On Friday, January 26, 2018, at 7 p.m., a chamber exhibition of graphic works by CSEH TAMÁS (1943-2009) opens at the Gross Arnold Gallery on Bartók Béla út.
This year, on January 22, Cseh Tamás — the Kossuth Prize and Liszt Ferenc Prize-winning Hungarian composer, singer, actor, performer, and art teacher — would have turned 75. Alongside his widely known work as a performer and singer, his talent as a visual artist remained far less familiar. Art historian Szilágyi Gábor and Gross András, director of the Gross Arnold Gallery, have assembled a rich selection of graphic works, courtesy of the family and the Cseh Tamás Archive, offering a glimpse into Cseh Tamás’s fascinating visual world.
Cseh Tamás graduated in art from the Teacher Training College in Eger in the 1960s and then worked as an art teacher for ten years. His visual sensitivity and talent for drawing showed themselves very early, already in primary school. From the 1960s onward, his devotion to music drew him toward the performing arts, yet this period is fascinating for us not only because of his budding musical career, the “Indian camp” in the Bakony hills, and his teaching work, but also because of his graphic works and paintings. The Gross Arnold Gallery presents works from this period — a selection of varied themes and genres, ranging from the Native American-themed illustrations of his early youth to previously unexhibited graphic works of many different kinds.
Gross Arnold — the Kossuth Prize-winning graphic artist and painter honored with the Artist of the Nation award — and his son opened the ARNOLDO gallery-café at 46 Bartók Béla út in 2014. Besides preserving the memory of the Gross world, this charming little place was intended by its founder to provide a home for presenting and popularizing graphic art, a genre perhaps less fashionable these days. Alongside exhibitions by young Hungarian and international graphic artists and illustrators, the gallery has also hosted shows of works by the great masters of twentieth-century Hungarian graphic art, among them Kondor Béla, Amerigo Tot, Szabó Vladimir, Gajzágó Sándor, and Szemethy Imre.
At the chamber exhibition, on view at the ARNOLDO gallery-café until March 3, visitors can purchase the recently published album of Cseh Tamás’s graphic works, as well as postcards made especially for this exhibition. The album presents works made before 1970, when the future songwriter was still preparing to become a visual artist. The selection from the complete preserved collection was made by Balás Eszter, Jankovics Marcell, Mihály Gábor, and Cseh András. It was in this volume that readers could first discover the originality of his drawings and prints as documents of his life.
Opening: January 26, 2018, 7 p.m. The exhibition will be introduced and opened by art historian Szilágyi Gábor. Due to the size of the venue, attendance at the opening requires registration; you can register for the event at arnoldogaleria@gmail.com.
The exhibition is open between January 27 and March 3, 2018, during the gallery’s opening hours:
Tuesday to Friday 10 a.m. – 9 p.m., Saturday 11 a.m. – 9 p.m.
Further information:
ARNOLDO gallery-café: Gross András – 0670/3387001 – arnoldogaleria@gmail.com – https://www.facebook.com/events/168237353942043/
Cseh Tamás Archive – www.csehtamasarchivum.hu
www.facebook.com/csehtamasarchivum
