Galéria Lénia has been operating as a gallery, or more precisely as a memorial house, for 20 years. The studio house, set in a beautiful garden with mature trees, was formerly the home and workplace of an artist family. It was built by Mária Túry (1930–1992), a two-time Munkácsy Prize-winning Artist of Merit and Artist of Excellence, and György Kádár (1912–2002), a Kossuth Prize-winning Artist of Merit and Artist of Excellence, both painters. Their daughter, Katalin Kádár (1951), also became a visual artist. The house was designed by Béla Pintér.
Béla Pintér (1925–1992) worked as an architect at the Institute for Urban Planning and Design (VÁTI), Iparterv, and later at the Public Building Design Office (KÖZTI). Among many other buildings, he designed the now-demolished Krúdy Cinema in Nyíregyháza, the Hilton Hotel in Budapest, and the Water Research Institute in Libya.
Construction took place between 1959 and 1961. Today the building enjoys local heritage protection.
After the family moved in, continuous creative work began in the studio on the upper floor, while the living quarters were located on the lower level.
Mária Túry died in 1992. György Kádár lived until 2002 and continued working almost until the very end of his life.
After their deaths, their daughter decided to establish a memorial house in order to preserve and present her parents’ artistic legacies and to promote her own work. As far as possible, she retained the original furnishings, books, and even the plants.
She also regularly presents György Kádár’s extensive collection, which consists of works by fellow teachers and students from the college where he taught.
In addition, the gallery hosts contemporary group and solo exhibitions.
Thus, Galéria Lénia, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, is not merely a studio house, but also a cultural meeting point and a community-building space that keeps the values of the past alive in the present.
Numerous engaging, meaningful, and high-quality exhibitions have been organised, featuring works by the gallery’s artists, pieces from the collection, or works by invited artists.
The Gallery's collection consist of about two hundred artist's works, for example: Barcsay Jenő, Domanovszky Endre, Bortnyik Sándor, Gruber Béla, Gross Arnold, Kass János, El Kazovszkij, Záborszky Gábor.
Mária Túry and György Kádár left behind vast bodies of work. In addition to paintings, works on paper, and prints, the archive contains an enormous quantity of designs and sketches created as preparatory studies for major mural works. Until now, the exhibitions have mainly featured the better-known works that had already been shown during the artists’ lifetimes. However, the house and its storage rooms contain an outstanding collection of previously unexhibited and little-known works. The material is so valuable and beautiful that, once rediscovered, it attracted the attention of museum professionals, who spoke of it in highly appreciative terms.
I am now presenting this body of work. The mural works of the two artists, including tapestries, stained-glass windows, and mosaics, can be found in numerous locations throughout the country. The sketches and variations created for these works are shown in the current exhibition, whose closing event, the finissage, is planned to coincide with Contemporary Art Week.
Events at Budapest Artineris
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