Viski, Janos, sporting artist oil paintings

According to many Art Specialists, it was not just the animal he was interested in but also its features and particular movement, which he successfully managed to portray in his works.

Forms and colors were his main tools to express himself, animals and landscapes, his passions.

His works reflect that supreme blend, fantastically achieved by a gifted artist. Featuring motion and forms as well as color effects in open-air locations, his most frequent model were horses.

His pictures express strength; and a careful admirer would discover a great impressionist effect. His paintings could and can be admired several museums, galleries and show rooms all over Hungary, and many of them can be found in private collections in Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina. For in his quest to admire light and natural beauty, he traveled several times to these southern countries on study trips. In 1936 he was awarded a Grand Prix at the 1936 Salon des Beaux Arts in Paris.

The Gold Train from Hungary.

For a while now I have been researching and posting information on this famous Hungarian artist that is Janos Viski. Just recently, while researching on the matter I came across this information regarding this artist and a situation during the Second World War, when the Nazis confiscated nearly a train full of valuable art, jewelry, silver and china –among the many other objects-… I wanted to share with our readers this information and a brief article I have wrotin on those events.

It’s strange how things go chaining up… During the Second World War not only the world assisted to our history as humanity’s most outrageous genocide but also, the Nazi-fascist regime perpetrated the hugest theft ever. When sending innocent human beings to concentration camps and Ghettos, the Nazis took not only millions of peoples lives, dreams, projects, but also all their belongings. Indeed all sort of material property seems value-less when we put it side by side to the fact that over 6,000,000 human beings were asphyxiated with poisoned gas. Each and every life is unique, there’s no price that can be set upon it without under- pricing it. not all the money in the world could purchase the potentiality each individual has within to be, to BE in all aspects of life. Those who price the human potentiality are others, some cold soul individual that assets someone else’s life as a merchandize, an object. This said, it’s important that we don’t approach this matter from a somewhat naïve perspective. The holocaust had strong economic foundations linked to the immense hatred that filled those people’s hearts. The final solution, the need of asphyxiating millions of men, women, children -Jews, Gypsies, gays, communists, etc- had a solid economic stepping stone, gas was cheaper than bullets, it was a "cleaner process". It’s all very clearly explained in the Nazi documents. This human aberration was never an outbreak, it was a carefully orchestrated plan triggered by money and hatred.

Even clearer is this matter if we take in consideration the fact that all prisoners were forced to work without a wage, slavery -in all its forms and shapes- was one of the main production incomes during this totalitarian regime. And in this same line we can understand the existence of what was known as the Gold Train that took place in Hungary, though it could have occurred in any other location. Packed inside 29 boxcars were valuable family heirlooms of Hungarian Jewry, such as art, gold jewelry, diamonds, coins and currency, silverware, fine china, porcelain and religious items made of precious silver and gold, including kiddush cups, esrog and spice boxes, ritual handwashing cups, and Havdoloh holders.

During the war there were countless of forced confiscations. The stolen goods were taken over by some Nazi hierarchy. at this point, their tremendous hatred towards Judaism and those who practiced this religion was left aside, they appropriated their wealth, hung their fine art in the living rooms of the houses they had confiscated from the most prominent Jews of each city, dined with their china, used their jewelry.

They aimed to repeat this tactic regarding the Gold Train. However, something happened.

When the train headed from Budapest to Hallein, Austria, finishing the journey on March 30, 1945, the war was soon to be over, and no one was to spend time guarding a train in stead of saving their lives. Then the train was put into custody of the United States, and soon another story was to begin. According to the information available online on the matter we have found that there’s a lawsuit taking place. According to the information at http://www.cuneolaw.com/current/amended_goldtrain.html the US Army would have taken over the property of the train and never return it to its rightful owners, even more, it seems it was appropriated by some people of the US hierarchy. These valuable items, among which we have certain notice that there were some outstanding paintings of Janos Viski the gifted Hungarian artist, that in recent times have raised popularity.

Bob Frassinetti.
bob@frassinetti.com.ar
Buenos Aires, Argentina