ANDRAS KALDOR
his first impressions were mixed. “The food was dreadful,” he smiles,
“But it was so exciting as a young man to be in this new country, meeting new people and learning new things.” Speaking to a careers advisor,
Andras said he wanted to be an artist – and received some firm but friendly advice: “He said ‘for god’s sake don’t be
silly, study something that can give you a living!’” Andras laughs, “And convinced me to train as an architect – I didn’t mind as I liked architecture.” Andras travelled to Edinburgh to
train and says he ‘really enjoyed it.’ he finished his training in 1962 and
followed his career as an architect – but with a bit of sadness. “I was trained in the wrong time,”
he said. “I love baroque buildings, classical designs, and I learnt to be an architect in the 1960s when they made the ugliest buildings ever made!” Andras worked in Yorkshire,
london and finally Plymouth. he had met his wife Sally in 1974 and the pair settled down. When Andras got a taste for sailing the two of them enjoyed many trips to Europe and also to harbours on the South Coast – when they pulled into Dartmouth. “I thought the place was
wonderful,” Andras said. “It was just unique and had a wonderful community.” The pair found and bought an old
photographic shop in Newcomen Road. They converted it into a restaurant, called it Sally’s Bistro and found how much fun you could have running an establishment like that. “It was brilliant,” says Sally, “We got
to know everyone – especially the Drews and John Gillo too. We had such fun!”
“The idea was that we would open in the evenings only and then I would do my art during the day,” said Andras, “But it didn’t work like that – I was peeling potatos and preparing the evening food! After three years our accountant told us that we had lost so much money we really had to close – but we were part of the
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community then.” Andras gave up architecture for good and opened his gallery to sell his own paintings, much of it based on his favourite architecture. His friendships with the town’s other artists, Simon Drew and later John Gillo, John Donaldson and Paul Riley, meant that they would hold exhibitions in each other’s galleries and hold group shows around the country. He found an agent in London and that brought in more commissions and more sales. But it was never easy.
“I thought the place was
wonderful,” Andras said. “It was just unique and had a wonderful community.”
“Sally worked as an auxiliary nurse
at Dartmouth Hospital for many years to help make ends meet,” says andras, “We had some difficult times, but we have always just had that little bit of luck to keep us going – the right commission or a quick sale.” Over the years Andras has created books on architecture, which he researches with Sally. She writes some of the copy to go alongside the beautiful drawings Andras produces. One commission saw them travel all over Europe to document the continent’s most prestigious Opera
South Embankment by Andras Kaldor
houses. Another commission saw him do the same for the iconic buildings of Berlin for Rolls Royce, another the buildings of New York. He has even produced paintings for a 1930s cruise ship. He has travelled all over Europe -
and having gained a British passport in 1966, he can return to see family and friends in Hungary. He and Sally even took Simon and Caroline Drew there before the fall of the Iron Curtain. “We had to ask Simon to dress
down a bit,” says Sally, deadpan . “We thought red trousers and a yellow waistcoat might draw attention.” So what keeps Andras, now 75
years old, painting? He still produces his famous architectural work (all free hand), but also enjoys producing work of boats and coastal scenes in a completely different style. When I interviewed him he was getting ready to set off to London for a new exhibition of his specialist architectural paintings in Gallery 19, Kensington. “I love drawing very much, and
especially love using colour,” he says. “I don’t use a ruler for my drawings and I think that is what keeps them alive for me: they are organic, not identical, but unique. I’m very happy in Dartmouth, I love it here. We have lots of friends and nothing much upsets me!”•
www.kaldor.co.uk 15 Newcomen Road, Dartmouth 01803 833874
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