Klemmné Németh Zsuzsa szerk.: Árkádiától Zebegényig. A zebegényi művészkolónia 1928–42 között (Pest Megyei Múzeumok Igazgatósága, 2003)

contributions to the history of the Zebegény artists' colony István Szőnyi was part of the generation of artists who studied at the Budapest Art College before the First World War. Their teachers included the founders of the legendary artists' colony at Nagybánya, one of whom, Károly Ferenczy, took the first group of students there in the summer of 1914. Here, the young art students could gain first-hand experience of pre-war Nagybánya, absorb the special aura of the place, and meet both the colony's founders and the group of innovative young painters working there. Even though their visit to Nagybánya was brief, it left a profound impression on Szőnyi and his group of contemporaries throughout their careers. They were influenced by both the plein air naturalism and impressionism of the founders and by the crowded compositions of the younger artists which expressed a longing for the land of Arcadia. Ranging from the Art Nouveau-influenced symbolic, allegorical nudes to cubo-expressionist compositions, these works prepared the way for the neoclassicism developed by the Szőnyi group in the next few years. Later, Ernő Kállai termed this movement "expressive naturalism". The art students had to store the rich inspiration garnered at Nagybánya deep inside them because the war interrupted their studies. Once or twice while on leave, they went back to the artists' colony, but after the war, nothing could be picked up from where it was before. After four years in uniform, the artists returned to an impoverished country in political chaos. After the Treaty of Trianon, Hungary shrank to one-third of its former size and Nagybánya lay on the other side of the border. Many of the artists left Hungary, and those who stayed became isolated, sealed off from the latest artistic movements. As foreign travel became more difficult, the importance of local traditions increased. Ferenczy, the founder and leading light of the Nagybánya artists' colony, died in 1917 and his group was taught by István Réti after the war. This period is captured in the only surviving group picture of the class of 1918/19'. The Réti group broke up after the collapse of the Hungarian Soviet Republic. Some, including István Szőnyi, were expelled from the college and several left the country. For most of them, their school years were over forever. They would now pursue their careers alone, consciously or unconsciously searching for that lost Golden Age represented by pre-war Nagybánya. This explains why many of the Réti group turned their backs on city life and sought their artistic inspiration in the country. Several attempted to set up artists' colonies, for example the one in Bicske founded by Ernő Jeges, Antal Deli and Lajos Pándy, but they never survived more than one or two seasons. Aba-Novák and Patkó worked for several summers in Tarján, and later in Bodajk. Eight of the artists who founded the Szentendre artists' colony in 1928 were members of the Réti class. Szőnyi spent a few summers at the Kecskemét artists' colony and also painted at Budakalász before finding his longterm spiritual home in Zebegény in 1923. Szőnyi married in 1924 and the couple moved into his fatherin-law's house in Zebegény. The changes in his personal life coincided happily with the trends of the time and, at Zebegény, Szőnyi finally found his lost Arcadia, his own Nagybánya. Moving to the country was not a forced change but a move to more natural, authentic way of life. At first he worked alone, but by the end of the 1920s an increasing number of his artist friends came to visit over the summer. They rented houses in the pretty Danube Bend village and spent their free time together, rowing, swimming and walking in the woods. The tradition of this way of life had already been established in Zebegény at the turn of the century by Géza Máróti and his circle.

2 If we try to describe the nature of the artists' colony that grew up around Szőnyi by looking at documents, photographs and paintings, we are struck by the euphoric joy that radiates from the pictures and mementos. A valuable source for the study of this period is the book "Tizennégy nyár Ducsay Béla Sárga a Duna 1 Réti István hallgatói az Epreskertben, 191819 . Published in: Rajzok az 1920-as évekből Deli Antaí and Korda Vince, Szőnyi István grafikái a Sröiivi múzeumban című katalógusban, editor Zsuzsa Klemmné Németh, Szőnyi István Foundation 2001, Zebegény. ; Rózsa Köpöczi: Maróti Géza és Zebegény, Maróti Gé;a /875-194), "Mi vagyunk Atlantisz" Vederemo, editor: Piroska Ács, Iparművészeti Múzeum 2002, 83-105.