Today I bought this painting by Lajos Markos (1917-1993). It is titled “Portrait of a Young Woman” and was painted in the 1950’s. I went up to the shop because I needed to start clearing out my space since I’ve decided not to rent the space anymore. David Lackey rents the space next to mine and in his space this beautiful portrait caught my eye so I thought about it for about 2 minutes and then I bought it. In fact, I recognized the artist before I was even close enough to read the signature.
I imagine this was more of a study than a formal portrait. I would hope that if this were a formal portrait of someone’s daughter, it would not have ended up in an antique shop. Since I myself paint, that’s a natural feeling I suppose.
I have studied with William Kalwick, who studied with Lajos Markos, and it’s interesting to see the resemblence in the colors and techniques. I will dig out some of the paintings I did while studying with William Kalwick and post them. I am in no way comparing myself to either Mr. Markos or Mr. Kalwick, they are talented painters whom I can learn much from. Though Mr. Markos has passed away, this portrait I bought will serve as an educational example of his work for me to study. It is also beautifully done and I enjoy just looking at it. I don’t buy paintings very often and it’s so exciting to acquire a new painting!
I am off to California this week to look at colleges with my daughter, who is a senior in high school this year. I won’t do any painting while I’m out there, we’ll be too busy. But I will take a lot of photos to work from. And I’ll set up this blog to show some of my studies of people from life while I’m gone.
I met Mr. Markos in Houston when I was in college myself. He frequently shopped at my father’s auto parts store and gifted us a a beautiful unsigned painting, “Siege of the Alamo”. We also purchase a signed print “Gathering Storm”. My parents recently passed and those two items were missing from the estate. I was very sad to have lost them. I have very fond memories of those times and the very talented Mr. Markos.