1974
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Photo: SULYOK Miklós
SOMOGYI Győző
1942, Budapest, graphic artist, painter
He graduated in painting from the Secondary School of Visual Arts in 1960. He applied to the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts without success on three occasions. During this period he worked at the Kossuth Printing House, where he became acquainted with various graphic processes. He studied theology from 1962 and was ordained as a priest in 1967. Even during his pastoral work he made a living from manual labour; in the meantime, he was developing his own graphic style. He organised his first public exhibitions in the mid-1970s. He has been working as a freelance artist since 1975. He was awarded the Mihály Munkácsy Award in 1988. He was a founding member of the Danube Circle and the Fund to Support the Poor. His historical research and interest turned to Hungarian military costumes, and he has produced hundreds of colourful reconstruction drawings. He and his wife have been living in Salföld, collecting and recording the relics of the folk architecture of the Balaton Uplands since 1986. He received the Outstanding Artist Award in 1996, the Prima Primissima Prize in 2003 and the Kossuth Prize in 2012. He was recognised with the title of Artist of the Nation in 2014. He is a member of the Hungarian Academy of Arts.