Köpröczi Rózsa: A grafikus Szőnyi. Rajzok, vázlatok, tanulmányok (Pest Megyei Múzeumok Igazgatósága – Szőnyi István Alapítvány, Szentendre – Zebegény, 1996)

GRAPHIC NOTES, OBSERVATIONS OF DETAILS Drawing is a diary, a confession about the world. When turning over the drawings we seem to be reading letters not meant for us, or stealing others' secrets." (NAGY IMRE KÉTSZÁZ RAJZA. THE PREFACE WAS WRITTEN BY GYULA LÁSZLÓ. KRITERION, BUKAREST 1973. P. VII.) Szőnyi moved to Zebegény in 1924. This decision changed both his whole life and his painting but most of all his topics. The newly discovered country life, the wonderful atmosphere of the Danube-Bend cast the spell of a new world on the young painter. "I have found the coherent and inseparable unity of landscape and people in an atmosphere that has met my expectations perfectly" - he wrote in a later self-confession of his on his experience of moving to Zebegény. His attention turned from imagined Neoclassicist compositions to real landscapes, people living there, and the material environment of the village itself. This kind of approach observing, examining and taking notes of everything, which can be compared to the late Gothic and early Renaissance masters' greediness that they rediscovered the world with, was characteristic of Szőnyi from this time on. Either instinctively or consciously, he appropriated the Christian world concept typical of the late Middle Ages, according to which nature, objects and even the simplest, ordinary things had been created by God, thus they were worthy of attention and admiration. Szőnyi had drawn studies and compositional sketches earlier as well, but from this time on we can see a stream of drawings. He "took notes" in any situation, any time, that is, put down on paper what he saw. Seldom did he work after a model, it more often happened that glancing out of the window, sitting on a train or walkiTo find our wayng in the street did he catch the typical figures of village people, standing in a characteristic way and talking to each other. Szőnyi tried so spend the summers and all his free time in Zebegény. Day by day he went to his garden or to the bank of the Danube to collect material "for winter". He preserved nearly all of his drawings, classifying them carefully and collecting them in maps, which he could take, and make use of the collected motifs any time when painting his panel-pictures. These maps served as tools for him, they were not meant for the public. However, the curiosity of art fans of later ages might be forgiven, as it is only the intimate circumstances of the birth of the works they are interested in. To find our way in the cream of drawings the survey of topics or techniques can provide some help. There is an interesting group of the drawings it consists of several studies made in pencil, washed ink or charcoal. They represent several scenes and compositions on the very same page, which are completely different in topic and attitude from each other. One of the most peautiful pieces of the group depicts the lyrical figure of a child washing himself, while next to it, an askew frame, sombre black men are moving in the dark landscape. The picture is a good example of the versatile use of pencil. The figure of the child is built up of the finest lines and the lightest soft tones, while the drastic blacks of the other picture almost approach the depth of charcoal drawings. "No special instruction can be given in how to make a pencil drawing because its technique is so evident..."* - Szőnyi were in The Study of Fine Arts. As this was the most simple way of "taking notes" during a journey, he close this kind of technique. Day by day, the painter took a train to travel between Budapest and Zebegény. He was watching the landscape, the stations and the people gliding past, through the frame of the window. The pictures having turned up in the square of the window appear on some of the sheets, one after the other as the shots of a film. The artist was fond of using the playful method of "a picture in a picture". So the motifs, objects or animals getting next to each other have a surprising effect as they miss any logical links. Wayward thoughts and play of fancy have found shape in these pictures. * Szőnyi István A rajz, p. 19, A képzőművészet iskolája, Képzőművészeti Alap Kiadóvállalata Bp. 1978.