“Hungary needs a new face, and here it is,” said Nada Simonyi, proudly displaying her countrymen’s art at the “open house” she and her husband, Hungarian Ambassador Andras Simonyi, hosted at their new residence Friday night.
The reception for 200 guests featured works by eight of Hungary’s best contemporary artists who had been invited to lend paintings and sculptures to decorate the spacious, 12-room ambassadorial residence on 30th Street NW that once belonged to Sen. John Edwards.
The six artists who attended, Laszlo Feher, Jozsef Bullas, Tamas Soos, Gabor Tari, Karoly Klimo and Istvan Nadler , chatted easily — chiefly through translators — with American guests eager to hear about their recent exhibitions in Europe and the United States and the results of their meetings with such Washington art luminaries as Olga Viso, chief curator of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden; Kay Mussel, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at American University; and prominent local collector Ray Garcia.
“These artists were working behind the Iron Curtain for a long time and couldn’t connect with the outside,” Mr. Simonyi said, noting that his government is now actively promoting the display of their work via a program similar to the U.S. Department of State’s Art in Embassies program.
— Joanna Shaw-Eagle
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