|
The combination of realism and constructivism relates the art of István Nagy to the work of János Nagy Balogh, and his themes and deep realistic human representation have an affinity with the Great Plain School. In his dramatic and constructive paintings he evoken the grim, crips-aired mountains of his native Transylvania, the farm cottages of the Plain and the faces of peasants shaped by their hard lives. The structural elements are strongly emphasized and the compositions concise. He makes use of deep colours and dark outlines in his pastel and crayon pictures, and in spite of their small size, they have a monumental effect. "Throughout my life I have sought the essence," he wrote, "the soul of the subject that vibrates beneath the surface of the confusion of trees, houses, flowers and faces: the inner truth."
He painted "Old Woman in a Hat" in Transylvania, and it was presented to the Municipal Picture Gallery from the collection of Stavropulos Sokrates in 1941.
|
