From Cassab's scrapbook deposited in the National Library of Australia: With her baby son John in Budapest in 1945 Judy Cassab was happy to be reunited with her husband as the Germans were driven out
Judy CassabAOCBE (15 August 1920 – 3 November 2015), born Judit Kaszab, was an Australian painter.
Early years
Judy Cassab was born in Vienna, on 15 August 1920 to Jewish Hungarian parents. She began painting at twelve years old and began studying at the Academy of Art in Prague in 1938 but was forced to flee the German occupation in 1939.[1] Cassab worked in a factory under an assumed name and put her artistic skills to use after hours forging papers and passports.[2]
Her husband, Jancsi Kampfner, was put in a forced labour camp by the Nazis in World War II, and returned to Hungary in 1944.[1]
Cassab, her husband and two sons emigrated to Australia in 1951 and settled in Sydney.[2] Cassab became an Australian citizen in 1957.[2]
Career
Cassab was the first woman to win the Archibald Prize twice:
She held more than fifty solo exhibitions in Australia, as well as others in Paris and London.[5]
After Cassab's work was acquired by the National Gallery, she was interviewed by James Gleeson about how she captured people's character in their portraits. This interview later formed part of the James Gleeson Oral History Collection.[6]
2003 - The Trustee Watercolour Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales
2004 - The Painters and Sculptors Association of Australia Medal
Personal life
Cassab died on 3 November 2015 at the age of 95 in her nursing home in the Sydney suburb of Randwick.[5]
References
^ ab"Judy Cassab". Art Gallery NSW. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
^ abcKerr, Joan, 1938-2004; National Women's Art Exhibition (Australia); Kerr, Joan, 1938-2004 (1995), Heritage : the national women's art book, 500 works by 500 Australian women artists from colonial times to 1955, Art and Australia ; Roseville East, N.S.W. : distributed by Craftsman House, ISBN978-976-641-045-2{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
