Painter and graphic artist, one of the distinctly individual figures of late 20th- and early 21st-century Hungarian fine art, known for his consistently figurative visual language. His art seeks to preserve and revive Hungarian and Christian visual traditions, blending them with the lessons of modern and postmodern art to transmit their inherent values into the present. The following text first outlines the main stages of his artistic career, then discusses the theoretical foundations of his work, and finally surveys his oeuvre in three main categories – artistic graphics, book illustrations, and paintings – highlighting the most important and characteristic creations of each period and genre.
I.
Győző Somogyi was born on July 28, 1942, in Budapest, into a railway worker’s family, though he spent much of his childhood in his mother’s native town, Jászapáti. He graduated from the Secondary School of Fine and Applied Arts in 1960, and after three unsuccessful attempts to enter the Academy of Fine Arts, he worked in various manual jobs while continuing his intellectual education with his brother, György Somogyi – later an art historian – in the circle of friends pursuing philosophical study led by Ernő Szilágyi.
In 1962 he enrolled as a lay student at the Central Theological Academy of the Roman Catholic Church, where he was ordained a priest in 1967 and received his doctorate in Church History in 1968. Until 1975 he served as a worker-priest, while simultaneously achieving success as an exhibiting graphic artist from 1973 onward. He became a member of the Studio of Young Artists, the Art Fund of Hungary, and the Association of Hungarian Fine Artists, and in 1977 won the Grand Prize of the National Graphic Biennial in Miskolc. During the 1970s, he worked in one of the workshops of the small cooperative Budapesti Építőanyagipari Szövetkezet (BÉPA), led by Miklós Erdély, through which he came to know the representatives and ideas of the Hungarian neo-avant-garde. At the same time, he travelled extensively throughout rural Hungary and the Carpathian Basin and undertook study trips to Western Europe and Greece.
Since 1975, he has spent his summers in Salföld, a village in the Balaton Uplands, in a peasant house he purchased and largely renovated and expanded with his own hands. Since 1986, this traditional, small-scale farm has been his home, shared with his wife, the sculptor and applied artist Dalma Korényi.
He took part in opposition movements during the 1980s and was under police surveillance. His interest in military heritage preservation – closely linked to his artistic work – also grew increasingly important during this time, and in 1983 he received the March 15 Award, founded by Hungarian intellectuals, for his historical research in this field.
Somogyi’s artistic achievements were recognized with the Mihály Munkácsy Prize in 1988, and his environmental work on the Balaton Uplands with the Pro Natura Award in 1994. In 1996 he was awarded the title Distinguished Artist of the Republic of Hungary, and in 2012 he received the Kossuth Prize. Since 1997 he has been a member of the Hungarian Academy of Arts, and since 2014 he has held the title Artist of the Nation.
An active participant in the region’s artistic life, he initiated the founding of the Veszprém Artists’ Guild in 1989, a professional and advocacy organization. Among his hundreds of solo and group exhibitions, the most significant were the retrospectives held at the Ernst Museum in Budapest (1992 and 2003) and the large-scale career exhibition at the Vigadó in 2014. Accompanying the latter, a richly illustrated monograph edited by Katalin Sárba was published, providing the most comprehensive visual documentation of his life’s work to date.
II.
The spiritual foundation of Somogyi Győző’s art lies in Catholic teaching and, in close unity with it, in his passionate love for Hungarian history, culture, and traditions, as well as for his native region. His theological training and priestly vocation manifest themselves in his exceptional ability to articulate his views with clarity and force. Since the 1970s, numerous essays and interviews have appeared in both print and electronic media. These writings address not only his own art but also theoretical issues in art and a wide range of historical, philosophical, ecological, and theological questions extending far beyond the realm of the visual arts. The most comprehensive source of his artistic thought is Takács Gábor’s interview volume In the Service of Beauty (FOKUSZ Association – Magyar Napló, 2016), which also includes earlier statements. Before that, Ferenc Kapiller conducted a series of interviews with him, later published as a collected volume titled Megélt aranykor (A Lived Golden Age, Magyar Nyugat Publishing, 2005).
