Naïve Art & Primitivism
(1800 - 1980)
Signature
Signed bottom right
Exhibited
Exhibition of Tamás Péli and Jakab Orsós
1986. július
Városi Művelődési Központ
Zalaegerszeg
With his special talent and with the help of the Central Committee, he was awarded a Dutch scholarship to Amsterdam, where he graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in mural painting from 1969 to 1973. In 1971-72, he completed a 72 square metre glass window application in the chapel of the Andreas Hospital in Amsterdam. His theme is the Old and New Testament. In the same year, he exhibited his iron, aluminium and wood sculptures alongside his paintings at the Spaarbankvan de stad in Amsterdam. His diploma work, the first winner of the Amsterdam City Council's competition for fine arts, is a concrete relief of the interior of the Romanesque chapel of the Amsterdam Culture Centre.
In the 1970s, Péli drew on the lessons of naïve art, the early Renaissance and the sculptural work of Siquerios and Rivera to create a monumental pictorial language that was both individual and gypsy. His painting was inspired by ancient Egyptian and Indian culture, but he always adapted his schemes to the present. He enriched the Indian motifs with Hungarian characteristics. His talent and individuality made him a central figure among the Gypsy artists, and his ability to create schools, his individuality and his charm, and his radiating influence made him a central figure among Gypsy artists, and he was, one might say, the leading figure in the entire intellectual Roma art scene.
In Fidelity (1980), Péli arranges the three figures in a triangular composition, a technique favoured by the Renaissance, but also alluding to the Trinity representations (see the Christ face of the man in the middle, the dove in the top right-hand corner). The figures are monumental, robust, almost occupying the entire picture plane. They are surrounded by symbols of loyalty (wolf-dog, flower) and peace (dove, olive branch).