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KOGART House
Budapest

In a series that presents classic oeuvres of contemporary Hungarian art, the Gábor Kovács Art Foundation now celebrates the 75th birthday of painter László Patay with a memorial exhibition. What really distinguishes this display is that Patay’s most important oils, drawings and fresco designs are shown in the company of a representative selection from the oeuvre of his one-time master, István Szőnyi.

Both as a mentor and as a man, he had a tremendous influence on how László Patay painted, thought about art, and respected the classic traditions. What Patay owes to Szőnyi is an ethical and technical foundation, upon which he built, with the crystal-clear, lucid structure of his pictures, his mastery of drawing, and atmospheric use of colours and lights, an oeuvre that is outstanding in the history of Hungarian contemporary art in the second half of the 20th century. Creating something new that relies on the classic tradition: this is the hallmark of László Patay’s oil paintings and monumental murals.