Somogyi considers beauty – inseparable from the notions of goodness and truth – to be an objective category rooted in divine Creation and in life itself, and he regards its expression as the artist’s foremost calling. A central element of his thinking is his critique of modern theories, dominant since the Enlightenment, that place progress at the centre, and his advocacy of a traditional, value-centred art as found in Christianity and other sacred cultures. One of his key concepts is re-creation (reconstruction), understood as the essential act of both artistic work and culture at large. Rather than pursuing the utopian future sought but never achieved by modernism, he seeks to return to a past Golden Age, aligning himself with generations of artists who have worked under the same guiding idea throughout history. Spatially, his art is defined by his attachment to his immediate homeland – his chosen home on the Balaton Uplands – and more broadly to the Hungarian cultural nation and its thousand-year-old homeland. Through his works, he seeks to speak to his nation, to reveal to Hungarians the enduring values of their past and present: their heroes, landscapes, natural treasures, and traditions. His local patriotism naturally follows from his conviction that culture is always created and sustained by regional communities narrower than national borders and defined by natural and historical circumstances. At the same time, his intellectual horizon extends to modern and postmodern philosophy and art, the technical achievements of which he readily employs in the service of his own message. He rejects the compulsive urge of Hungarian artists trying to conform to Western models; indeed, his travels in Europe have only deepened his appreciation of the values found at home and contributed to his artistic maturation.
III.
Somogyi Győző’s artistic creativity is deeply rooted in his remarkable gift for drawing and his distinct graphic perception. What began during his school years and continued, like a hidden undercurrent, throughout his theological studies – his habitual “scribbling” – eventually matured by the early 1970s into the unique and unmistakable drawing style that has characterized his work ever since. His spontaneous-looking drawings are built from thin, slightly wavering, ink-drawn lines that are intricate yet uncorrected, resulting in images that can be viewed simultaneously as sketches, graphic studies, or self-contained compositions. On his sheets, figures, objects, and buildings are often arranged without regard for realistic proportions or spatial perspective; anatomical accuracy and central perspective are deliberately ignored. Yet his representations of people and animals – clumsy or distorted though they may appear – express a profound affection, while his depictions of buildings, costumes, and everyday objects radiate a sincere curiosity that he also awakens in the viewer.
His first purposeful drawings were illustrations for his doctoral dissertation and theology lectures, followed by small cards bearing biblical messages, which he secretly placed in public spaces. His artistic recognition came with the screen prints he first exhibited in 1973 at the Derkovits Club in Budapest. This technique – for which the press-oriented way of thinking prepared him, which he came to know at an early workplace, in the Kossuth Printing House – he learned in 1972 from master printer György Markó. Until 1980 he personally created both the stencils and the prints, enlarging his meticulous ink drawings by 20–30 percent while continuously experimenting with new materials and techniques. Only a few, generally 10–15 impressions were made of each print, and no two were ever entirely identical. Even after he began working with a professional printing house, the edition sizes remained limited.
Most of his screen prints from the 1970s, produced in various formats, deal with religious subjects (Golgotha, 1972; Avakum protopópa [Protopope Avakum], 1973; Isten Báránya [The Lamb of God], 1974; Bevonulás Jeruzsálembe [Entry into Jerusalem], 1975, etc.); others draw on scenes from working-class life (Kőmíves Kelemen, 1975; Csepel, 1975; Külváros [Outskirts], 1978, etc.) or from Hungarian and Central European history (Galícia 1914 [Galicia 1914], 1974; as well as themes from the 1848–49 War of Independence, the Hungarian Soviet Republic, and the Second World War). He also explored landscape and village depictions (Hollókő [Hollókő], 1974; Békás szoros [Békás Gorge], 1975; Salföldi házam [My House in Salföld], 1978, etc.), portraiture (Önarckép [Self-Portrait], 1973; M és M [M and M], 1975, etc.), and animal imagery (Elefánt [Elephant], 1973; Rackajuh [Racka Sheep], 1973; Ló [Horse], 1974 and 1975, etc.). In 1975 he produced a single etching (Kalotaszeg [Kalotaszeg]), yet it soon became clear to him that his ideas were best expressed through the possibilities offered by screen printing – particularly through the striking contrast between deep blacks and dazzling whites rendered in lines, dots, and patches. He briefly experimented with colour screen printing but abandoned it after a few smaller works (R. G. arcképe [Portrait of R. G.], 1976, etc.), partly because of the highly toxic nature of home-based printing processes. In 1979, with his short animated film Gőzhajóval Pest-Budára 1848-ban [Steamboat to Pest-Buda, 1848], produced at the Pannonia Film Studio, he even ventured into the world of animation, bringing to life the graphic universe of his screen prints.
Somogyi Győző’s screen prints of the 1970s were regarded by contemporary critics – and continue to be described by mainstream scholarship – as grotesque social commentaries and technically refined curiosities. The artist himself, however, consistently made it clear in his statements that he never sought a grotesque or satirical effect. Rather, his aim was to depict the beauty and divine likeness discernible even in the ugliest, most destitute, and most prosaic figures and situations.
