The fine art collection owned by the town of Pásztó is due to the initiative, mediation and encouragement of the graphic artist Kálmán Csohány. One of his cherished dream was to create a local gallery.
Csohány Kálmán was born in 1925 in Pásztó. He graduated from the College of Fine Arts in the graphics art faculty in 1952. Although he left his homeland early, he supported the town’s cultural life in a unique way, organizing exhibitions and art colonies there.
Especially since the 1970s, his personal relationship with his homeland has also become closer. Among other things, the result was that the Council of Pásztó has acquired a valuable collection of works of fine arts.
The collection is based on the graphic material donated to Pásztó by Kálmán Csohány in 1974. Over the years, it has been continuosly expanded with the help of the artist, by individual donations, as well as by the Fine Arts Fund of the Hungarian People’s Republic and by donations from the Ministry of Culture. (eg. Endre Bálint, Gyula Feledy, Pál Gerzson, Gyula Hincz, Ignác Kokas, Károly Reich, Vladimír Szabó, etc.)
The Csohány Fundation, formed in 1983, also played an important role in enriching the collection. In the 1990s, an international art colony was organized in Buják, the material of which continued to colour the collection with works of foreign and domestic artists.
The works of the artists of Pásztó and Nógrád are also significant. (eg. András Antal, Mária Szőllősi, ifj. István Szabó, Tamás Hibó, Zoltán Réti, Zoltán Szujó etc.) The works of several local art teachers have been added to the collection, too. (Anna Perényi, László Leszenszky, Áron Szabó and Imre Simon). Szappan János, one of the artists of Pásztó, also represents himself with large number of his naive paintings in the museum. Thanks to national creative applications, the collection has also expanded in the recent years.
Shah Gabriella, art historician
Director of the Dornyay Museum at Salgótarján