wheel in the workshops. This is why, after finishing elementary school in 1965, he applied to apprentice at this company’s school. In the young apprentice, a love for ceramics and folk art emerged in Modra, with masters like Samuel Bázlik, Ján Krištofík, Ján Jablonovský, Viliam Peško, Michal Škarčák, Vincent Labaj, and Ján Karabelli. He especially remembers the lectures of the ceramist and collector Heřman Landsfeld, who fascinatingly spoke about the generation of old masters and old pottery and jug techniques.
In the first year of apprenticeship, they only drew, tirelessly copying old stylized floral patterns, deer, and birds, and getting their hands on the famous pottery griffin. In the second year, they swapped pencils and brushes for pottery wheels and tried real work with clay. The old masters said that clay must smell to the potter – otherwise, he cannot work with it. Among the potters, including Ján Granec (who later won the international pottery wheel competition seven times), this rule perhaps applied the most. However, he also learned other ceramic activities in the workshop – painting on the wheel, retouching, and glazing. In the third year of his apprenticeship, he already produced goods for production, and he was employed by the Slovak Folk Majolica after finishing school.
As a training master, he taught another generation of potters around Drahoslav Chalány, but he increasingly became attracted to working in the intimacy of his own workshop. And so, although he got along well with his colleagues, after a while, he decided – also due to the direction of the company that did not appeal to him – to focus on his own creations. In 1976, when this happened, the ceramist specializing in traditional pottery could work independently only for the ÚĽUV.
Ján Granec’s designs, inspired by traditional ceramics of western Slovakia, were embraced by the artists of ÚĽUV who later suggested new products for modern interiors. This is how, for example, a series of his ceramic containers, majolica wine sets, softly painted square majolica flasks, and brightly warm pottery bowls and pots were created. Ján Granec moved from Šenkvice to Pezinok, where he gradually built up his background and workshop. There, at the beginning of the 1990s in changed social conditions, he established a private workshop with his own employees, and work began to flourish.
His work is diverse and encompasses almost the entire range of ceramics – painted jars, glasses, plates, pots, and flower pots, influenced mainly by Haban and Senica ornamentation. His world revolves around clay and family, as all three of his children have pursued artistic careers, with one daughter making a living from ceramics. As Ján Granec says, a connection to ceramics is necessary. Then your work succeeds, and perhaps you can achieve success with it.
For preserving and developing the original utilitarian and decorative faience production, he was awarded the title of Master of Folk Art Production in 2011.
Source: Mikolaj, Tomáš: Masters of the New Millennium [online]. Bratislava: Center of Folk Art Production, 2020 [accessed May 29, 2024]. Available at: https://uluv.sk/kniznica/digitalna-kniznica/