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

Some great masters of the 20th century also made their visits at the colony, such as Aurél Bernáth, Eszter Mattioni, Jenő Kerényi, Zoltán Borbereki Kovács and Kálmán Gáborján! Szabó. Their production belonged to the best part of the late 30s and the years of World War II. Two legendary figures of the Artists' Colony of Szolnok between the wars were the Pólya brothers. Born in Szolnok, in the 1920s they moved to Budapest and after that they only spent the summers here. They were determinant members of the colony. After completing his sculptural studies, Iván started to deal with painting encouraged by his brother, Tibor, who, apart from pictorial art, also dealt with applied arts and ceramics. He was an excellent cartoonist; he could represent the distinctive features and character of people with only a few essential strokes. Vilmos Aba-Novák came to Szolnok in the early 30s. By this time they did not only invite young artists to the colony but also made men. He had completed his studies at the graphic faculty of the College of Hungarian Fine Arts, but he tried to find himself as a painter as well. He received a grant to Rome and his two-year stay in Italy filled him with enormous amount of energy. It was there that he became the painter, as we know him, a master of the 20th century who cannot be neglected. After returning home from Rome new themes began to appear in his pictures: the world of circus, the amusement park, floods, processions, markets and fairs. In 1931 he was encharged with his first monumental work, the painting of the frescos of the Demeter tower in Szeged. In 1933 with Ferenc Chiovini he painted the frescos of the apse and the chancel arch of the Jászszentandrás parish church. With this work they stirred up a great storm, and this storm only died away when they won an international award for their pictures in Italy. At the beginning Aba-Novák worked as apprentice to Adolf Fényes at one of the summer courses of the College, and from the late 20s he developed into one of the most influential masters, the most determinative creative artists of the colony. He died young in 1941 aged 47. After his death for decades they tried to conceal his oeuvre, his "grandiose talent", as Jenő Barcsay, a fellow painter noted, they said false statements about him, and they were reluctant to acknowledge his real value and rank, they did not want to accept him. Two of his frescos — one in Szeged on the Gate of Heroes, and one in Székesfehérvár in the mausoleum of St István — were even lime-washed and beplastered because Governor Horthy was depicted on them. He also did ecclesiastic art because the modern church needed modern art. Vilmos Aba-Novák was capable of solving this task since he had been looking for faith in himself and the art of the age. This period was when Ferenc Chiovini arrived at the colony. He first was invited to Szolnok as a guest member in 1926, at that time he was the youngest resident. With Aba-Novák he painted the frescos of Jászszentandrás mentioned above, which met with great success in Rome at the Exhibition of Ecclesiastic Art. In 1935-36 he studied in Rome as a holder of a scholarship, after arriving home his success became greater and greater. His works were given more and more interest; he received more and more praiseful criticism. In his pictures we could find all aspects and hues of the Great Hungarian Plain. For many long decades he was watching the alteration of the landscape, his works were perfected during the more than fifty-year creative period he spent in Szolnok. Born in Szolnok, Mihály Patay finished his studentship in Italy, and won a guest membership in the colony in 1939, which was renewed annually. He was a painter but also made wood-engravings. During the war all his drawings, printing blocks and his entire graphic equipment that was left in his studio perished. In 1948 he became a resident of one of the renovated studios, and continued to live and work here until his death in 1956. Aurél Bernáth stayed in Szolnok between 1940 and 1943; he usually took his free school students with him. Other regular members of the front-rank Hungarian artistic life between the two great wars included Kálmán Gáborjáni Szabó, Barna Basilides and Eszter Mattioni. The evolvement of their creative work was prevented by the outburst of World War II. According to their subsequent letters and petitions they would have liked to come back to the Szolnok colony, but due the changed circumstances they did not have the possibility. The moderate creative work was disturbed during the war. Szolnok was heavily bombed in the summer of 1944, and German tanks dag themselves in under the beautiful pine trees of the garden of the colony. During the fighting the studios, the museal collection of pictures of the Artistic Association and its entire documentation went to ruin. The town itself lay in ruins too. According to trustworthy calculations more than four thousand paintings disappeared or perished in Szolnok. 143