István Hajdu – Dávid Bíró

THE WORK OF ILKA GEDŐ (1921 – 1985) (OEUVRE CATALOGUE AND DOCUMENTS)

Ilka Gedő (1921-1985) was a gifted, courageous and independent artist who quietly and compassionately recorded human life and a world of suffering and tumultuous change. This comprehensive album traces the development of her art from the vivacious childhood drawings through mature graphic works to the world of her small, delicate semi-abstract paintings of exquisite sensibility that deploy colour with an enchanting sense of magic.

In his introduction István Hajdu presents a subtle portrait of an artist who refused to be pinned down by labels: “Ilka Gedő is one of the most significant, but at the same time one of the least known figures of twentieth-century Hungarian art. Although from her early youth onwards she had close contact with contemporary artists, art historians, 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.”

Ilka Gedő first gained international prominence when her work was presented in Glasgow in 1985 and 1989, and then in New York in 1994 and 1995 with outstanding success. The artist’s works are represented in major public collections in Hungary and abroad: The National Gallery of Hungary, Budapest; Jewish Museum of Hungary, Budapest; King St. Stephen’s Museum, Székesfehérvár, Hungary; Yad Vashem Art Museum, Jerusalem; Israel Museum, Jerusalem; British Museum (Department of Prints and Drawings); Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf (Department of Prints and Drawings); The Jewish Museum, New York.

With a total of 252 illustrations (among them 173 colour plates), the oeuvre catalogue of the paintings, a complete listing and detailed description of the folders preserved in the artist’s estate and numerous other documents, this album is a landmark publication that confirms Ilka Gedő as a major force in twentieth-century Hungarian and European art.

ISTVÁN HAJDU is a distinguished Hungarian art critic. His publications include: Csiky Tibor [The art of Tibor Csiky]. Képzőművészeti Kiadó, Budapest: 1979; Hencze Tamás [The art of Tamás Hencze]. Képzőművészeti Kiadó, Budapest: 1980; Csataképek: A magyar hadtörténelem a festészet és grafika tükrében [Battle scenes: Hungary’s military history as reflected by painting and graphic art]. Zrínyi Kiadó, Budapest: 1982; Piet Mondrian. Corvina, Budapest: 1987; Les ateliers de Budapest, Ed. Navarra, Paris: 1990; (Die Ateliers in Budapest, Budapesti Műtermek, Les ateliers du Budapest, The Studios of Budapest). Wasmuth, Tübingen: 1990; Vetett árnyék [Cast shadow]. Kortárs Kiadó, Budapest: 1994; Előbb-utóbb. Rongyszőnyeg az avantgarde-nak [Sooner or later: Ragcarpet for the avant-garde]. Orpheusz Kiadó, Budapest: 1999; Magyar képzőművészet az ezredfordulón / A Raiffeisen Gyűjtemény–Hungarian Fine Arts at the Turn of the Millennium / The Raiffeisen Collection. Atheneum, Budapest: 2002.

DÁVID BÍRÓ, the artist’s son, prepared the oeuvre-catalogue of oil paintings and compiled all other documents and data presented in this volume.