Gyula Sajó
1918-1989
“Sajó’s range (1918-1989) was extraordinary. Large oils, oil temperas, watercolours, gouache, chalk and brush drawings and such printmaking techniques as monotypes and woodcuts.... his work illustrates the qualities and strength of the Hungarian tradition. It was this that he brought to Britain.
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He was born in Hungary in and studied Art and Architecture in Budapest. Later, in 1953, after lecturing at the Technical University, in Budapest, he moved on to teaching at the Budapest Academy of Applied Art. Echoes of that world are conjured up by two of his earliest works, one of his father, the other of his mother, date from 1939, but already they intimate the assurance that its one of the hallmarks of Sajó’s work.
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Indeed Sajó’s achievement, both as a painter and as a printmaker and sculptor, illustrates the excellence of art training in Hungary, even in difficult times. Equally intriguing for those familiar with the Hungarian 19th and 20th Century painting is the fact that Sajó’s work illustrates the qualities and the strength of the Hungarian tradition. It is this that Gyula Sajó brought to Britain.
His self-portraits are not just measured. They are grave, in the Roman sense of gravitas. His work marks a beginning, not an end. A man who could paint those big pictures of women in an interior, who could experiment with techniques of printmaking, and who could execute deliciously perceptive little oil sketches of the countryside deserves to be better known.
If you want to learn more about him, Artworks on this website are for sale, please inquire for prices and availability.
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