Hann Ferenc: Vaszkó Erzsébet (Szentendre, 1983)

Erzsébet Vaszkó is an exceptional character of contemporary Hungarian arts. Her small oeuvre is hard to classify into the main lines of Hungarian arts. She is an artist in her own right, she has never imitated anybody, neither is she a member of any school. Although her career is to a small extent in connection with Jenő Gadányi, István Nagy and later Paul Klee, it is rather these masters’ approaches resemble hers than the forms of their works.

Erzsébet Vaszkó has been building her artistic world quietly and contemplatively. Although the profession (art historians and artists) have early realized her exceptional talent, she never much publicity.

Vaszkó was discovered by such outstanding figures of Hungarian art history and criticism as Károly Lyka, Artur Elek, Ernő Kállai (who may have been the most sensitive critic of contemporary Hungarian art between the two wars; working at the Bauhaus for 15 years).

As art historians generally indulge in comparing and classifying oeuvres, her art was qualified as lyrical-constructive, fantastic and magical-surrealist; which all have a grain of truth.

The artist quite rarely endeavours to come out in public. She has never been fond of publicity. A true description of her attitude is given in her following statement from 1978: „My artistic creed shows a striking similarity to Mednyászky’s; and though he was speaking quite a different language at a different level, he was also secluded, perhaps a bit restricted, like I am. Publicity, I think, is not an integral part of art, it is a secondary thing. Creating exalts human spirit, and what is beyond creating is irrelevant to art. I do not believe publicity is necessary and I will not do anything to promote it."

Taking into consideration the rarity of meetings between the artist and her public you can easily understand how Vaszkó’s latest exhibition in Szentendre (1979) could cause a revelation. The exhibition, which was hardly bigger than a usual private show, presented a group of paintings that had been growing