Szilasi Ágota, H.: Országos Akvarell Triennálé. P. Szabó Ernő művészettörténész (1952-2018) emlékére (Eger, 2018)
P. Szabó Ernő: Előszó az 50 éves évfordulóját ünneplő egri akvarell tárlathoz
resigned recently and passed on the baton to Ferenc Lobten At the end of the 90s the Society launched its series titled "English Watercolour with a Hungarian Paintbrush" the title referring to that particular classical watercolour technique which was acquired by the predecessor of our contemporary artists, Miklós Barabás from his Scottish fellow artist, William Leighton Leitch on the shore of Lago Maggiore in 1934. Since then the society has been presenting amd attenting the strtengthen the multicolour Hungarian aquarelle through dozens of individual and group. In connection with the triennial, the works of its members are presented in a group exhibition called "Water Le in the Vitkovics Artist House of Eger. Present and past are being linked now, at the 50th anniversary of the launch of the series. The catalogue titled "Water-sounds ' offering a selection of artworks by Grand Prize winners to date was presented on the opening day, while two exhibitions were arranged in the synagogue: the show at the loft called "In Parallel" simultaneously presents the history of watercolour exhibitions in Eger, works drawing in Salgótarján and graphic exhibitions in Miskolc, while the individual exhibition titled "Without Starligi 1 by Péter Földi, Kossuth Prize winning artist and Grand Prize winner of the latest triennial, can be seen on the ground floor. Now, as faras multicolour variety, intense experimentation and the resulting individual voice are concerned, we will definitely not lack them from this exhibition either. The offer, the choice is also large, since nearly 300, to be exact, 292 artists applied, submitting 699 works. Unfortunately, the majority of them cannot be displayed to the public, and I use the word 'unfortunately' not out of politeness towards those rejected by the judges: there is simply no place to present more works than those - 234 works by 147 artists - put on the walls. If you wish, this way the triennial can give a sort of cross-section, a 'diagnosis' of the present state of aquarelle in Hungary and its popularity among different generations. In this sense it really embraces the total Hungarian contemporary art, as the oldest exhibitor, Magda Gádor was born in 1924, three years later than Klára Szilárd, who passed away last year and an artwork of whom was included in the exhibits as a homage. The show does not lack the works of the older, so called relevant masters either, and some of these artists e.g. Tibor Bráda or Géza Szily are really relevant representatives of contemporary Hungarian watercolour art. The works of these artists are characterised primarily by continuity, as shown in the established and clean symbols, and exciting surface factures by Main Prize winner Tamás Kótai, the enigmatic fantasies by Mária Chili, the new-romantic, expressive compositions counterpointing the fantastic elements with geometric structures paid on aluminium plates by the Eger Prize winner Ferenc Loblerfrom the middle generation, as wellas in the works of Gábor Nagy, awarded by the István Dobó Castle Museum with a purchase prize, who depicted
