Philip de Laszlo: Quickly Advancing

"Madame Jenő Hubay de Szalatnya,
née Countess Róza Cebrián" by Philip de Laszlo

Philip de Laszlo wrote: "During my first six months at the Academy I worked under John Greguss. At first I drew in pencil and charcoal, and later painted in oils. In spite of my short hours I made such progress that I won a State scholarship, which enabled me to be less dependent on my photography job.

I lived for the time when I should be allowed to draw in the life class, and it was during my second year that I was able to do so under Professor Szekely, one of the best historic painters in Hungary. I always looked forward to the two days in the week when he came through the studios, looked at our work and talked to us. We worked in charcoal and chalk on grey paper.

By this time I had saved enough money to take a week's holiday in the country at Easter with a fellow student. It was wonderful to give my whole day to drawing. When my friend and I were drawing a peasant wielding his scythe, he approached us during a break with his wife to look at the pictures. 'Why is one drawing more like you than the other?' we heard her ask. 'It is because the young man has used up more pencil than his friend,' he replied.

During this holiday I spent the whole of my time drawing men, women and children, in preparation for the next term at the Academy, when I was being promoted to the class where drawing from life began. The first day in the new class was an exciting one. There were about thirty students, of whom I was among the youngest, most of them being men five or six years my senior.

In the evenings there were also life classes for the advanced students. I was very anxious to attend these which were held by Professor Lotz, Hungary's leading mural painter, and an artist for whom I had a reverent admiration. He was a man of about sixty, gentle, distinguished in mind, living only for his art. To gain admittance to these classes one had to write one's name on the blackboard in the hall of the Academy, and also to submit drawings, which were examined by the Council, and then shown to Professor Lotz himself, with who rested the final decision.

I consulted with my master, put down my name and waited. One morning one of my fellow students greeted me with: 'Well, you are lucky chap! You have only just started here and you're deserting us already.' To my great delight I found my name amongst those who had been admitted to the advanced class. I was intensely keen to prove myself worthy of the great privilege which had been accorded me, and worked very hard."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Portrait of a Painter" by Owen Rutter.)