Description

Vilmos Aba-Novák, one of the outstanding artists of the Roman school, started painting as a child at the age of nine.
Whether he painted or drew, he demonstrated an impressive compositional skill and strove for monumentality. He applied powerful colors to his canvases with a virtuoso technique, and strove for a dynamic and dramatic representation. As a fresco painter, he received many state and church commissions: for example, the Heroes' Gate in Szeged, the Szeklers of the Szent István Mausoleum in Székesfehérvár.
His graphic work is also significant, like his copper engravings, etchings, oil and tempera paintings, they fuse the formal language of expressionism and the Italian novecento.
One of the most beautiful pieces of his moving etchings is the "Processione". As its title suggests, Aba-Novák captures a village procession. The figures of the small composition make a pilgrimage to a crucifix. The women, wrapped in veils, the men with their heads uncovered, raise their clasped hands in supplication. Their singing and supplicating procession marches to a cross standing on a hill. Their longing gaze is glued to it.
The "Processione" clearly shows: Aba-Novák created a masterpiece not only in the field of painting, but also in the field of graphics. Its dramatic image faithfully reproduces the heightened atmosphere of the procession and the state of mind of the marching believers.

(Fábian Takats)

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