Mészáros Júlia, N.: 35 éves a Győri Művésztelep. Történeti áttekintés, művek, életrajzi adatok, beszámoló a jubileumi találkozóról - Győri művészettörténet 4. (Győr, 2003)
Pápai Emese: A győri Nemzetközi Művészetelepről, 35 éves jubileumi kiállítása kapcsán
EMESE PÁPAI: About the International Artists’ Symposium of Győr, on the Occasion of its 35 Jubilee On the occasion of the 35th anniversary there was a retrospective exhibition in Győr. Round or almost round dates are excellent opportunities for objective consideration, mirorring the inner professional evaluation and reflection of the audience. The exhibition which is equally rich and informative in respect of styles, techniques and contents gave a surprise to the artists and art-lovers from Győr and elsewhere showing a lively interest in the life at the artists’ symposium and connected with it at countless points. In two months of the high season, creations of nearly 200 artists were on show at the exhibition. The works of the past 25 years made during the artists’ symposium were arranged according to the logic of chronology as well as in a peculiar harmony, which is specifically exciting owing to the complicated multiple references and unexpected consonances. The first seven years of the artists’ symposium founded in 1969 remain a mystery in a way, practically there is no appreciable creation of this preiod in the collection of the museum. In the beginning, the symposium established on the city’s initiative attracted non-essential painters and art teachers of Transdanubia to this region with the aim of generating contemporary artistic life in the dynamically developing city. It was young artists educated in Budapest and settled in Győr who lived up to the city’s expectations of this kind in the middle of the ’70s. The new look of the artists’ symposium of international standard developed on their initiative, which is an important point of reference in our national art history. Leaning on Győr’s remarkable industrial culture, shoulder to shoulder with the local factories and cooperatives - beside the other three Trandanubian towns: Siklós, Dunaújváros and Nagyatád - the artists’ symposium of Győr became a national workshop of sculpture. Apart from László Hefter, Csaba Illés, István Ézsiás and others attached to the city and also participating in organization of the workshop, autonomous artists, creating mostly in constructive spirit like Tibor Csiky, Tibor Budahelyi, István Haraszty, Tamás Trombitás, János Fajó, Ildikó Várnagy, István Nádler, Tamás Gaál, György Galántai, István ef Zámbó, Valéria Sass, Katalin Hetey, Mária Lugossy, Zoltán Bohus, Antal Lux and many others worked in this city. Outside the scope of official art critique, in defiance of prohibition, the artists could take the opportunity provided by industry to create values without restriction, by the varied materials and modern technologies available in factories and cooperatives. The transition, namely the privatization of Győr’s industry, resulted in gradual cessation of the industrial background of the artists’ symposium. This time the way of its survival was the international expansion and the change in profile. Besides the Hungarian artists of international renown, artists working in Erfurt, Colmar, Sindelfingen, Duisburg, Kuopio and other twin towns of Győr were first to be invited to participate in the symposium in the ’80s. 7
