fine art gallery in sümeg
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Canadian-Hungarian Fine Art Gallery in the Sümeg Episcopal Palace.TRANSCRIPT
Gallery: Püspöki Palota (Episcopal Palace) – 8330 Sümeg, Szent István tér 8.
Opening hours: Tuesday-Saturday 9.00 AM-5.00 PM Closed on Mondays
Website: www.sumegart-canada.hu Email: [email protected]
enuine commitment, love, passion, lunacy, courage…
Perhaps all these were necessary at the same time when
Stephen Gadacsy and his spouse, Julie, both past 70, estab-
lished the Gadácsi-Szijjártó Fine Art Foundation in 2006 with a
momentum surpassing youth.
he goal of the Canadian couple living in Canada since 1957 was
to strengthen ties between Canada and Hungary in the field of
contemporary visual art.
The Foundation established its permanent Canadian-
Hungarian Fine Art Gallery in the Sümeg Episcopal Palace. Its
main supporters were the Municipality of the Town of Sümeg
and the Public Foundation for the Episcopal Palace.
Gadácsi-Szijjártó Fine Art Foundation
8330 Sümeg, Kompanik Zsófia u. 13.
Phone: +36-87-352-401, +36-70-453-5296
Email: [email protected]
www.sumegart-canada.hu
he Foundation also uses the fine art gallery as a public space
that enables local residents, students and other small groups
to get acquainted with the Foundation, the gallery, the themes
of contemporary exhibitions, the founders, and the historical
background of the themes of interest to the Foundation in the
form of special History, Art History and Arts classes.
If you, your friends or partners wish to participate in such
a special History lesson,
If you are an educator and you wish to present the themes
touched upon by the Canadian-Hungarian Fine Art
Gallery in an authentic setting,
please don’t hesitate to contact us at one of our availabilities
below:
ulie Szijjártó comes from a trader family in Sümeg. Julie and her
husband, Stephen Gadacsy have been living in Canada since
1957. The young couple’s shared interest was art. Stephen was a
painter himself.
Slowly recovering from their first few very challenging years in
Canada, Julie and Stephen turned to contemporary art and
opened their gallery downtown Toronto in 1972, where they
displayed works of contemporary artists for 16 years. Drawing
on their courage, Julie and Stephen moved together with their
gallery to Port Dover in the countryside in 1988, to a heritage
building built in 1863.
The cosmopolitan well-rounded couple built an extensive
network in the field of art, their gallery had its regular patrons
who followed the works of art of the artists they sponsored.
In their lifestyle, Julie and Stephen mostly follow European
culture. They have taken up the mission of promoting not only
contemporary art but also European customs and heritage in
their own community.
Julie and Stephen primarily furnished their homes with
antique and period furniture and they hosted major contem-
porary exhibitions as well.
Since 2000, they have been spending four months in their
Hungarian home every year.
he couple returned to Hungary more and more often after the change
of the regime and nurtured the idea of the establishment of the
Gadácsi-Szijjártó Canadian-Hungarian Fine Art Foundation for
years.
They found home in both countries in their lives.
Canada accepted them together with tens of thousands of other
refugees, while Hungary always remains their native country that
they had greatly missed.
Julie and Stephen pay tribute to their second home country by the
popularisation of contemporary Canadian art in Hungary, while they
offer their first home country their experience, network of contacts
and the popularisation and embracing of contemporary art.
The permanent exhibit of the Gallery entitled Exploration comprises
the lithographs of Frederick Hagan (1918-2003), a renowned and
outstanding Canadian artist and college professor.
The temporary exhibits of the Foundation also promote the intro-
duction and exposure of artefacts by contemporary artists.
n the autumn of 1956 Canada followed Hungarian events
with a heightened awareness. From the approximately
200,000 refugees, 40,000 were accepted by Canada. There
were some who could succeed within a short period, but
many others greatly struggled with integration.
The discovery of the country, settling into a new life was
certainly a challenge for all leaving their countries.
he Gadácsi-Szijjártó couple brought together a remarkable
contemporary art collection in Canada.
At the Foundation’s Sümeg Gallery Frederick Hagan’s 55-
piece lithography (limestone print) series entitled
“Exploration” is displayed to the audience. The series
depicts certain stages of the exploration of Canada.
(Toronto 1918 - 2003)
rederick Hagan was born in Toronto in 1918.
He took his first steps towards art at his father’s carpentry
workshop when he was quite young. Due to the premature
death of the head of the family, Frederick dropped out of
school to support his mother.
He laboured as a factory worker while he studied drawing and
painting in the evening programme of the Ontario College of
Art. His drawings were introduced at the Canadian Pavilion of
the New York World’s Fair when he was only 21. He became a
faculty member at his own school at 28 and retired from there
after 37 years. Hagan influenced his community not only as an
artist and instructor but also as a human being due to his
unique energies and passionate devotion.
In 1985 Frederick Hagan was commis-
sioned by Canada Post to create a
series of 16 stamps, reproducing the
artist’s 16 oil paintings.
Four stamps were issued per year
between 1986 and 1989 under the title
‘Exploration of Canada’.
