Laszlo Hegedus, painter and printmaker, was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1920. He studied art at the V. Aba Novâk Studio (1936-1938) under the tutelage of Janos Vaszary, followed by four years of study at the Royal Hungarian Fine Art Academy, Budapest, with Professor I. Szönyi. In 1941, he made a tour of the Middle East, returning to Budapest and exhibiting at the Alkotas Art Halls in 1943 and the Vikert Gallery in 1945.
As well as his career as a practicing artist, he also worked as a teacher. Indeed, during 1940-1946 he taught Artistic Anatomy at the University of Budapest and he continued to teach painting, graphic art and watercolour from 1943 to around 1968.
In 1948, Hegedus left Hungary and, after spending some time in Austria and Italy, arrived in Australia in 1949. He held his first solo exhibition in Australia at the Macquarie Galleries, Sydney in 1951, which was to be followed by approximately 20 solo shows in various Australians galleries, primarily in Sydney and Melbourne, as well as two in Adelaide and one in Brisbane. During the mid-1960s, Hegedus was a frequent exhibitor at The Victorian Artists’ Society, the Varenne Gallery and the Louis Gallery. Following an exhibition of his work at the All Nations Club in Sydney in 1972, Hegedus returned to Europe. He exhibited in London from 1972-1974, after which he returned home to his family in Hungary, while also making a trip to Paris in 1978. Hegedus had several solo exhibitions in Hungary, including two at the Istvan Bathori Museum, Nyirbator (1979 and 1982) and the Faklya Gallery in Budapest (1987). He then returned to Australia in 1987, with exhibitions in 1988 and 1990 at the Baillieu Library Print Room, University of Melbourne.
Recurring themes in the art of Laszlo Hegedus include compositions of trees, inspired by the forests of central Europe that he explored as a young man, the sea, which he painted at St. Kilda and Elwood while in Melbourne, Australia, and the human figure, as seen in his images of dancers, drawing upon his detailed study and teaching of artistic anatomy.
Laszlo Hegedus is represented in numerous prominent collections in Australia and overseas, including the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, the Baillieu Library Print Collection, University of Melbourne, the National Library of Australia, Canberra, Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, Royal Windsor Castle Library, Windsor, UK and the Biblioteca Nationale, Rome.
- Writers:
-
ecwubben
- Date written:
- 2012
- Last updated:
- 2012
