Köpöczi Rózsa: A grafikus Szőnyi – akvarellek és goauche-ok (PMMI, Szentendre – Zebegény, 1994)

Fény, szín, világnézet (Kvalitás)

LIGHT, COLOUR AND THE VIEW OF THE WORLD QUALITY "István Szőnyi is a par excellence water-colourist. In the light stream of his colours each brushstroke remains visible for the double pleasure of our eyes which can thus follow not only the spatial dimensions of the picture but also the process of its creation and the pulsating dynamism of the pictorial technique.", Ernő Kállai wrote on Szőnyi in 1941. The graphic sheets in Szőnyi's art are sites of pictorial experiments. Etchings played an important part in exploring the expressions of atmosphere, gouaches and water-colours provided discoveries in the interactions of light and colour. By looking at the colour sheets we can follow how he treats a given problem, how he approaches a certain theme in several versions. His zeal to observe the world around him could never be exhausted. His contemplative attitude gave him opportunity to render hardly discernible alterations and secret pulsation. An important feature of Szőnyi's art is luminism in which colour is subjected to the all-dissolving power of light. This gradually found luminescence which is radiating from the pastel colours of Szőnyi is not merely a mean of expression, but the chief vehicle of his message. His human essence and philosophy was articulated in his world saturated by light where the simplest objects, details of landscape, animals and man are transubstantiated. His message is hard to render in words. As all kinds of realism, his version was intended to rediscover reality. Our irrational era, when "Time ran off its course", when classical values which used to guide us in life are questioned, it is ever more important to trust and believe in all that could give us comfort, that pleases us. Once again the coziness and presence of the world around us becomes important. That is how the art of the painters of the Gresham Circle and thus István Szőnyi is re-actualized. 48