Within his sacred, social, and historical themes, he continued to produce masterpieces throughout the 1980s and beyond (Öreg pár [Old Couple], 1981; Lakótelep [Housing Estate], 1982; Jézus és a halászok [Jesus and the Fishermen], 1983; 1956-os sorozat [1956 Series], etc.). During this period, he also created vedute of Hungarian towns (Bécsi kapu tér [Bécsi Gate Square], 1982, etc.) and, on commission, several bird’s-eye-view maps (Kőszeg belvárosa [The Old Town of Kőszeg], 1981; Keszthely [Keszthely], 1985; Sümeg [Sümeg], 1993, etc.).
This endeavour culminated in his monumental project – a uniquely detailed bird’s-eye-view map of the entire Carpathian Basin – on which he worked for about a decade from the mid-1970s, inspired by his travels through the region. The approximately three-by-four-meter work was finally published in 2003 as an atlas by Magyar Napló. His intention was twofold: to revive the great tradition of historical cartography and, at the same time, to create a trustworthy travel guide that would stand in contrast to the many falsifications contained in the official maps of the Kádár era.
After the 1980s, painting began to take precedence over graphic art in his oeuvre, yet even after the turn of the millennium he continued to produce outstanding drawings and series – for example, those inspired by the “sacred hills” of the Balaton Uplands and by the world of Miklós Zrínyi’s Szigeti veszedelem [The Siege of Sziget].
IV.
The last of Somogyi Győző’s major graphic series – the cycle of more than fifty drawings inspired by the Zrínyi-eposz (Zrínyi Epic) – already forms a transition toward his work as a book illustrator. Created over the decade and a half following the turn of the millennium, the drawings were exhibited independently and later published in book form as illustrations to the 2016 jubilee edition of the text. Like this late series, most of his book illustrations were inspired by his lifelong fascination with military history. The first of these was Páncélos lovagok (Armoured Knights), an educational book for young readers published by Móra in 1983, featuring Ferenc Bodor’s text and Somogyi’s meticulously researched colour drawings. Three years later came hundreds of illustrations for Zoltán Barcy’s now-classic A szabadságharc hadserege (The Army of the War of Independence, Corvina, 1986). This was followed by Magyar huszárok (Hungarian Hussars, text by Zoltán Barcy, Corvina, 1987); Királyért és hazáért (For King and Country, text by Zoltán Barcy, Corvina, 1990); Az Erdélyi Fejedelemség hadserege (The Army of of Transylvania, text by János B. Szabó, Zrínyi, 1996); A Nagy Huszárkönyv (The Great Book of the Hussars, text by György Ságvári, Magyar Könyvklub, 1999); and Honvédhuszárok (Hussars of the Homeland-Guard, text by György Ságvári and Péter Szabó, Timp, 2001) – to name only the most significant titles. After 2010, two major military-historical series followed. The first, published by Cser Kiadó in collaboration with the Institute and Museum of Military History, included richly illustrated panels accompanied by studies by various scholars (Mária Terézia magyar katonái [Maria Theresa’s Hungarian Soldiers]; Magyar hadizászlók [Hungarian Battle Flags]; A szabadságharc katonái 1848/49 [Soldiers of the War of Independence 1848–49], 2011). Finally, since 2013, the Egy ezredév hadban (A Millennium at War) series has been published by Zrínyi, with two or three bilingual (Hungarian–English) volumes appearing each year – for which Somogyi himself now writes also the brief accompanying texts.
This nearly two dozen volumes devoted to the study and depiction of historic Hungarian military dress and equipment represent an extraordinary scholarly and artistic achievement and brought Somogyi unprecedented recognition. His theoretical and artistic work has always been grounded in practice: he is the founder or member of several historical re-enactment hussar regiments and an organizer or participant in many such events each year.
The original coloured-pencil and ink drawings that form the basis for the illustrations – displayed in numerous exhibitions across Hungary – follow the linework and composition of his black-and-white graphics, while their vibrant colours recall his paintings. Already in the 1986 volume A szabadságharc hadserege (The Army of the Hungarian War of Independence), it was clear that these were more than conventional book illustrations. They were the work of an artist who served as a true creative partner to the author – and, as his most recent series demonstrates, one capable of producing independent, authoritative scholarly works on his own.
Alongside his military-historical volumes, Somogyi also produced other books, among which the most significant is A Balaton-felvidék tájba simuló népi építészete (The Vernacular Architecture of the Balaton Uplands, text by András Krizsán, Cser Kiadó, 2010).
V.
