Gallery: Püspöki Palota (Episcopal Palace) – 8330 Sümeg, Szent István tér 8.

Opening hours: Tuesday-Saturday 9.00 AM-5.00 PM Closed on Mondays

Website: www.sumegart-canada.hu Email: kanadai.magyar@gmail.com

enuine commitment, love, passion, lunacy, courage…

Perhaps all these were necessary at the same time when

Stephen Gadacsy and his spouse, Julie, both past 70, estab-

lished the Gadácsi-Szijjártó Fine Art Foundation in 2006 with a

momentum surpassing youth.

he goal of the Canadian couple living in Canada since 1957 was

to strengthen ties between Canada and Hungary in the field of

contemporary visual art.

The Foundation established its permanent Canadian-

Hungarian Fine Art Gallery in the Sümeg Episcopal Palace. Its

main supporters were the Municipality of the Town of Sümeg

and the Public Foundation for the Episcopal Palace.

Gadácsi-Szijjártó Fine Art Foundation

8330 Sümeg, Kompanik Zsófia u. 13.

Phone: +36-87-352-401, +36-70-453-5296

Email: kanadai.magyar@gmail.com

www.sumegart-canada.hu

he Foundation also uses the fine art gallery as a public space

that enables local residents, students and other small groups

to get acquainted with the Foundation, the gallery, the themes

of contemporary exhibitions, the founders, and the historical

background of the themes of interest to the Foundation in the

form of special History, Art History and Arts classes.

If you, your friends or partners wish to participate in such

a special History lesson,

If you are an educator and you wish to present the themes

touched upon by the Canadian-Hungarian Fine Art

Gallery in an authentic setting,

please don’t hesitate to contact us at one of our availabilities

below:

ulie Szijjártó comes from a trader family in Sümeg. Julie and her

husband, Stephen Gadacsy have been living in Canada since

1957. The young couple’s shared interest was art. Stephen was a

painter himself.

Slowly recovering from their first few very challenging years in

Canada, Julie and Stephen turned to contemporary art and

opened their gallery downtown Toronto in 1972, where they

displayed works of contemporary artists for 16 years. Drawing

on their courage, Julie and Stephen moved together with their

gallery to Port Dover in the countryside in 1988, to a heritage

building built in 1863.

The cosmopolitan well-rounded couple built an extensive

network in the field of art, their gallery had its regular patrons

who followed the works of art of the artists they sponsored.

In their lifestyle, Julie and Stephen mostly follow European

culture. They have taken up the mission of promoting not only

contemporary art but also European customs and heritage in

their own community.

Julie and Stephen primarily furnished their homes with

antique and period furniture and they hosted major contem-

porary exhibitions as well.

Since 2000, they have been spending four months in their

Hungarian home every year.

he couple returned to Hungary more and more often after the change

of the regime and nurtured the idea of the establishment of the

Gadácsi-Szijjártó Canadian-Hungarian Fine Art Foundation for

years.

They found home in both countries in their lives.

Canada accepted them together with tens of thousands of other

refugees, while Hungary always remains their native country that

they had greatly missed.

Julie and Stephen pay tribute to their second home country by the

popularisation of contemporary Canadian art in Hungary, while they

offer their first home country their experience, network of contacts

and the popularisation and embracing of contemporary art.

The permanent exhibit of the Gallery entitled Exploration comprises

the lithographs of Frederick Hagan (1918-2003), a renowned and

outstanding Canadian artist and college professor.

The temporary exhibits of the Foundation also promote the intro-

duction and exposure of artefacts by contemporary artists.

n the autumn of 1956 Canada followed Hungarian events

with a heightened awareness. From the approximately

200,000 refugees, 40,000 were accepted by Canada. There

were some who could succeed within a short period, but

many others greatly struggled with integration.

The discovery of the country, settling into a new life was

certainly a challenge for all leaving their countries.

he Gadácsi-Szijjártó couple brought together a remarkable

contemporary art collection in Canada.

At the Foundation’s Sümeg Gallery Frederick Hagan’s 55-

piece lithography (limestone print) series entitled

“Exploration” is displayed to the audience. The series

depicts certain stages of the exploration of Canada.

(Toronto 1918 - 2003)

rederick Hagan was born in Toronto in 1918.

He took his first steps towards art at his father’s carpentry

workshop when he was quite young. Due to the premature

death of the head of the family, Frederick dropped out of

school to support his mother.

He laboured as a factory worker while he studied drawing and

painting in the evening programme of the Ontario College of

Art. His drawings were introduced at the Canadian Pavilion of

the New York World’s Fair when he was only 21. He became a

faculty member at his own school at 28 and retired from there

after 37 years. Hagan influenced his community not only as an

artist and instructor but also as a human being due to his

unique energies and passionate devotion.

In 1985 Frederick Hagan was commis-

sioned by Canada Post to create a

series of 16 stamps, reproducing the

artist’s 16 oil paintings.

Four stamps were issued per year

between 1986 and 1989 under the title

‘Exploration of Canada’.

