Detail from the cover of Still Life with Violin, a biography of Stefan Lokos

Detail from the cover of Still Life with Violin, a biography of Stefan Lokos[/caption]Stefan Lokos (1913-1994) was born in Budapest, Hungary, and studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest, the City Music Academy of Budapest, and the Music Conservatory of Vienna. When war broke out in 1939, he was drafted into the Hungarian Army and was later shipped to the Eastern Front, where he was captured and served eight months as a Russian prisoner of war. He survived by playing his violin and painting officers’ portraits. After escaping, he walked over 800 miles through war-torn Europe from Odessa, Russia, to Vienna, Austria, where he met the love of his life, Ingeborg Rulff, an aspiring artist. Together, the two dreamed of emigrating to America, but first, they had to find a way out of post-war Europe.

Vienna was divided into four sectors: French, British, American, and Russian. The British and Americans were the easiest to move through, but the French were more challenging, and the Russians were still more difficult. Given Lokos’s war service in the German Army, the Russian sector was downright dangerous as people of his heritage were regularly picked up by the Russians and never seen again. So Lokos and Ingeborg created false identity papers, traveled by train to Innsbruck, and hired a guide to take them over the Brenner Pass into Italy. Soon after their arrival, authorities challenged their paperwork and imprisoned them in a refugee camp. Stefan helped them survive by playing his violin in the camp orchestra.

Several years passed, and eventually, they were found by the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. The US quota for Hungarian immigrants was too low, and they were forced to seek asylum elsewhere. Several fellow musicians from the camp signed up to work in a nightclub in Damascus, Syria, known as the Chat Noire, the Black Cat. When their fellow musicians heard of Stefan and Inge’s problems, they sent them visas and a contract to play at the club. The couple opted to be flexible and hoped they could make their way to the United States in the not-too-distant future. After Damascus, they went to Beirut, where they befriended the American Ambassador to Lebanon, Harold B. Minor. Minor and other sympathetic American friends, in turn, became sponsors for Lokos and his wife; the pair, including their son, Laszlo, born in Damascus, arrived in the United States in 1954.A Church of Christ group helped them find an apartment near Columbia University, and they soon heard about an outdoor art exhibition in Greenwich Village. They entered the paintings Stefan had accumulated, and all sold—and he won a prize, too.  In the summer of 1956, Stefan and his wife registered Laszlo to attend a summer camp at the Peter Pan Farm in Woodstock. After dropping their son off, they traveled across the country and reunited with him at the end of the summer. They decided to stay in the area and purchased a home in High Woods near the camp. Through the ministrations of Ingeborg, Stefan’s works were soon being sold at the Silvermine Guild of Arts in Connecticut, the Katonah Gallery in Westchester County, and the Kornbluth Gallery in New Jersey.

Stefan’s philosophy was to paint every day. He started by making a few strokes and then saw what came along. In his early days, he produced beautiful impressionistic watercolors in the style of Cezanne and Degas. Later, he embraced semi-abstraction and more challenging abstract genres. In a journal, he wrote:

“An abstract painting should have balance in composition and harmony in color. Having evolution in mind, I start from naturalism and impressionism and work toward the abstract—excluding prejudice and hatred.”

In time, Stefan opened the Woodstock Studio Gallery, where he taught art to summer students.

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Art Smith at home, wearing his Union hardhat

On the crisp, sunny, final day of January 2024, I visited Arthur “Art” Smith on Cold Brook Road in Woodstock. His artist studio is set back from the road on an icy driveway in a stand of pine trees. When I arrived, he welcomed me into his cozy residence and offered me tea as we settled at his kitchen table. As we got acquainted, Art pointed out an alcove behind me where he does his painting, and then as we pivoted back to the table, I could see his sculptures ranged over several shelves around his handsome wood stove. Art has a lively step, but his studio, surrounded by the forest, projects a serene calm.

During the 1950s, Art grew up in High Woods and, according to his sister, Dr. Mary Smith, the chiropractor, he was always drawing or working on artistic endeavors. Their neighbor, Stefan Lokos, kindly sat with Art over the years and gave him tutorials. Their conversations, ranging from color theory to using a pallet knife, in addition to Art’s life experience, shaped his technique and enabled him to become the artist he is today. Some of Art’s work is figurative, but mainly, he uses vibrant color blocks to work out the abstract promptings of his creative muse.

Art became a metal worker and joined Local 38 out of Brewster, NY, to pay the bills and raise a family. The union’s territory encompassed New York City, the western half of Connecticut, and Albany, NY. Often, he rose at 4:30 am and commuted an hour or more to jobs. Workdays often averaged ten hours per day. Some projects, like the Fisher Center at Bard, were closer than job sites in New Rochelle or Albany. But throughout his work life, he maintained his art practice.

Art Smith’s The Bicyclists; oil on canvas; 30 x 40 inches

In the early 2000s, he began showing his work locally. Of an exhibition at the Beahr Gallery in October 2002, the Woodstock Times writes, “Woodstock painter Arthur Smith, originally a Saugerties native, will exhibit at the Beahr. “Smith spent the last thirty-five years documenting the Woodstock scene, painting in makeshift sheds and out-buildings while raising a family, displaying great tenacity and talent.”  For the Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild’s 5 x 7 show in 2002, the Woodstock Times noted in passing that “standouts included what appears to be an Art Smith piece.” The Woodstock Times in 2010 announced another show with “the opening reception for the enigmatic abstract/representational paintings of Art Smith.”

Nowadays, Art continues to rise early and takes daily walks around Cooper Lake or in Wilson State Park for pleasure and inspiration. He says he loves to paint on canvas and often starts with a smear of color. Then, over several days, he works the oils into shapes that satisfy his creative vision. Painting, he feels, completes him. His home is bursting with new work, and he wants to show it soon. To see more examples of Art Smith’s paintings, visit his website.

~ Weston Blelock