In terms of thematic richness, aesthetic program, and expressive power, the most significant field of Somogyi Győző’s creative activity is painting. Yet during his early years of artistic exploration and initial success – up to 1980 – painting played a much smaller role in his work than black-and-white graphics. Many elements of his later themes already appeared in his paintings of the 1970s (Salföldi dombok [Hills of Salföld], 1975; S. M. őrangyala [Guardian Angel of S. M.], 1976; Magyarok Nagyasszonya [Our Lady of the Hungarians], 1978, etc.). The technique, colour palette, and compositional structure of these early works all anticipate his later development. From the outset, he painted exclusively in egg tempera – a medium chosen for its luminous quality and ancient tradition – which he learned from Tibor Bráda and Sándor Gajzágó. At first, he alternated between canvas, wooden panels, and fibreboard as supports, though after 1980 he abandoned fibreboard, fearing its tendency to dull colours over time. His goal was to use bright, pure colours and to heighten the expressive force of the visual or visionary experience.
After his 1980 journey to Greece, his colours became lighter and his forms more harmonious, while his artistic program grew increasingly deliberate. From then on, painting became his primary expressive medium, and the “Hungarian Mediterranean” – the lights, colours, natural and cultural heritage of the Balaton Uplands – took centre stage in his art. In parallel with his historical illustration work, he sought to glorify the heroic past of the Hungarian nation through painterly means. His style and themes have changed little since, yet the richness of his subject matter prevents any sense of repetition. Even hundreds or thousands of paintings could not exhaust the world Somogyi admires – the Creation, the Hungarian people, and the Balaton region. His palette is defined by pure, vivid pinks, yellows, blues, reds, and greens. In his compositions, he emphasizes sacred or historical meaning through simultaneous use of multiple perspectives, subjective manipulation of scale, montage-like effects, and a combination of meticulously detailed and sketch-like passages – all expressing his affection for the landscapes, people, animals, and buildings he depicts.
His paintings fall into four main categories: portraits, often arranged in gallery-like series; historical, primarily military scenes; sacred works; and depictions of landscapes, animals, and plants. Three of his most influential series belong to the first group: Magyar hősök arcképcsarnoka (Gallery of Hungarian Heroes, 100 canvases, each 40 × 30 cm, 1986–1996); Magyar királyok arcképcsarnoka (Gallery of Hungarian Kings, 52 canvases, each 50 × 40 cm, 2000–2005); and Az Árpád-ház szentjei (Saints of the Árpád Dynasty, 27 canvases, each 70 × 50 cm, 1998–2000). In addition to these monumental series, he has painted for decades his own family’s “ancestral gallery,” as well as numerous smaller portrait groups – from the heroes of the Reform Era to legendary Hungarian outlaws – generally individual portraits, though occasionally double or triple ones. These cycles, conceived as “Hungarian Catholic iconostases,” draw on many characteristics of traditional portraiture: frontal poses, heroic stances, name inscriptions, and detailed, documentary depictions of costumes, weapons, banners, insignia, coats of arms, and attributes. Yet they are unmistakably modern works – as revealed by their subtle background treatments, stylized clothing details, and occasional hidden (self-)portraits that accompany the names and dates.
His historical paintings draw their subjects from the Hungarian Middle Ages (for example Szent László-jelenetek [Scenes from the Life of Saint Ladislaus], 1987), the Ottoman period (A mohácsi csata [The Battle of Mohács], 1990, etc.), the Napoleonic Wars (Széchenyi a tolentinói csatában [Széchenyi at the Battle of Tolentino], 2004, etc.), the First World War (for example the illustration created for the deluxe edition of the Fundamental Law of Hungary, 2012), and most frequently from the 1848–49 War of Independence (for example various depictions of the Battle of Vác, 1991–98). His most important large-scale tableaux include Bocskai letelepíti a hajdúkat (Bocskai Settles the Hajdús, 1984), Bethlen Gábor (Gabriel Bethlen, 1992), and Báthory István krakkói bevonulása (Stephen Báthory’s Entry into Kraków, 2016), each roughly one by two metres, while A Szent Korona Pozsonyból Budára vitele, 1790 (The Transfer of the Holy Crown from Pressburg to Buda, 1790) measures approximately one by four and a half metres (1990). These multi-figure compositions depict, with historical accuracy typical of his portraits, the colourful costumes, banners, carriages, harnesses, and jewellery of the era. Their structure is remarkably complex. Somogyi Győző often develops his scenes through paraphrases of contemporary depictions, carefully weighing the placement of figures and groups from the standpoint of artistic composition, and at times incorporating symbolic celestial spheres. His dynamic battle scenes (some of which are also monumental in size, such as A turai ütközet [The Battle of Tura], 1995) often evoke the effect of overlapping or intersecting film frames.
