SZILVIA M. NAGY


 

 

 

 

 

First: this is a useful knowledge, as it is from God and it does serve a holy cause.

Second: useful, as by dealing sciences we can avoid evil things that would happen
if we were being idle.

Third: useful, as nobody would think how much joy comes from the learning itself; a great-great joy.

Fourth: useful, because if practised with honesty, we would gain lasting fame.

Fifth: useful, as the glory of God Almighty is served whenever people can see He gives some
of His creatures talent and resourcefulness to gain such great knowledge,
and you would be favoured by the wise men for your immense knowledge.

And its sixth usefulness is, if you are poor, through this knowledge you can gain great fortunes.

 


 

On Painting

Item, who wants to be a painter, that must be suitable for it by nature.

Item, the art of painting can be learned better by affection and intention than by coercion.

Item, you become a great painter only if trained from your early childhood.

Item, at first the pupil must copy the works of the great Masters diligently until he gets clever with his hands.

Item, what does paintig mean.

Item, the painter is able to represent all and every visible thing on the flat surface of any kind.

Item, it is right and advisable to teach the pupil to represent the human figure and proportions,
before depicting anything else.

Item, the more beatiful a picture is thought, the more perfectly it imitates the Nature.

 


 

On the Beauty

Item, it is right and proper for a painter—if it is up to him—to paint the picture beautifully
to the best of his knowledge.

I do not know what beauty is, but I think it is advisable to accept the majority’s opinion about it
and to try to fulfil their expectations.

Item, the deficiencies and shortcomings are ugly, so the beauty is equally damaged
by the too much and the too few. The harmonious and well-matched things are beautiful,
the uselessness must be avoided.

Item, the usefulness is an important part of the beauty. Different things can also harmonize.
But as for what the uselessness is; good examples are the lameness and other shortcomings.

Item, in ascertaining of beauty it is sensible to consult the experienced and respected masters.

Item, the beauty can be of many kind and it can have many causes.
The piece of art can be considered beautiful if it is without shortcomings.

Item, possessing the very knowledge you would be in your works certain and clever.


Dürer, Albrecht, 1508

 


 

Born in Győr, 28 October 1976
Married 11 December 2004
 

Qualifications: ten semesters at the Autonomous Academy of Creative Arts (Szarvas, Hungary)

Since 2003 I work as a freelance artist

Memberships

• Association of Hungarian Creative Artists

• Association of Hungarian Sculptors’ Society

• Altamira Association

• Association of Hungarian Graphic Artist


My published works / in public collections

• Three statues of extinct animals, in the collection of the Hungarian Natural History Museum

• Ten illustrated story-books (Kossuth Publisher, 2008–2011); Hungarian, Sekler, Gipsy, Greek, German,

   Irish, African, Japan, Jewish and Christmas tales.

• Six large drawings representing the representations constellations (Aquila, Cancer, Cetus, Hydra,

   Pisces, Scorpius) in the main building of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Konkoly Observatory.

 

Awards, honours

• Prize of the Association of Hungarian Graphic Artists, Salgótarján Graphic Triennale, 2016

 

Exhibitions >

 

For seven years I’m working on the illustrations for J. L. Borges’ Book of Imaginary Beings. These illustrations are A4 sized pencil drawings using one colour each and the black of the graphite, of course. The work takes 2–3 weeks for each picture and much of them I draw anew again and again as the long series undeniably shapes itself.

In my other works I use china ink, watercolour tempera and oil.

I strive for the traditionally understood representing, the fine detailedness and the technical purity.
I value the manual-technical trainedness, the knowledge of anatomy, geometry and colour theory more
than it is usual these days. My idols are Albrecht Dürer, Hans Holbein, Giovanni Battista Piranesi,
Jan van Eyck, Ivan Bilibin, Zdeněk Burian and others…

Illustrating the ten story-books was a new kind of joy for I had to study the different countries, peoples and cultures; their lives, clothes and utilities. It was exciting to use a lot of colours, in contrast with my earlier (and later) works.

Another field of my activity is the plastic art. Based on the advices of the well known paleontologist dr. László Kordos I make scientifically authentic reconstructions of extinct animals. The material I use is coloured beewax, wood and papier maché. Of the latter I make the 3D versions of the Borges-animals altogether.