István Arató (painter)

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István Arató (born August 19, 1922 ; Stephan Meitner until 1945 ; † February 15, 2010 in Budapest , Hungary ) was a Hungarian painter .

Life

Arató comes from a Jewish family who moved to Berlin and whose members were murdered in the concentration camp (father is probably the painter László Meitner , born in 1900, murdered in 1944). Since 1937 Arató completed evening studies at the Free Painting School with Istvan Örkenyi-Strasszer in Budapest, where he was a student of Ágost Benkhard and Lajos Szentivanyi . Rozs János and Bernáth Aurél are further mentors. After graduating from high school in Budapest, he first worked as a factory worker, initially forced into labor during the war, then in 1944 he was deported to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Arató shed its German name after 1945. After the Holocaust, Arató worked as a union official.

Between 1945 and 1947 Arató was a guest student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest, but had to quit his studies for family reasons and then worked as a freelance artist. From 1947 Arató studied with Börzsönyi Kollarits Ferenc and Novotny Emil Róbert at the Elektromos Művek szabadiskolájában, an electrical engineering facility that gave talented artists the opportunity to take master classes with renowned Hungarian painters. During this period, Arató was strongly inspired by the expressive style and extraordinary talent of Novotny, whose effectiveness cannot be denied by the artist to this day. Arató maintained friendly relations with Kondor Béla , Duray Tibor , Barcsay Jenő , Bortnyik Sándor and others. He made the acquaintance of the American artist Jackson Pollock and his drip painting technique (dripping). Arató made some of these abstract expressionist works in small format, and later sold them to an unknown American collector in order to get foreign currency . One of the last of these representations was last in Arató's private possession.

He sold works through the state art trade (works are in private collections in the USA, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Japan, England). Paintings were also sold through the state-owned arts and crafts company IDEA .

Between 1956 and 1982 the artist went on numerous study trips, for example to the Soviet Union, Paris, Italy, the Netherlands, the GDR and the FRG.

Arató was a founding member of the Association of Young Visual Artists (until 1959) and a member of the Szinyei Merse Society (until it was dissolved).

Stylistic development

Around 1954, Arató's style was initially to be found in the Nagybanya succession under the special influence of L. Szentivanyi , later it was more impressionistic. The more recent production is in a constructivist-cubist style. Arató primarily deals with still lifes with musical instruments, atmospheric landscapes and often small wintery suburbs of Budapest (such as Budakalász Hills ; Melting Snow in Angyalföld , Öl, 1970) as well as decorative figure compositions made of few colors with a strongly reduced background (such as a worker portrait and worker from Angyalföld). Following on from the tradition of the lowland painters, a monochrome (gray, blue and dark brown) coloring with pastose application and dark contours as well as a tectonically consolidated composition are characteristic. Arató dedicates his artistic late work to classical landscapes, which are characterized by their monochrome mood and masterful mastery of landscape composition.

Exhibitions

literature

  • Gy. Seregilyi: Magyar Nemzet V. November 30, 1965.
  • A. Koczogh: Művészet 1966.
  • R. Szij: Arató István kiállítása Nagykanizsán. Művészet 1970/9.
  • R. Szij: Fogad be, régi környék. Budapest 1984 (52 drawings on the city district. Angyalföld).
  • B. Varga (ed.): Művész életrajzok. Kortárs magyar képzőművészek. Budapest 1985.
  • Pesti Műsor, 1987.
  • Gy. Seregglyi: Magyar festők és grafikusok adattára. Szeged 1988 (23rd - communication by the artist).

Catalogs

  • 1957 Budapest, National Salon: Youth Exhibition
  • 1958 Ernst Mus .: Studio of young picture. Artist
  • 1974 Kunsthalle: artist from Budapest-Angyalfold
  • 1978 Nagymaros: 9th Nagymiros Summer Show

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Saur: General Artist Lexicon. Volume 4. Angelin - Ardon, KG Saur, Munich and Leipzig 1992.
  2. ↑ R. SZÍJ: Fogad be, regi kömyek. Budapest 1984 (52 drawings for the Angyalfold district).
personal data
SURNAME Arató, István
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Meitner, Stephan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Hungarian painter
DATE OF BIRTH August 19, 1922
PLACE OF BIRTH Budapest
DATE OF DEATH February 15, 2010
Place of death Budapest