Edgar Degas
Degas's work was controversial, but was generally admired for its draftsmanship. His "La Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans", or "Little Dancer of Fourteen Years", which he displayed at the sixth Impressionist exhibition in 1881, was probably his most controversial piece; some critics decried what they thought its "appalling ugliness" while others saw in it a "blossoming". In part Degas' originality consisted in disregarding the smooth, full surfaces and contours of classical sculpture ... [and] in garnishing his little statue with real hair and clothing made to scale like the accoutrements for a doll. These relatively "real" additions heightened the illusion, but they also posed searching questions, such as what can be referred to as "real" when art is concerned. The suite of pastels depicting nudes that Degas exhibited in the eighth Impressionist Exhibition in 1886 produced "the most concentrated body of critical writing on the artist during his lifetime ... The overall reaction was positive and laudatory".
Attila Dargay
He began working as a scenery painter for the Hungarian National Theatre in the late 1940s. Hedirected such animations productions as "Hajra, Mozdony!" (1972), "Mattie the Goose-boy" (1977), "The Little Fox" (1981), "Szaffi" (1983), and "Captain of the Forest" (1988). He studied at the College of Fine Arts in Budapest until 1948 when he was discharged because of political reasons. From 1951 he worked as a stage setting painter at Hungary's National Theatre, and in parallel he worked as a trainee on animated films, from 1954 he worked as a cartoon planner. He became an animated-film director in 1957, his first independent director-piece being the "Don't give in little man!" ("Ne hagyd magad emberke!") in 1959. He started working at the then formed Pannonia Film Studio in 1957. His films are popular among both children and adults. He is also author of several animated books and comic strips. His best known strip figure is dog Kajla (Kajla kutya). His good humour reflects in all his works, which made all generations laugh among his audience. In 2008 his most known animated movie was re-filmed by György Gát, but Dargay did not approve using his original characters because he did not agree with the spirit of the new movie. He died a year later, aged 82 in Budapest.