Painting of Miklós Veres

Written by Gábor Pogány

Miklós Veres was born in 1937. He earned his diploma at the College of Fine Arts in 1962. István Szőnyi, Géza Fónyi, Gyula Pap and Nándor Kapos were his teachers.

Apparently his own personal thinking and attitude attracted him to the nature-based, realistic artistic approach as well. Thus at the early stages in his career he could naturally use what he had learned from István Szőnyi and Géza Fónyi; not just on a concrete, professional level, but also searching out and finding the subject and theme. He learned not only the “plein air” art radiating from Nagybánya, but also the love of the countryside from István Szőnyi. Based on that he discovered the Great Plains and the art of the Great Plains himself for himself. The farm world and the flood zones of the river Tisza around Mártély of Hódmezővásárhely appear in his paintings with the natural air and unaffectedness one can expect from the painters of Vásárhely. But Miklós Veres is not a farm painter. The word “farm painter” doesn’t simply describe a style in the artistic lingo anyway, but an artist who employs a certain compositional technique consistently. We can find this technique employed by the Austrian painters in Szolnok by the middle of the 19^th century and even before, among the illustrations of the English doctor turned Transylvanian landowner, John Paget’s book, “Hungary and Transylvania”, published in London in 1839. In it there’s a house or a small group of buildings surrounded by a few trees, in the center of the horizon of the Great Plains. In later times János Tornyai painted such pictures in greater numbers in Hódmezővásárhely, then Béla Endre and Gyula Rudnay and of the artists from Vásárhely of today and more recent times, György Kohán, István D. Kurucz, Gyula Kajári, Csaba Fejér and several of the younger ones as well. Otherwise there’s no reason connecting the motif to a name, because anyone can find it just as often, like the “round forest” in the song, since anything that juts out, any interruption in the line of the plain’s horizon stands out.

Miklós Veres chooses his motifs in a totally different way on the banks of the Danube or in the hills of Buda, than he does on the Great Plain. He depicts the mist of the river, the plays of the reflected lights with an attractiveness that is reminiscent of his first teacher, István Szőnyi’s sensitivity. The sunlit landscape on the other hand appears with genuine joy, the impressionist painters’ richness of color and with a force that seizes the moment in Miklós Veres’ pictures. However, the abundance of colors does not mean an exaggerated richness or vividness. The bright shining is a result of carefully chosen colors. The courageous choice of colors is also characteristic of his other teacher, Géza Fónyi and it was Nándor Kapos, the materials professor, who taught those students who were receptive the safe use of paints.

In Gyula Pap’s classes a certain avant-garde type approach prevailed as well. Miklós Veres picked up mainly paint handling and compositional techniques from that, which enrich his realist painting method.

Miklós Veres’ human figures are particularly worthy of attention. These portraits and genre-paintings depict personal emotions and human relationships with those in the paintings. His still lives aren’t simply artistic studies either, but reflect the personal and creative relationship between the artist and the view.

His watercolor paintings deserve special mentioning. There are few artists, who handle the stout, forceful oil paint and the light, almost ethereal aquarelle with equal ability and invention. Miklós Veres’ watercolor paintings radiate the superiority of the local experience, but at the same time one can feel the calm composing and careful choice of the subject. He plans his watercolors, that are created through wet shaping and quick work and puts them on paper the same creative way that he would use on his oil paintings that require more work.

Miklós Veres is a well-prepared artist, full of inventions who even through his realistic approach, that is characterized as traditional, is able to show something new, enduring and modern to his viewers.