Cowichan Public Art Gallery On Exhibit: Marianna Schmidt, "Sinister Gaiety"

When you lose everything, how do you cope?  Marianna Schmidt turned to art.  Born into prosperity in Hungary in 1918, she loved illustrating scary fairy tales as a child.  But as Europe faced depression and eventual war, Hungary became unstable.  She lost family, home and country and witnessed horrors that shattered her trust in humanity.  

Between 1960 and 1964, Marianna earned a degree in printmaking, dividing her time between school and work.  
She made art by day and worked by night. She was prolific, trying out new mediums and experimenting with different techniques.  Her printmaking displays the precision of her medical training, perhaps a way of controlling the inner chaos that always haunted her.

Visit the Cowichan Public Art Gallery to view an amazing collection of Marianna's prints for which she received many international awards.  Her works are on display in public galleries and in private collections around the world.