CSABAI WÁGNER JÓZSEF | Winter Landscape, 1959
Titled 'Major' (lower right)
Dated 1959Pastel
38 x 50 cms / 15 x 19¾ inches
Csabai Wágner József (1888–1967) was born in Mezőtúr, Hungary, and studied at the Hungarian University of Fine Arts in Budapest under Ede Balló. His career began in 1920 when he received the Békéscsaba City Prize, after which he became a regular exhibitor at the Ernst Museum, the National Salon and the Műcsarnok, and was associated with the Tokaj Artists’ Colony. In 1940 he received the prize of the Hungarian Watercolour and Pastel Painters’ Association and in 1943 the Halmos Izidor Lifetime Achievement Award. After the Second World War he settled in Mezőtúr, working as a teacher while continuing to paint, and later exhibited regularly in Szolnok and Békéscsaba.
This pastel winter scene from 1959 depicts figures moving through a snow-covered landscape beside hayricks. The composition is defined by a restrained palette, with snow, sky and the coloured woollen shawls of the figures providing the principal tones. The figures progress slowly across the frozen ground, their forms gradually merging into the pale winter setting.
Csabai Wágner József was born on 27 May 1888 in Mezőtúr, Hungary, into an evangelical family. He studied at the Hungarian University of Fine Arts in Budapest, where he trained under the painter Ede Balló. In 1920 he was awarded the Békéscsaba City Prize, marking the beginning of his professional career. From this period he became a regular exhibiting artist, and during the years between the two world wars he frequently took part in collective exhibitions at the Ernst Museum, the National Salon and the Műcsarnok. He was also associated with the Tokaj Artists' Colony.
In 1940 he received the prize of the Hungarian Watercolour and Pastel Painters’ Association, followed in 1943 by the Halmos Izidor Lifetime Achievement Award. After the Second World War he settled permanently in Mezőtúr, where he worked as a teacher while continuing to paint. From the 1950s he regularly exhibited in Szolnok and Békéscsaba.
Solo exhibitions of his work were held in Mezőtúr in 1948 and 1964, and in Békéscsaba in 1965. Following his death, memorial exhibitions were organised at the Munkácsy Museum in 1986 and 1988, and at the Damjanich Museum in 1987. His works are held in museum collections in Békéscsaba, Szolnok and Debrecen.
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