Hajdu István: Gedő Ilka (1921–1985) festőművész kiállítása (A Magyar Nemzeti Galéria kiadványai 2004/3)

townscapes) of the 1940s in a more opaque way cannot be divided into various artistic periods. These paintings have an utterly special relationship with time. There is no real "development" in the paintings allowing the determination of various artistic periods, A macska, 1968(kat. 19.) but the works do have an internal temporality and, closely connected with this, a space with dual or multifarious layers. It seems as if the plates (layers of experience) that constitute one of the metaphoric key concepts of her notebooks, prepared in the early 1 950'S full Of Sketches and Semi-Secret ref- Kék hátterű rózsakert, 1970(kat. 36.) lections, had received a physical form through the artist's paintings. Ilka Gedő called her reflections on the events that had a direct or indirect or just an unessential influence upon her life layers of experience, and these layers either became detached from the story, from Ilka Gedő's fate, or, just on the contrary, concealed the life story of the artist like a shell. Now it was these layers of experience that transformed themselves into planes that structure the spaces of these pictures, thus fixing the internal, often sophistically layered time period during which these paintings were made. Ilka Gedő's paintings cannot be divided into various artistic periods, and likewise they are also consistent as regards their topics. In terms of their essence, they are visual diary entries to which texts, originating from several dozens of note-books, are linked as a paralipomena (as things passed over but added as a supplement). She painted almost all her paintings with reference to her self. She carefully and meticulously designed the mask and the costume, assuming the disguise of a clown, an artificial flower or a self-portrait. One has the impression that she accepted only one formula: play + moral imperative = art.