Katalin SYLVESTER

Early Years Katalin Sylvester was born on October 28th 1929 in Mezőtúr, Hungary. She finished high school at the Veres Pálné Gimnázium. During these years, she attended the studio of Álmos Jaschik, which had a great influence on her later works. She was admitted to University of Fine Arts, where she studied from Béla Bán, János Kmetty, and Gyula Hincz. She graduated in 1954 with Aurél Bernáth. She met Tibor Csernus at the University and they got married soon. They moved to Paris in 1957, where they got accommodation and minor graphic commissions from the other emigrated Hungarians. About her Paintings Her early periods of painting were a natural prelude to her later sculpting. Her paintings are mostly portraits, self-portraits and stills, which has sur-naturalist elements with vibrant colors and a lot of tension. The paintings represent young women staring far away or affrightedly looking into our eyes. About her Sculptures Katalin Sylvester started to experiment with sculpting after arriving to Paris. She got inspired by her husband’s hobby, airplane modeling. She started to use the wood of the models to craft her sculptures. It could be perceived that in the beginnings, Katalin Sylvester tried to translate the inner meaning of her works by staying in the framework of old traditions. The strong climate change after moving to the French capital, significantly affected her works: she stripped down all the boundaries and denied all the expectations. Therefore, agnosticism, and the third dimension could appear in her art. Her everyday heroes received a physical body and signature movements alongside with a unique style. In the beginnings the figures were small, very detailed and precise, but later on, they got bigger, less detailed, shrill, and rawer than before. Artworks of Katalin Sylvester are available at the kálmán Makláry Fine Arts. Show more