Background
Istvan Nagy was born on March 28, 1873 in Misentea, Harghita County, Romania into a land-owning family.
Discovering that he had artistic talent, and encouraged by Gusztáv Kelety, he went to study at the Hungarian University of Fine Arts in Budapest, where his primary teacher was Bertalan Székely.
Istvan Nagy was born on March 28, 1873 in Misentea, Harghita County, Romania into a land-owning family.
Rather than take up agricultural pursuits, he attended the teacher training college in Kolozsvár and taught in Homokmégy. One of his courses involved drawing in charcoal. Discovering that he had artistic talent, and encouraged by Gusztáv Kelety, he went to study at the Hungarian University of Fine Arts in Budapest, where his primary teacher was Bertalan Székely. He also studied in Munich with Franz von Lenbach and obtained a scholarship to study at the Académie Julian in Paris.
In 1902, Istvan held his first exhibition in Csíkszereda, near his hometown. This was followed by a long period of solitude, characterized by extended sojourns for painting and drawing in the surrounding forests.
World War I brought him out again. He went to the Transylvanian and Galician fronts, where he produced bleak portraits of the soldiers.
After the war, in 1919, Istvan returned to Budapest. During the 1920s, he and József Koszta toured the Great Hungarian Plain, painting landscapes and spending time at the art colony in Kecskemét. Another exhibition in 1923 first attracted general attention to his work, including praise from the well-known writer Dezső Kosztolányi. He also was fortunate to find a wealthy patron who helped him to organize more exhibitions and sell his paintings.
In 1930, his ill health prompted him to settle in Baja with his family. Once there, his mental and physical health began to decline. He eventually contracted cerebral myelitis and had a stroke that deprived him of his speech, but he continued to paint until almost his final day.
Autumn in Bakony
1927Backyard
1911Bakony-Landscape
1928Bald trees with houses
1911Fences
1927Hills with blue shades
1932Humid landscape in Transylvania (Békás)
1928In a surgery
1916Little boy
1915Little girl with yellow babushka
1917Mistletoe bunch
1920Schoolboy
1932Self Portrait
1919Self-portrait
1920Soldier head
1915Székely girl
1913Székely room
1919Transylvanian landscape
1925Winter landscape
1927Young wife keeping apples
1934