Lajos Gulácsy retrospective exhibition at Kogart House

Burned brightly, for a moment

Too early, too young, too sensitive are words frequently repeated in connection with the lives of artists. They can, however, be aptly applied to the Hungarian painter Lajos Gulácsy, whose works are now on show at Kogart House in a retrospective exhibition The Garden of the Magician.

Gulácsy was born in Budapest in 1882. His paintings won critical acclaim when he was just 17. The child prodigy began his studies at the Hungarian Royal Academy of Art. His early works, which were praised, include nostalgic landscapes with the golden tones of sunset. At the start of the 20th century, Gulácsy made regular visits to Italy, where he discovered the world of the Renaissance, and was inspired by the Divine Comedy and the love story of Francesca da Rimini. The Hungarian artist felt that the characters of Dante were kindred spirits. The deep green and purple tones of his painting show his fascination with Renaissance painting, but instead of copying his predecessors he tried to reflect the atmosphere of this time in his own paintings. His works reveal the influence of several different genres including the pre-Raphaelites, Rococo, Art Nouveau and Symbolism.

Flight from the real world

He soon became incapable of tolerating the real world, and he suffered his first nervous breakdown at the time of the outbreak of the First World War. His unstable psychological state led to his long-term stay in a clinic for the mentally ill where he remained until his death in 1932. In his last 13 years of life he painted nothing at all.

Gulácsy, in anticipation of his fate, frequently portrayed himself as a fool, clown or village idiot (The Fool and the Soldier, 1912). His contemporaries, however, recognised his talent early on. Lajos Kassák immediately invited him to contribute to his journal Ma (Today).

Gulácsy used oils, pastels and watercolours at the same time. In her book on Rippl-Rónai, Csontváry and Gulácsy, Katalin Keserő describes his works as brutal and primitive and compares his style to that of graffiti.

The extensive retrospective of Gulácsy’s works at Kogart House features 80 paintings and 60 graphics.

In the elegant, light rooms of the villa on Andrássy út, visitors can also see the artist’s costume designs for the theatre as well as his drawings and book illustrations.



Exhibition

The Garden of the Magician

Retrospective exhibition of the painter Lajos Gulácsy

Kogart House

District VI, Andrássy út 112

Runs until 20 July

On weekdays from 10am to 4pm,

On Saturdays and Sundays from 10am to 8pm

Tel. (06-1) 354-3836 www.kogart.hu

Krystyna Steffens
www.budapesttimes.hu - Thursday, April 24, 2008