"Ildikó Simsay’s lifework became an art historical fact after she had passed away at the age of 55. In memory of Ildikó Simsay, a narrower circle of her art friends called Folyamat Társaság (Process Society) organized their own retrospective exhibition of her works in Vigadó Gallery. The question arises: which art history are we talking about? Even if she had exhibitions staged abroad including ones in Hamburg, Vienna, Königstein im Taunus, Fuldo, Deufringen, Mühlheim, and Stuttgart, her art does not seem to connect to any of the universal artistic mainstream trends of the past 25 years. If one looks at the documents related to her exhibitions in Hungary, one finds a so-far unknown Hungarian art history: an even more unknown history than that of her works familiar in the 1950s only to her friends. This art history is composed of artworks painted, for political reasons, for future audiences, and not for the contemporary general public, her works remained unknown for a long time as a result of the soon-to-take-place “swift political and historical changes” but could not have become legendary."

/Katalin Keserü/

This memorial exhibition pays homage to the undeservingly forgotten lifework of fine artist Ildikó Simsay, who would have turned 80 this year and whose tragic death put a sudden end to her artistic career.

Organizer: Hungarian Academy of Arts’ Section of Fine Arts