BOLDIZSÁR, István
(1897, Orosháza - 1984, Budapest)



Painter and graphic artist. In the 1917-18 academic year he began his studies together with István Réti at the Budapest Academy of Fine Arts. In the summer of 1918 he was sent to the Nagybánya (Baia-mare, Romania) colony of artists with the support of Károly Lyka, where he was given a warm welcome by István Réti and János Thorma. It was in that very place that he got acquainted with István Szőnyi. During the turbulent period of the revolution he worked in the Kecskemét colony alongside Béla Iványi Grünwald. In the autumn of 1919 he returned to Nagybánya and spent the winter there. In the summers of 1910-1920 his works were complemented by János Thorma. Meanwhile he spent the winters in Munich, where he was admitted to the Art Academy. However, he, quite understandably, preferred the Hoffmann Schule, where the impact of French painting was more perceptible. He acquired the skills of etching at Sándor Kubinyi's private school in Munich.

Afterwards he settled down in Budapest, but for one and a half decades every summer he would pay a visit to Nagybánya, which offered him so many impressions to his painting. It was in that place and in Felsőbánya (Baia Sprie, Romania) that his paintings gleaming with deep-blazing colours and his meticulous etchings were produced. His relationship with Vilmos Aba-Novák and István Szőnyi stimulated his graphic art. From the mid-30s to the eruption of the Second World War he would not visit the colony. After the Vienna Verdict he travelled to Nagybánya in 1941 and 1942. At that time he made some pictures there.

His post-Nagybánya epochs link his art to the Lake Balaton region and to his birthplace on the Hungarian Plain. From the early 20s he was present at the colony's joint exhibitions. In 1926 and 1932 he organised a comprehensive exhibition from his works at Ernst. In 1928 he participated in the Hungarian representative exhibition in Rome with his etchings, which scored a great success. In 1930 he organised a joint exhibition with András Mikola, who was a close friend of his. Besides, he was also present on a number of Transsylvanian (Szatmárnémeti, Arad, Nagyvárad (Satu Mare, Arad, Oradea)), Hungarian and foreign displays.

In 1930 he was given the Zichy Prize for his etchings and in 1930 he won the Szinyei Society's Prize for landscape painting. Between 1941 and 1949 he was a teacher of the Budapest Academy of Fine Art. He painted mostly naturalist-spirited landscapes on the basis of the Nagybánya tradition but he also produced nudes, portraits and castle interiors. His art changed its form in a favourable way: it became brighter and lighter in colour, more conscious in its artistic endeavours and, as for its presentation, it followed the path of the French impressionists, namely that of Monet and his school. A large number of his works are stored in the Hungarian National Gallery.



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