While creating the paintings Hagan
traveled extensively; he read,
researched and prepared countless
sketches. Travelling the country, he
conceived ideas and feelings on
Canada, its history, regions and
people. Later on, he processed these to
create the 55-piece series lithography
portfolio called ‘Exploration’: a
unique, challenging, symbolic and
often enigmatic depiction of Canadian
history.
These 55 lime stone prints comprise
the permanent exhibit of the Founda-
tion entitled ‘Exploration of Canada’.
The material of the permanent exhibit
The content of the ‘Exploration’ portfolio is closely linked with
the theme of the stamps deriving from the moods, spiritual
experiences evoked by explorers.
Structurally, three lithographs belong to the theme of each
stamp:
the first one shows the landscape of the scene of the event
the second one depicts the event displayed on the stamp
and its main participants
the third one is the personal experience and evaluation of
the artist
Hagan presents the discovery of Canada from about 1200
BC through the Medieval Norsemen, the Aboriginals, the Cabot
landing in the 15th Century to the conquest of the Hudson Bay.
He demonstrates the trade relations of settlers and the prevalence
of Christianity in the midst of 17th century events depicted as
exploration. The next sections of the exhibit lead up to the 20th
Century through the Hudson Bay Company becoming dominant
in the 18th Century.
in Port Dover
The Gallery
agan regularly exhibited at the gallery of the Gadácsy
couple from 1978. Today his pictures can be found at
Canada’s most important galleries, museums, university,
corporate and private collections.
o the best of the Foundation’s knowledge, the collection of
the Gadácsy-Szijjártó couple is the only Frederick Hagan
collection in Hungary and the largest collection in Europe
that was created during the artist’s most momentous
period.
To show their respect, the Hagan family enriched the
collection with further creations by their father Fred, while
showing gratitude to the founders for their efforts in
popularising Canadian and Hungarian contemporary art.
ne of the goals of the Foundation is to organise temporary
exhibitions, arts meetings, exchanges of experience, youth
programmes, which may also strengthen Canadian-Hungarian
ties in the field of contemporary art.
József Miklós Halmy Halmy was born in Putnok, in Borsod County in 1929. He immigrated to Canada in 1952. He continued his studies at the Ontario College of Art in Toronto where he was a student of Fred Hagan. He regularly exhibited at the Gadatsy Gallery. His works of art can be found at the museums of Miskolc and Debrecen.
Tibor Nyilasi Nyilasi was born in Kesztölc in 1936. He has been living in Canada since 1957. His works have been displayed in several collections including the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle in England, the Hungarian National Gallery, the Christian Museum in Esztergom and the Art Gallery of Hamilton. Nyilasi was also Hagan’s student.
Gábor Gerlóczy Gerlóczy was born in Budapest in 1964. His first master was his uncle, Gedeon Gerlóczy, the savior of Csontváry paintings. He is member of the Association of Artists in Nagykovácsi, the Sociomemory Workshop, The Group of Six and the Hungarian Artists’ Public Benefit Association.
The artistic ambition of the Group of Six is to provide individual responses to cultural globalism jointly as a specially formed small community.
Members of the Group of Six: Ildikó Gaszner,
Gábor Gerlóczy, Zoltán Molnár-Göb, Andrea Páczelt, Ferenc Somogyi,
Csaba Vladár, Krisztina Vladár and Tibor Zátonyi.
he Gallery of the Foundation introduced new services in
2014: the board of trustees organise and host special history
and art history classes, discussions related to the themes of
the exhibitions.
oday Sümeg is not only a popular touristic destination
because of its castle. More and more visitors tour the
downtown area and discover the Franciscan Church and
Monastery famous for its pilgrimages, and the parish
church decorated with Maulbertsch frescos, often referred
to as Hungary’s Sistine Chapel, as well as the Episcopal
Palace. The permanent exhibitions at the Palace offer
enjoyable recreation not only to those interested in
culture. Its courtyard, ancient walls offer a historic atmos-
phere of several hundred years to please visitors.
It is getting more and more widespread that the Palace
was the summer residence and sometimes even home of
bishops from Veszprém, a city boasting Episcopal
coronation rights. Nowadays, however, guests prefer to
crown their leisure time with a joyful wine tasting at the
Episcopal Cellar, enriched by gastronomical delights.
Püspöki Palota (Episcopal Palace) 8330 Sümeg, Szent István tér 8.
www.puspokipalota.hu
Palota Pince (Episcopal Cellar) 8330 Sümeg, Szent István tér 10. www.palotapince.hu
Glenhyrst Art Gallery Brantford Canada
The Municipality of Sümeg 8330 Sümeg, Béke tér 7. www.sumeg.hu
For further information on programmes in Sümeg contact Sümeg and Regions TDM www.sumeginfo.hu
Gadácsi-Szijjártó Fine Art Foundation 8330 Sümeg, Kompanik Zsófia u. 13. Canadian-Hungarian Fine Art Gallery Episcopal Palace 8330 Sümeg, Szent István tér 8. www.sumegart-canada.hu