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KMETTY, János Painter (Miskolc, 23rd December, 1889 – Budapest, 16th November, 1975) Masters: Elemér Halász-Hradil in Kassa, he studied at the Ferenc Szablya-Frischauf Free School of Budapest, then at Károly Ferenczy. In 1911 he visited the Julian Academy of Paris. He was a founding member and president of the group named the Képzőművészek Új Társasága /Society of New Fine Artists/. Between 1911 and 1912 he worked at the colony of artists located in Kecskemét, then in 1924, and during the period spanning from 1929 to 1931 at the colony of artists in Nagybánya. From the 1930’s onwards he traveled more and more often to Szentendre, and became the member of the colony of artists of Szentendre in 1945. Kmetty was a teacher at the Hungarian College of Fine Arts, located in Budapest from 1946, and became the head of the Painting Faculty thereat, up until 1969. Following the presentation of a number of his works at the Adolf Fényes Studio, he donated those to the museums of Miskolc and Pécs. His bequeathed works were moved to the Museum of Szentendre in 1976. An independent exhibition of his was opened n Szentendre in 1981. In 1946 he received the Award of Szinyei Soceity, in 1949 the Kossuth Award; 1969: Meritorious Artist Award; 1974: the 2nd Rank of the Legionof Flags of the Hungarian Republic. His early paintings were characterized by the style of impressionism. As he described in his autobiography, he reached cubism through the understanding of first impressionism, of the art of Cézanne. He was the producer of some of the first cubist works in Hungary. The changed was brought forth by his trip to Paris in the year of 1911, where he studied the art of Cézanne, Picasso, and the cubist artists, as well as the classicist artists of the Louvre. He began dealing with the splitting of the motifs of his images into geometric planes and forms, then with their reconstruction (Önarckép almával /Self-Portrait, with Apple/, 1912). Simultaneously he researched new methods of image production, through the placement of robust, single or double figured nudes, onto a cold, blue background, in which the playful usage of light and shadow also played important roles, which remained important compositional techniques in a number of works produced during the course of the 1910’s (Nő pohárral /Woman with glass/). He became acquainted with the works of the Neo group of Nagybánya at the colony of artists in Kecskemét. The pantheistic resonance found in his landscape paintings, produced in Kecskemét, may been felt in his multi-figured, amongst them his biblical compositions (Hegyi beszéd /Sermon on the Mount/, Mennybemenetel /Ascension/, etc.). The paintings, which recall the strict composition of the Renaissance, are formulations of the new and perfect world, which he imagined could be built. Elements of the material world become tools for the portrayal of a clear state of balance; his landscape, still-life and self-portrait compositions fit into formulated orders. His series of self-portraits symbolize the Human stereotype, which conducts conscious tasks, which take part in the building of a better future. He became acquainted with Lajos Kassák, and his activist circle, through the course of these activities, he furthermore participated in a number of their exhibitions. The Soviet styled Republic forced Kmetty into inner emigration. His series of copper etchings published in 1920 however conveyed a new concept: a subjective mode of portrayal took the place of the pathos filled expressional mode typical till then of his works. He was one of the founding members of the Képzőművészek Új Társasága /Society of New Fine Artists/ in 1924, which represented new progressive ambitions within the field of fine arts in Hungary at the time, he then joined the Szocialista Képzőművészek Csorortja /Group of Socialist Fine Artists/. In 1927 he once again traveled to Paris, where he consciously studied his role models. His still-life works, held in planes, the street depictions of Nagybánya exemplify the analysis of the material world, and its reconstruction based on geometry. The tools of image formation, i.e. the planes, colors, and the spectacle are his most significant motifs, which are stressed through the hidden structure of the image. The colors used in his works become lighter and brighter during the period. From the course of the 1930’s Kmetty spent more and more time in Szentendre, where he painted works with expressionist colors, and brush technique, and atmospheric effects. The city of Szentendre becomes a more and more significant theme in his aquarelle and oil paintings. The composition, which stresses the constructional pattern of the paintings, is made more relaxed by delicate outlines and fine pastel colors. He soon however quite this delicate style and returned to stricter cubist forms, and outlined his objects with wide black contours. After 1945, as a member of the Hungarian Council of Art, he played a significant role in public life, and believed in social development. This is well exemplified by the new theme of the 1950’s: the portrayal of workers in factory surroundings, during the periods of rest between work. Within his vertically stretched compositions contoured with blue color, produced during the course of the 1960’s, figures such as the builder, the worker, the painter, and the mother, as active participants of society, became central elements. He split his compositions into rhombus and rhomboid planes, through the use of contours. In these works, in the background, behind the figures, the houses and roofs of Szentendre may be seen drawn with vertical and horizontal incisions. During the course of his last creative period he prepared glass windows, and nonfigurative glass compositions, with pieces of colored glass, and buttons placed onto panels of glass. His painted glass windows imitate lead framed glass windows: the black contours of the rhomboid planes, known from his paintings recall the leaded colors. Kmetty’s entire life was characterized by strict ethical virtues, his autobiographical and art theoretical writings are3 significant documents of his age. (translated b: Vladimir Végh)