Oil Paintings Shown By Hungarian Girl

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28766, 11 December 1958, Page 2

Oil Paintings Shown By Hungarian Girl

Some lucky friends of Miss Anna Marie Szigethy (pronounced See-gethy) will be receiving Christmas presents of her oil paintings soon. A promising artist, with a great deal of talent for her 18J years, Miss Szigethy is a Hungarian girl who has been a boarder at Wanganui College for the last two years. She finds her paintings solve the seasonal gift problem well. An earnest, shy girl with light brown hair and a fair complexion, she became talkative when asked about her favourite painters who are Rembrandt and Picasso. Some of her recent paintings are in an exhibition of Hungarian art and crafts in Colombo street, where Miss Szigethy is acting as “doorman” for some of the time. Her own favourite painting in the collection is a study of a burning forest at night. All of her art shows her liking for the use of dark colours. When living in Budapest with her family, Miss Szigethy enjoyed many visits to the big art galleries and remembers art shows in Vienna with a nostalgic sigh.

She has seen a number of New Zealand showings and speaks highly of them although the paintings are not in her favourite European style. School of Art Miss Szigethy is hoping to gain entrance to the Canterbury University School of Art to achieve her ambition of becoming a professional painter. She intends to specialise in life painting and landscape and develop an individual style. The only art training Miss Szigethy has received so far was at a 10-day course in Wellington six months ago. Her artistic leanings have not been inherited. Relaxing with pastels or charcoal, Miss Szigethy can often be found “doodling” with block and crayon in hand in spare moments. She had only a spattering of English when she arrived in New Zealand, but she now has a good working knowledge of the language and speaks it fluently. She is a keen writer and poet who has had work published in Hungarian periodicals. Miss Szigethy finds it much easier to write English than speak it and when not painting or sketching writes English essays. Life in New Zealand she finds peaceful after the bustle of Budapest and “I feel quite settled and happy here now,” she said. Miss Szigethy, proudly pointed out some of the interesting items made by some of her fellow countrymen at the exhibition.