Ilka Gedő

Ilka Gedő

Ilka Gedő (26 May 1921 — 19 June 1985) was a Hungarian painter and graphic artist. Upon graduation from high school she studied art with private teachers. After the German occupation, she was deported to the Budapest Ghetto, in autumn 1944. In the ghetto she depicted daily life in many drawings. She evaded deportation and a community elder was sent in her place. After liberation she continued her art studies under the Hungarian Bauhaus artist Gyula Pap.

" Although from her early youth onwards Ilka Gedő had close contact with contemporary artists, historians of art, writers and philosophers, her universally significant artistic oeuvre is unparalleled. This may be why her work is still largely unexplored. Ilka Gedő's oeuvre is not simply a variation of contemporary artistic gestures, if it were, the possible analogies would undoubtedly help in its interpretation. Her oeuvre is off the mainstream, it deviates from it and it has the traits of an outsider and, as such, it is an irritation -- the 1946-1949 self-portrait series, for example, is definitely an irritation within Hungarian art. At the same time, however, this art is not a pronounced innovation that would provoke the desire for analysis because of its newsworthiness, it is the result of an absolutely conscious synthesis. The oil paintings from the period between 1970 and 1985 capture the tension between intellectual and emotional aspects and are both unprecedented and without peer in Hungarian painting." [1]

Career

Ilka Gedő was born on 26 May 1921 in Budapest. Her father taught at the Jewish grammar school of Budapest, and some of the leading Hungarian writers and artists of the times were among the family’s circle of friends. She started her artistic career in the late 1930s visiting private art schools.

The anti-Jewish measures and the upheaval of the war came, but Gedő carried on creating a significant body of graphic works. As a Jew, in 1944 Gedő was imprisoned in the Budapest ghetto, and she drew a remarkable series of ghetto drawings. She avoided the horror, instead representing isolated people of puzzlement, uncertainty and despair in her drawings.

After the war Gedő gained admission to the Budapest Academy of Arts, but she decided to leave the Academy and until 1949, when she stopped artistic work, had created a huge body of drawings that can be divided into series.

She created self-portraits which, through their sheer honesty and self-exploration, claim the viewer’s attention. These works are drawn in a way that evokes straightforward physical reality and emotional sensitivity at the same time. Another series, Tables, is devoted to drawing a delicate, small table with an abundant variety of lines and shades, exploring the endless possibilities of representing the visual world.

Woman in Factory with Windows, 1947-1948, The British Museum

The third series resulted from repeated visits to the Ganz Factory in Budapest. “The Ganz Factory, situated at the Margit körút in Budapest, was a large enterprise producing elements for electrical engineering in one plant, and metal parts for machines and tools in another plant. In the late 1940’s, after the war, it offered an educational program, organised by a liberally minded engineer. Ilka Gedő was welcome on the premises to sit and draw, even if the result did not correspond to the official image of the worker.”[2] A combination of silver and gold with pastel crayons transposes the factory rooms into almost mythical spaces.

An interval of 15 years devoted to bringing up a family divides the oeuvre of this artist. Ilka Gedő presented her drawings in 1964 in her own studio. This exhibition gave her the impetus to resume work. In the 1960s, Gedő started to paint in oil. Her creative method follows the call of the instincts but does not forget the discipline of the intellect. „Art critics have been quick to point out evidence of her nostalgia for Art Nouveau and Jugendstil. However, Gedő’s real nostalgia is for a lost mythology, and in this she is similar to her fin-de-siècle predecessors. She found this mythology, albeit a personal one, in art, which is capable of evoking and cherishing the memories of an endangered world.” [3]

She made “two-step” paintings. She first drew a sketch of her composition, prepared a mock-up and wrote the name of the appropriate colours into the various fields. She prepared a collection of colour samples, and she wrote where the colour would go in the places where they were ultimately applied. She never improvised on her paintings; instead she enlarged the original plan. On her paintings the strength of cold and warm colours appears to be equal. She created her paintings slowly, amidst speculations, recording the steps of the creative process in diaries so that the making of all the paintings can be traced.

Rose Garden with a Triangular Window, 1979-1980,The Hungarian National Gallery

Gedő died on 19 June 1985, at the age of 64, a few months before her discovery abroad. The scene of the breakthrough was Glasgow where the Compass Gallery presented her paintings and drawings in 1985. Since then, many of her works passed into public hands: in addition to the St. Stephen’s Museum, Székesfehérvár, Hungary and the Hungarian National Gallery, many foreign collections acquired them /The Jewish Museum (New York), the Yad Vashem Art Museum, the Israel Museum (Jerusalem), the Department of Prints and of the British Museum, the Museum Kunstpalast of Düsseldorf, the Berlin Kupferstichkabinett (Museum of Prints and Drawings), the Graphic Arts Collection of the Albertina and the Metropolitan Museum/.

