Sándor Plugor

Painter, Graphic Artist

1940-1999

Autobiography

I was born on March 4th, 1940 in Kökös, in the very house my grandfather had built. My ancestors worked the land with more toil then success.

I was in 7th grade, when Pál Nagy from Marosvásárhely came to Transylvania to seek out the local talents among us, Székelys. This was the time when I drew my first portrait. My drawing was a success. I was selected to take the entrance exam for art school, much to my father’s chagrin, however my mother was ecstatic. I became a full scholarship student up to the last year, when they made the continuation of my scholarship status contingent upon my parents’ joining the local agricultural co-operative. My teachers assisted me by selling a few of my paintings – my financial difficulties were put on hold.

In 1958 I continued my art studies under Gábor Miklóssy’s guidance. My parents’ resistance caused continued hardship throughout the first year. I worked the night shift in a prune processing plant… Then came the change in fortune (my sorrowful elation): I was informed via a certified letter of my parents’ acquiescence: they had joined the co-operative ”of their own volition”. My scholarship was once again renewed. In the meantime I became an extra and a stage electrician in the Hungarian Opera. By 1961 I started illustrating Utunk (a Hungarian language periodical), and later for various book publishers. All of a sudden I was making more money than what my father’s entire yearly pension yielded. I sent half of my salary home.

After graduation I moved to Brassó, the ”Black City”, where I worked first as an art instructor and later as a newspaper editor. I remained there until 1970, when I was forced to relocate to Sepsiszentgyörgy where I have alternated between jobs at the Museum and the Theater ever since.

I received my diploma in 1964 in Kolozsvár and I held my first exhibit there, at the Mátyásház.