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Béni Ferenczy, one of the most outstanding Hungarian sculptors of this century, was also excellent at drawing. When one looks at his famous portraits of "Ady" (1919) and "Bartók" (1936), his nudes or the water colours he painted in Moscow and Szigliget, one is not aware that they are merely studies or "studio rubbish".
Around 1935, just before his return from Moscow, he began a series of water colours that often seem like oils, being monumental in both effect and size. The theme was almost always the same, the beautiful figure of his wife. At first he worked with mellow pastel colours, sometimes applying red for the contours of the figure, but around 1948 his colours became darker. He captures in his pencil or chalk drawings the sensual beauty of lyrical movements - a person waking up, a woman combing her hair.
In the green chalk drawing, "Back of a Nude", he returns to the colours and vigorous forms of the thirties. White lends plasticity to the body which is outlined forcefully in black.
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