LEEDS.- A new exhibition at The Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery explores the life of Hungarian-born, and Yorkshire-adopted artist, György Gordon.

Peter Murray, friend of the artist and the founding and Executive Director of Yorkshire Sculpture Park, officially opened 'György Gordon (1924 – 2005) A retrospective’ on 18 October. The exhibition examines the complexities of a life in exile and brings the work of a nurturing art educator to the foreground.

Dr James Hamilton, who knew Gordon in Wakefield, said 'György Gordon is one of the great unknowns of British art, one of those rare talents who fled a Europe in turmoil, and came to enrich our culture immeasurably. Celebrated though he has been in Yorkshire for years, this exhibition creates a new opportunity for him to be discovered by a national audience.’

György Gordon (b. 1924), gained his diploma in Painting from the Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest in 1953, however he soon fled his native country following the Hungarian Uprising of 1956. After a failed attempt to take refuge in America, and a short period in London, Gordon moved to Wakefield and took up post as Lecturer at the College of Art in 1964 where he taught for over 20 years. Calm and gentle in person, it was in his art that Gordon expressed the dramatic personal and political turmoil he experienced.

The exhibition includes paintings and drawings spanning the 1950s-1990s reflecting on Gordon’s life and artistic journey, from his experience as a refugee to later work exploring isolation, alienation, and old age.

A life journey in paintings
University of Leeds Art Curator Nathalie Levi said ‘We were very excited by the opportunity to bring Gordon’s artistic work to the fore. The challenging events he faced and a commitment to teaching competed with his own practice during his lifetime. This exhibition is testament to Gordon’s immense talent as a painter in his own right as well as a reflection on the consequences of political, social and private upheaval.’

Gordon’s style is recognisably in the tradition of European Expressionism. A major motif throughout his work is sombre tones creating huddled and distorted images of the human form, giving the appearance of isolation and inhumanity. This is a theme which can be tracked throughout his life, and was a form of expression for Gordon’s memories. His time as an ambulance man in the Second World War for example, is reflected in the challenging Torso series (1969-70), and his experience as a refugee is apparent throughout his dark and disturbing work, as seen in Refugees (1964-65). During the 1970s, a motif of faceless figures, such as Man and Woman (1973-4) emerged. Later in his life Gordon’s work lightened in colour with a shift in focus towards the process of aging revealing a gentler side to the artist’s work.

'Immigration is a sort of death'
Gordon along with his 7 year old daughter Anna were among an estimated 200,000 Hungarians who fled their country during the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. Gordon and his daughter attempted to enter America, but after being suspected as a communist he was interrogated, sent to an internment camp and eventually flown back to Europe, where he and Anna were imprisoned separately. Anna was transported to Germany, while Gordon was forced to remain in Salzburg. On being released, Gordon travelled to London and spent a desperate couple of weeks trying to be reunited with his daughter.

Life in Yorkshire
Gordon’s life altered drastically when he moved to Yorkshire in the 1970s. Settling in Wakefield, Gordon discovered a talent for teaching though his role at Wakefield Art College. In his limited free time he explored the intense feelings of his past experiences in an explosive and disconcerting style. After moving to a cottage on Heath Common, known as the Joiner’s Shop, Gordon’s focus shifted to include domestic scenes, landscapes and light.

Gordon has been adopted and celebrated by his chosen county and country with major retrospectives at Wakefield Art Gallery, Leeds City Art Gallery, in Harrogate, Huddersfield and at the National Portrait Gallery. He came full circle in 1992 displaying his work for the first time after the Uprising in Budapest at National Széchényi Library.