Zsuzsanna Udvarhelyi

Hungarian artist Zsuzsanna Udvarhelyi, known in international art circles as Zsud, paints portraits that reveal an astounding level of intimacy and transparency. Zsud studied art in Budapest and Vienna and also in the French city of Nancy. She has exhibited in the US, Hungary, Austria, Slovakia, Monaco, Italy, France and Qatar.

Zsud experiments with different techniques and materials: Frescoes, reliefs, oil paint and the colour gold offer her an array of possibilities. For the artist, this experimentation is more like a reform than an uncertainty. “I’ve already found my way; I only have to walk it,” says Zsud. Colours such as violet, sea green and sand-yellow contrast with opalescent backgrounds, suggesting the beauty of radiance, light and clarity in her work. Elements of pre-Raphaelitism as well as the aesthetics of Art Nouveau and of the 'Fauves' are to be found in her paintings, as the standing, elongated picture surface serves as a vehicle for elegance and aloofness. A legacy from Art Nouveau is the slightly 'sfumato' outline of some of the faces portrayed as the keepers of hidden secrets. Zsud’s admirers say that she harbours a deep artistic instinct and possesses a core aesthetic integrity. She manages to interpret western European culture and she presents it enriched with Hungarian flavours.

“On busy workdays, I move around picking out strangers’ faces, looking at them, trying to imagine their story. Sometimes, if I get inspired, I ask them to sit for me. This doesn't mean I paint their faces. I'm not interested in portraiture, I just want to capture their souls, their hearts.” Her feminine portraits certainly capture the strength and beauty of the female form and never more so than in her current exhibition, Mistral Bleu, taking place in the beautiful town of Beaulieu-sur-Mer on the French Riviera from May to July 2017.