While creating the paintings Hagan

traveled extensively; he read,

researched and prepared countless

sketches. Travelling the country, he

conceived ideas and feelings on

Canada, its history, regions and

people. Later on, he processed these to

create the 55-piece series lithography

portfolio called ‘Exploration’: a

unique, challenging, symbolic and

often enigmatic depiction of Canadian

history.

These 55 lime stone prints comprise

the permanent exhibit of the Founda-

tion entitled ‘Exploration of Canada’.

The material of the permanent exhibit

The content of the ‘Exploration’ portfolio is closely linked with

the theme of the stamps deriving from the moods, spiritual

experiences evoked by explorers.

Structurally, three lithographs belong to the theme of each

stamp:

the first one shows the landscape of the scene of the event

the second one depicts the event displayed on the stamp

and its main participants

the third one is the personal experience and evaluation of

the artist

Hagan presents the discovery of Canada from about 1200

BC through the Medieval Norsemen, the Aboriginals, the Cabot

landing in the 15th Century to the conquest of the Hudson Bay.

He demonstrates the trade relations of settlers and the prevalence

of Christianity in the midst of 17th century events depicted as

exploration. The next sections of the exhibit lead up to the 20th

Century through the Hudson Bay Company becoming dominant

in the 18th Century.

in Port Dover

The Gallery

agan regularly exhibited at the gallery of the Gadácsy

couple from 1978. Today his pictures can be found at

Canada’s most important galleries, museums, university,

corporate and private collections.

o the best of the Foundation’s knowledge, the collection of

the Gadácsy-Szijjártó couple is the only Frederick Hagan

collection in Hungary and the largest collection in Europe

that was created during the artist’s most momentous

period.

To show their respect, the Hagan family enriched the

collection with further creations by their father Fred, while

showing gratitude to the founders for their efforts in

popularising Canadian and Hungarian contemporary art.

ne of the goals of the Foundation is to organise temporary

exhibitions, arts meetings, exchanges of experience, youth

programmes, which may also strengthen Canadian-Hungarian

ties in the field of contemporary art.

József Miklós Halmy Halmy was born in Putnok, in Borsod County in 1929. He immigrated to Canada in 1952. He continued his studies at the Ontario College of Art in Toronto where he was a student of Fred Hagan. He regularly exhibited at the Gadatsy Gallery. His works of art can be found at the museums of Miskolc and Debrecen.

Tibor Nyilasi Nyilasi was born in Kesztölc in 1936. He has been living in Canada since 1957. His works have been displayed in several collections including the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle in England, the Hungarian National Gallery, the Christian Museum in Esztergom and the Art Gallery of Hamilton. Nyilasi was also Hagan’s student.

Gábor Gerlóczy Gerlóczy was born in Budapest in 1964. His first master was his uncle, Gedeon Gerlóczy, the savior of Csontváry paintings. He is member of the Association of Artists in Nagykovácsi, the Sociomemory Workshop, The Group of Six and the Hungarian Artists’ Public Benefit Association.

The artistic ambition of the Group of Six is to provide individual responses to cultural globalism jointly as a specially formed small community.

Members of the Group of Six: Ildikó Gaszner,

Gábor Gerlóczy, Zoltán Molnár-Göb, Andrea Páczelt, Ferenc Somogyi,

Csaba Vladár, Krisztina Vladár and Tibor Zátonyi.

he Gallery of the Foundation introduced new services in

2014: the board of trustees organise and host special history

and art history classes, discussions related to the themes of

the exhibitions.

oday Sümeg is not only a popular touristic destination

because of its castle. More and more visitors tour the

downtown area and discover the Franciscan Church and

Monastery famous for its pilgrimages, and the parish

church decorated with Maulbertsch frescos, often referred

to as Hungary’s Sistine Chapel, as well as the Episcopal

Palace. The permanent exhibitions at the Palace offer

enjoyable recreation not only to those interested in

culture. Its courtyard, ancient walls offer a historic atmos-

phere of several hundred years to please visitors.

It is getting more and more widespread that the Palace

was the summer residence and sometimes even home of

bishops from Veszprém, a city boasting Episcopal

coronation rights. Nowadays, however, guests prefer to

crown their leisure time with a joyful wine tasting at the

Episcopal Cellar, enriched by gastronomical delights.

Püspöki Palota (Episcopal Palace) 8330 Sümeg, Szent István tér 8.

www.puspokipalota.hu

Palota Pince (Episcopal Cellar) 8330 Sümeg, Szent István tér 10. www.palotapince.hu

Glenhyrst Art Gallery Brantford Canada

The Municipality of Sümeg 8330 Sümeg, Béke tér 7. www.sumeg.hu

For further information on programmes in Sümeg contact Sümeg and Regions TDM www.sumeginfo.hu

Gadácsi-Szijjártó Fine Art Foundation 8330 Sümeg, Kompanik Zsófia u. 13. Canadian-Hungarian Fine Art Gallery Episcopal Palace 8330 Sümeg, Szent István tér 8. www.sumegart-canada.hu