Throughout history and in all cultures visual artists have played a major role in reflecting the world in which they live. In Canada, some artists of Hungarian origin have given expression to their immigrant experience; others have so completely integrated into the Canadian art scene that you might be surprised to discover that they hail from Hungary, Many Canadian artists are attempting to enrich their art through explorations of their Hungarian roots. On this section of our site we will attempt, over time, to showcase and display the works of as many artists (well-known and less well-known) and as many disciplines as we can. Our problem is one of overabundance, an embarras de richesses: we could not decide which ones to select first.
The Canadian Hungarian Artists Collective (CHAC) has attempted to bring together under one umbrella a number of artists for whom their Hungarian heritage is meaningful. We are grateful to them, their President Andrea Blanar, and their members for their willingness to share their work and their stories with us. We start with a small selection here but will feature different artists throughout the year. For more information about them, visit the CHAC website.
In virtually all major collections across Canada one can find artists of Hungarian origin working in diverse media including new media. Those interested might start with these visual media sites:
- National Gallery of Canada / Musée des beaux arts du Canada, Cybermuse
- Centre for Contemporary Canadian Art / Centre de l’art contemporain canadien (CCCA)
- Sculptors Society of Canada
Concordia University’s Art History department under the direction of Dr Loren Lerner has produced a guide entitled “Canadian Artists of East European Origin; an Introductory Guide” (See: http://art-history.concordia.ca/eea/index.htm ) which includes a number of Hungarian Canadian artists. We wish to thank Dr Lerner for giving us permission to use the text of her research to introduce the work of three of the artists below: Singer, Szilasi, and Torma. For the images we thank CHAC or the artists themselves.