Chronology

Exhibitions

One-woman exhibitions in Hungary:

One-woman exhibitions abroad:

Works in public collections

Literature

• Szabó, Júlia (ed.): Gedő Ilka rajzai és festményei (The Drawings and Paintings of Ilka Gedő), exhibition catalogue, Székesfehérvár, Szent István Király Múzeum, 1980, HU ISBN 963-7131-20-5 HU ISSN 0586-3759

• Ury, Ibolya (ed.): Gedő Ilka, kiállításkatalógus (Ilka Gedő, Exhibition Catalogue), Budapest, a Műcsarnok Dorottya utcai Kiállítóterme, 1982, HU ISBN 963-01-4173-6

• Mucsi, András (ed.): Gedő Ilka (1921–1985) festőművész kiállítása (The Exhibition of Ilka Gedő /1921-1985/), exhibition catalogue, Szentendre, Művésztelepi Galéria, 1985, HU 963-01-6605-4 ISSN 0209-4940

• Néray, Katalin (ed.): Gedő Ilka (1921–1985), exhibition catalogue, Budapest, Palace of Exhibitions, 1987, ISBN 963-7162-86-0

• Gálig, Zoltán (ed): Gedő Ilka festőművész rajzai a Szombathelyi Képtárban (Works on Paper by Ilka Gedő at the Municipal Art Museum of Szombathely), Szombathely, Városi Képtár, 1989, ISBN 963-01-9554-2 ISSN 0239-1910

• Semjén, Anita (ed): Áldozatok és gyilkosok / Gedő Ilka gettó-rajzai és Román György háborús bűnösök népbírósági tárgyalásain készült rajzai (Victims and Perpetrators / Ilka Gedő's Ghetto Drawings and György Román's Drawings of the People's Court War Criminals Trials), exhibition catalogue, Budapest, 1995, Hungarian Jewish Museum and Jerusalem, 1996, Yad Vashem Art Museum

• Kashey, Elizabeth (ed): Ilka Gedő (1921–1985) Drawings and Pastels, exhibition catalogue, New York, Shepherd Gallery, 21 East 84th Street, 1995, OCLC 313759285

• Kolozsváry, Marianna (ed.): Gedő Ilka festőművész kiállítása (Exhibition of Ilka Gedő), exhibition catalogue, Budapest, Hungarian National Gallery, 2004, HU ISSN 0231-2387

• György, Péter–Pataki, Gábor, Szabó, Júlia, Mészáros, F. István: Gedő Ilka művészete (1921–1985) – The Art of Ilka Gedő (1921–1985), Budapest, Új Művészet, 1997, ISBN 963-7792-21-X ISSN 1219-4913

• Hajdu, István–Bíró, Dávid: Gedő Ilka művészete, oeuvre katalógus és dokumentumok, Gondolat Kiadó, Budapest, 2003 ISBN 963-9500-13-5

• István Hajdu–Dávid Bíró: The Art of Ilka Gedő, Oeuvre Catalogue and Documents, Gondolat Kiadó, Budapest, 2003 ISBN 963-9500-14-3

External links

Oil Paintings at the Hungarian National Gallery

Ilka Gedő - Turreted Rose Garden, 1969-1970, oil on cardboard, 58 42 cm
Ilka Gedő - Domed Rose Garden, 1970-72, oil on canvas, 54 x 47 cm
Ilka Gedő - Artificial Flower with Daggers, 1974, oil on wooden board, 61 x 61 cm
Ilka Gedő - Rose Garden with a Triangular Window, 1979-1980, oil on canvas, 50 x 55 cm
Ilka Gedő - Mask Store, 1980, Oil on paper laid down on canvas, 71 x 50 cm
Ilka Gedő, 1981, oil on canvas, 55 x 66 cm
Ilka Gedő - The March of Triangles, 1981, oil on canvas, 84 x 75 cm
Ilka Gedő - Witches in Preparation, 1980-81, oil on canvas, 59 x 58 cm


  1. István Hajdu : Half Picture, Half Veil - the Art of Ilka Gedő In: István Hajdu - Dávid Bíró The Art of Ilka Gedő (1921-1985) Oeuvre Catalogue and Documents, Gondolat Kiadó, Budapest, 2003, p. 6
  2. Elisabeth Kashey (Ed.): Ilka Gedő (1921–1985) Drawings and Pastels, exhibition catalogue, Shepherd Gallery, New York, 1995, p. 19 OCLC 313759285
  3. Contemporary Visual Art in Hungary : Eighteen Artists [edited and designed by Christopher Carrel ; exhibition selection Paul Overy, Christopher Carrell, in association with Márta Kovalovszky], Third Eye Centre in association with the King Stephen Museum, Glasgow, 1985, p. 42, ISBN 0906474507
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 6/11/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.