Americo Makk: The Patron of First Family of Artists
by
Nan DeVincent-Hayes, Ph.D

   
        To have a gifted artist in one's family is unique in itself, but to have an entire family equally
  talented is a rarity. This is the case with the Makks of Hawaii. 
        While Eva Makk, the mother of the family, paints in pastels with a light, almost dainty touch,
  her husband, Americo, paints dark, brazen colors in oils, with bold, heavy brushstrokes.
  Observing his art is akin to stepping inside one of his paintings and living the life of the subjects.
  Though impressionism best describes his style, it's not difficult to discern the shapes of his figures,
  the locations of his images, or the moods of his pieces. This is because his lines and angles are
  more clearly defined than those of many other impressionistic painters. But it's also easy to see
  that Americo was a follower of the likes of Raphael, DaVinci, Michelangelo, and others of that ilk. 
        His "Scented Air" is a good example of this, where evening is dawning on a Paris street while
  yet the remaining afternoon light is reflecting off store awnings, blending with the glow of street
  lamps and cafe lights, and in the foreground rests a flower cart with people all around it. The
  mums, flags, carnations are so vividly drawn with a plethora of color that we can almost smell their
  aromas. And the street mirrors the glistening lights of storefronts where happy-go-lucky Parisians
  shop, dine, socialize. This is a cityscape of bygone days worthy of being hung and treasured. 
        And though this painting is representative of a typical Americo Makk work of art, he has the
  ability to paint something purely atypical, such as portraits of unknown characters and scenes of
  pioneer days or the Wild West, as seen in his "Highland" where he casts a blue tone over the
  canvas to emphasize the cold of snow at night. Similar to this is "Windy Crossing" where
  pioneers struggle to cross America's vast expanse by buggy in the frigid air and deep snow.
  "Peaceful Plains" is an illustration of his incorporation of yellows and oranges to emit warmth
  and the connectedness of a tribal family's working and interacting together, giving us insight into
  the serenity and calmness in their day-to-day life. 
        And just as he is a master at enriching color and perfecting perception, he is also skilled in
  creating patterns that are undefined enough to give the impression of being dappled or
  geometrically angled, as seen in "Refracted Sun" where the jungle foliage is so thick and rampant
  that the village characters in canoes are nearly camouflaged within the scenery. It is this ability to
  create depth in shades that make his work shimmer and scintillate with life. His paintings are rich
  with details, which goes far to accentuate distance, time and place in his cowboys, horses,
  American-Indians. Each of Americo's work serves up a fine blend of color and balance, a full
  composition of totality, and an unabashed truth that touches that private and nostalgic part in all
  of us.
        His keen sense of shading to give depth, coupled with his magic to express precision, 
  ameliorates his talent in creating unsurpassed portraits of subjects emanating a certain religiosity,
  a particular inner spirituality. His dramatic lines and planes, and his cultivated use of soft brown
  hues to evoke emotions, make his people's crevices and pores, eyelashes and lips, heart and soul,
  seem almost tangible and textural. And his mastery in drawing facial minutia, his proper
  proportioning of fingers and nails, and his correct alignment of anatomy, allow viewers to see a
  character's dimples in a smile, or sense a flick of a wrist, or feel the shrug of a shoulder.
  Americo's portraits seem to speak for and represent all of what humanity is, and all of what we 
  wish humanity were.
         In "Comments"--a portrait of a man from another era sitting at a table, in a bowler hat, holding
  a bottle in one hand and a glass in the other, wearing a look of resigned acceptance. The artist uses
  somber tones to elicit sadness melded with glory over this character who seems lost in experiences
  that, though passed, leave him mellow and yet happy. Americo's superb depiction of his characters'
  features cause the canvas to surge with reality. 
        His statement that "I definitely believe that my background contributes to my choices of
  subject matter" (Makk Family 79) gives insight into what he paints: The sea, sky, earth; buildings,
  objects, emotions; earthquakes, volcanoes, blizzards; the common and the rare, the normal and
  the aberrant; the average and the extraordinary--all from that around him.
        But in each of his works we discern a hint of piety. Educated by Benedictine monks in Catholic
  schools where his artistic talent was spotted, a spiritual foundation was laid that forever influenced
  his life while being infused into his work. Post high school, he enrolled in the Hungarian National
  Academy of Fine Arts where his talent rivaled his professors. He received a scholarship to Italy
  where he studied first-hand the art of the Renaissance period, concentrating on style, technique,
  and texture, where he learned how to manipulate form, light and shadow which allowed him to
  give his work a chiaroscuro effect.
        Born in 1927 in Hungary, he has come a long way in his art, having, over the years, been
  accorded numerous honors such as the Vatican Portrait Award, the Grand Prize of the Monaco
  Exhibition, the Gold Medal World Prize in 1980, and the Alfred Nobel Medal for Peace in 1992.
  Too, he has held professorships around the world, as well as having exhibited at New York City's
  World's Fair, the Senate Rotunda, and many others, as well as in numerous galleries and museums
  in such places as Caracas, Paris, Tokyo, Denver, Seattle, D.C., and Brazil.
        Married for 44 years to Eva, with a forty-year-old son who equals their combined talent, it is
  no wonder Americo is referred to as the patron of "America's First Family of Artists."  
  

  Nan DeVincent-Hayes, Ph.D is former executive director of a high end art gallery.
  All Material is copyrighted ©; do not reproduce any part of this or any other materials on this
  website without the permission of the author at ndhayes@att.net or 410-543-9019.