Maria Szantho was born July 31, 1897 in the city of Szeged, in the south part of Hungary. She had an extraordinary life, gifted in arts, and achieved fame and international appreciation and honor. Her paintings are well known at galleries and auction houses, and part of many collections. Her full name with correct Hungarian spelling is "bácsai Szánthó Mária". The forename "bácsai" should be written with lower case 'b' as this part of the name is a title of nobility. She married 3 times. All 3 of her husbands passed away and she never had any children. Her third husband was Dr. Ferenc Klauschek, hence some sources mention her as Klauschek Ferencné ("né" is the equivalent of Mrs. in Hungarian). She signed all her paintings with her maiden name. Szantho Maria's first love was music, she was a talented piano player and finished her music studies as a teacher. She earned her diploma at the Hungarian Music Academy on piano faculty. Her diploma was signed by Zoltán Kodály the famous Hungarian composer. Shortly after completing her music studies she decided to pursue her interest in painting. She went on several study tours to France and Italy; her rich and detailed naturalist paintings were inspired by the hedonism of Károly Lotz and the joie de vivre of Gyula Benczúr. She studied with and from famous Hungarian painters such as Géza Kukán, Bertalan Karlovszky, Pál Fried and Mátyás Vitéz. Szantho exhibited from the mid-1920's at major art galleries such as the Mucsarnok in Budapest. She had an exhibition in Budapest in 1936. She specialized in portraying women posing nude against a landscape, also still lives and portraits. Her models are hedonistically portrayed, she used elements of impressionism and romance. Since her... The correct year of birth and death 1897-1998 on Maria Szantho's grave. Source: adapted from www.szantho.ca with the permission of the artist's grand-nephew Gabor Bagi [http://www.askart.com/artist_bio/Maria_Szantho/11073825/Maria_Szantho.aspx] undefined

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