Kertész Róbert - V. Szász József - Zsolnay László szerk.: Szolnoki művésztelep 1902-2002 - 100 éves a szolnoki művésztelep (2001)
The Artist's Colony of Szolnok 1902-2002
paint more and more landscapes. In his fear of emotionalism, he aimed at visualize his impressions in an objective, "cool" way, like the impressionist painters did. For this reason his art slowly became more patch-like, nearly reaching a decorative artistic approach. In the 30s he mainly painted pictures of biblical scenes, an other group of his paintings covered rural life. He also painted a series of imagined landscapes; he took the inspiration from the early 18th century Hungarian history and his experiences in Italy. He last visited Szolnok in 1942 and never returned. In 1944 he was dragged away into a ghetto where in the following year he died of apoplexy. In his person one of the greatest masters of Hungarian fine art went down into the tomb. He did not belong to the genial inventors; he was an artist who had to search and work hard for a long time till he found the way he wanted to follow. His fortitude, worksome personality, self-discipline and deep humanism elevated him to the greatest artists. One of our most excellent graphic artists, István Zádor, was deeply linked to Szolnok. After 1908 he used to work here, and then in 1924 he became a regular member of the colony and till 1944 he spent most of his time here. At the beginning he painted interior pictures, later he mastered the technique of copperplate engraving and from this time onwards that was his main area of interest and activity. It was not until the 40s that he returned to painting, it was then when he created his finest landscapes. In several of his copper engravings and drawings he recorded the life of Szolnok, the contemporaneous Tabán and the bank of the rivers. During the 1919 communist regime he created placards, drawings for newspaper with Tibor Pólya and Ernő Barta; and many times he spoke up for the restoration of the colony. From the 1900s Szolnok became one of the most important bases of the Hungarian plein-air and then impressionist endeavours. A group started working here whose members frequently changed but they were still fastened together by the similarity of their artistic intentions. This new facade of the colony was in sharp contrast with the Nagybánya direction represented by Ferenczy —Réti—Thorma, who tried to improve the national tradition with idefatigable steadfastness of purpose. Those Nagybánya artists who had become the followers of the French impressionists and postimpressionists were in sympathy with the modern Szolnok artists and one by one they left the colony to find more revolutionary ways of expression. It is impossible to list each and every artist who worked at the colony. In its gilded age, at the beginning of the 1910s many artists worked here due to the sponsorship of some rich Maecenas, and after 1912 the students of the College of Hungarian Fine Art spent their summer holiday here to study. Adolf Fényes taught portrait painting, Lajos Szlányi taught landscape painting and the teacher of animal painting was Lajos Zombory. The outburst of World War I made the life of the colony nearly impossible, many artists and students were ordered to the battlefront. Only a few members of the older generation were left in the studios including Lajos Zombory and József Koszta. Work continued in the studios between the two great wars. Béla Vidovszky and István Zádor kept on enriching the merits of the colony. A new generation entered the colony: Vilmos Aba-Novák, Ferenc Chiovini, Kálmán Istókovits, Tibor and Iván Pólya and Mihály Patay. Aba-Novák and Chiovini prepared for the effectuation of the frescos of the Jászszentandrás perish church here; the glorious series of Istókovits' watercolour was started here. Zombory and Szlányi went on working in their previous style, however this was the period when Péter Szüle, István Zádor and Béla Vidovszky's art was consummated. Lajos Zombory at work 142