Among his sacred paintings we find triptychs with opening wings (Golgota szárnyasoltár [Golgotha Altarpiece], 2000, etc.), individual panel paintings (depictions of Christ, the Virgin Mary, and guardian angels or saints that often include portraits), series created for ecclesiastical purposes (Keresztút [Stations of the Cross], 1994), double-sided painted croce dipinta (Európa kereszt [The Cross of Europe], 2003, etc.), and meditative compositions (Angyalok Esztergomban [Angels in Esztergom], 2005, etc.). In addition to the use of vivid, pure colours, the icon-like posture of the holy figures, and the skillful application of traditional iconographic devices, a key characteristic of these religious compositions is that the artist typically portrays the figures of the Bible and legend in Hungarian dress and landscape, often linking them to his homeland – and specifically to his beloved Balaton Highlands – already through the titles themselves (Csobánci Korpusz [Corpus of Csobánc], 1997; A Káli-medence Madonnája [The Madonna of the Káli Basin], 1999, etc.). However, due to their bright colours and individually conceived figures, these sacred works have seldom been placed in churches.
His depictions of landscapes, animals, and plants were often created on a monumental scale comparable to his historical tableaux (Szépkilátó [Beautiful Viewpoint], various versions, 1989–2010; Révfülöp 1900 and Révfülöp 2000, 2000, etc.), while at other times they take the form of small flower still lifes no larger than a handspan. His painterly and personal temperament primarily inspires him to depict the Mediterranean world or, more precisely, its kindred region in climate and architecture, the Balaton Highlands. Even when he turns to other subjects, he presents them in the same dazzling sunlight and vivid colours characteristic of his chosen homeland. His favourite themes include the volcanic buttes, villages, vineyards, and wine cellars of the Balaton Highlands, the lakeside vistas of Lake Balaton, and the native flora and fauna of the region. A smaller group of works features scenes from Transylvania (Torockó I–II [Torockó I–II], 1997; Nyárádselyei házak [Houses in Nyárádselye], 2006, etc.), the Alps (Úrnapja Hallstattban [Corpus Christi in Hallstatt], 1983; Genfi-tó [Lake Geneva], 1992, etc.), and the Balkans (Tanya Mikonoszon [Homestead on Mykonos], 1982; Punat, 1995, etc.), occasionally complemented by depictions of other locations (Visegrád, 1990; Tormás, 1995, etc.). As in his historical paintings, the careful observation and meticulous rendering of detail are characteristic of these compositions as well, although for painterly reasons he often adjusts viewpoints, omits certain elements, or represents them only schematically. He conceives his landscapes as “celestial reflections” of specific sites, while his depictions of animals and plants aim to express idealised species characteristics.
The understanding of Somogyi Győző’s art has long been hindered by ideological preconceptions. Most mainstream art historians and critics have regarded his work merely through the prism of his so-called “grotesque” screen prints, while dismissing his painting as “provincial,” “kitsch,” or, at best, “naïve.” This misreading of the graphics and disparagement of the paintings stemmed from a misunderstanding or rejection of Somogyi’s worldview and artistic theory. Paradoxically, the immense respect he earned as a researcher, illustrator, and re-enactor of historical Hungarian military attire also contributed to the misunderstanding. Viewed in isolation, that activity might suggest a talented illustrator or an eccentric “eternal child.” Yet, if we approach his oeuvre not through the modern–postmodern or avant-garde–neo-avant-garde “progressive” framework, but instead from the perspective of art’s millennia-old traditions, recognising its internal logic, the coherence, purpose, and significance of his various techniques and genres become clear. His firm system of values and the abundance of his high-quality works have earned Somogyi Győző lasting prestige – if not always proportionate understanding – both within the tradition-conscious art world and among the wider public. Owing to the distinctive individuality of his artistic vision, it is difficult to speak of “students” or a “school” in the conventional sense; nonetheless, his human and artistic example offers a sympathetic and inspiring model for many artists of his own and subsequent generations. His works are held in several Hungarian public collections (in Székesfehérvár, Veszprém, Kecskemét, etc.) and ecclesiastical collections (in Székesfehérvár, Sárospatak, Ják, etc.), though the majority remain in private hands. Among these, four major collections stand out for their holdings of his paintings and graphics: the Hungarian Látványtár Art Foundation, the Merics Collection, the Németh–Kriza Collection, and the Völgyi–Skonda Collection.
[2017 ]