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

Sándor Baranyó made acquaintance with painting before the war at the Szolnok colony; later he was a student of István Szőnyi at the College, where upon graduation he started working as a lecturer. He became a guest member in 1944-45 but the war stopped him from using his studio. He was among the first few who started teaching after the war. He took part in the reviving artistic life and made his contribution in the first few exhibitions. Since his legal claim was neglected at the assignment of the renovated studios, he moved to Budapest, where between 1953 and 1956 he dealt with the various questions of teaching art at the Ministry of Culture and Education. He returned to Szolnok in 1957, and in 1959 to the colony. From this time on his activity was determinant in the whole of the colony. László Bokros also was a student of Szőnyi, some of his later works preserve the influence of his teacher. He is familiar with several genres, he also treats graphics, ceramics and sculpture. It was in the early 70s that he reached his abstract surrealistic way of expression governed by the demand of painting associative elements. He left Szolnok in 1988, since then he has been working in the west of the country. Ferenc Berényi won a three-year Derkovits scholarship in 1961, and from the next year he continued his career at the Artists' Colony of Szolnok. Ever since he has divided his time between Budapest and Szolnok. He finds it exceptionally difficult to part with his works; he gains new inspiration by living and breathing together with his pictures. The pace and mass, the compositional relationship of vertical and horizontal units of his pictures, his choice of colours are all ultimately simplified. László Meggyes has been a member of the colony since 1957. The main inspiration of his art comes from the landscape, the proximity of nature; the colony and the two rivers have always provided him with plenty of themes. Next to oil painting, he makes drawings, watercolour pictures, and he is an old visitor of the Artists' Colony of Mezőtúr. Magdolna Fazekas got her degree in 1958, since then she has been a member of the colony. "Her portraits painted with sensitive brushstrokes and pulsating dashes of colour are unique in Hungarian fine arts." The three sculptors who settled down at the colony in the late 50s work in realistic style, their works are dominated by figurative depiction. They try to use various types of material and techniques, apart from the classic marble and wood, Ferenc Simon and László Szabó have tried welded sheet metal, István Nagy makes his sculptures from terra cotta and fire clay. One of his favourite materials has been lead for decades, but his fire-clay statues with copper and coloured stone inlaid pieces represent a separate layer in his oeuvre. All three of them make portraits and public works. Nagy and Simon like making nudes, and while Simon prefers classic forms, the texture of Nagy's pieces is more tectonic and expeditious. Over the past few decades Ferenc Simon has been moving from traditional plastic art towards a new objectivism, we can feel the impact of pop art in his grotesque pieces. His way of expression is often ironic, and that of István Nagy's animal depiction is sometimes humorous. Gábor Benő Pogány arrived at the colony in 1987; he became a regular member. In the first few years he was placed in the old pavilion, but in 1995 regarding his public works he received tenemental right in a building where a studio could be built. Successful exhibitions mark the achievements of the conjoint work: in 1961 in Műcsarnok, in 1966 in the Hungarian National Gallery they opened exhibitions of the works of the Artists' Colony of Szolnok. Apart from these there have been dozens of exhibitions abroad, and the regular summer and winter exhibitions in Szolnok served as good opportunities to introduce the artists to the general public. The latest period of the colony started in 1987. The right wing of the building, which had survived several wars, shifts of owners and changes of fortune, was rebuilt. First the wing was evacuated and based on the agreement made with the occupants those artists who had received their allocations after 1960, temporarily were moved into town flats. László Bokros and his wife Júlia Bokros, who had been dealing with ceramics for decades, left the colony for good. The studios of the renovated wing were occupied by regular members who had settled down before 1960: Sándor Baranyó, Magdolna Fazekas, László Meggyes, László Szabó, László Hangay Szabó, Ferenc Simon and István Nagy. In the meantime István Nagy left the colony and Sándor Baranyó died in 2001. The restoration and utilization of the left wing is the task of the near future, and a new period might start in the life of the Artists' Colony of Szolnok. 145