PAINTING BETWEEN TRADITION AND INNOVATION – Istvan Csok

ISTVAN CSOK 1/3 – He was a Hungarian Impressionist painter, that lived and exhibited in Paris for a portion of his life. István Csók was born in 1865, inside a February day, becoming most famous in Hungary for his nudes, portraits, and landscapes of the Lake Balaton. Similarly to the other young artists of his time, he studied at the academies of Budapest. He remained one of the most popular figures in modern Hungarian painting, while evolving stylistically from realism to his unique interpretation of Post-Impressionism.

ISTVAN CSOK 2/3 – An example of his work, can be glimpsed behind the opening credits of the 1971 film Countess Dracula (this is an 1896 painting, showing serial killer Countess Elizabeth Bathory enjoying the torture of some young women: in an inner courtyard of one of her castles). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gamBv1eGNCc

ISTVAN CSOK 3/3 – In 1895–96 he painted many portraits and scenes of the everyday life of the Shokats people of Transdanubia in their colourful traditional dress. His art was honored with several awards, among them the Kossuth Prize, which he won twice, he was a professor at the Budapest Academy of Fine Arts. As he himself said, his painting always evolved between the forces of tradition and innovation.

You can see more on Meeting Benches, looking for http://meetingbenches.com/2016/09/istvan-csok-18651961-hungarian-painter-systematic-rigor-academy-style-freer-expressionist-approach/