Istvan SZEGEDI SZUTS
Known to have exhibited at the Redfern Gallery, London previously, the artist exhibited the painting Old People at NAG in 1937. His Self Portrait of 1942 (oil on canvas) is in the permanent collection of Falmouth Art Gallery.
István SZEGEDI SZŰTS (7 Dec 1893 Budapest – 12 Apr 1959 Penzance) painter and illustrator
Though of Hungarian origin, the artist spent half of his adult life in the UK. He was educated at the Hungarian College of Fine Arts, Budapest, before joining the military forces in WWI. From 1926 he taught drawing for a decade in Hungary, his first exhibition of 115 graphics in Budapest Mentor Gallery being in his first year of teaching. In 1929, he visited London and held a solo exhibition at the Gieves Gallery. Amongst the 76 pictures exhibited was his most significant work, the expressionist portrait of the Hungarian author Dezső Szabó.
He published a word-less novel of his wartime experiences (1931, John Lane) entitled 'My War', containing 206 pieces of pen, ink and wash drawings in two volumes.
In 1933 a unique animation film based on 14,000 (approx) of his drawings was made in Hungary, and was also available in the UK. A copy under the Hungarian title of Légi titánok (Aerial Titans) is archived currently in the British Film Institute.
Naptárcsere (Change of Calendar), by Marai Sandor was published in 1935, containing illustrations by Szegedi Szuts, and was given the award of ‘Finest Book of the Year in Hungary’.
In 1936, the artist emigrated to Britain, moving to Cornwall with Gwynedd Jones-Parry, another painter, whom he married the following year. The couple lived at Caunce Head near Mullion, Cornwall on the Lizard Peninsula and remained there for the rest of their lives. At Caunce Head he continued his friendship with his well-known friends, the composers Zoltan Kodaly and Gyorgy Ranki.
He exhibited with the Newlyn Society of Artists and the Penwith Society of Arts. In 1962 the book 'Last letters from Stalingrad', illustrated by him, appeared posthumously.
Twenty two years following the death of his widow, in 2004, an old friend of the couple, Michael Snow, received his studio and literary remains. A self portrait from 1942 was given to the Falmouth Art Gallery and all of the remaining drawings, notes, and photos to the Hungarian Institute of Culture in London. That same year the entire legacy returned to Budapest.
In 2012 a small exhibition of his works was shown in the Petőfi Literature Museum, Budapest, which now owns the archive.
[Full entry based on the research of Bela Gomor, Budapest]
media
Painter of watercolours and oils
works and access
Works include: Dezso Szabo (by 1929); illustrations for My War (1931); illus for Aerial Titans (1933); illus for Change of Calendar (1935); Old People (1937); Self Portrait (1942); illus for Last Letters from Stalingrad (1962 posthumous);
exhibitions
As in Gomor notes above;
Redfern Gallery, London
NAG 1937
Exhibitions, Budapest, Hungary 1929; 2012-13
Gieves Gallery, London; Penwith Society of Artists; Petofi Literature Museum, Budapest (2012)
memberships
misc further info
references
Hardie (2009) Artists in Newlyn and West Cornwall (p279)
Johnson & Greutzner
NAG Exhibition records (WCAA)
Public Catalogue Foundation (2007) Cornwall & the Isles of Scilly: Oil Paintings in Public Ownership
Gomor, Bela (2014): Exhibition Catalogue