FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (placed in the New York Times)

Gyorgy Daskaloff, East Hampton and New York Artist, Dies at 82

East Hampton, N.Y. – Gyorgy Daskaloff, a celebrated artist who received critical acclaim for his lifelike portraits, as well as modernist and abstract works, died at his home here in his wife’s arms, Saturday, Oct. 8, 2005. He was 82.

Mr. Daskaloff, whose work is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and other museums in the United States and Europe, had been a year-round resident of East Hampton for six years and was a summer resident here 30 years before that.

“He loved East Hampton and did much of his work here,” his wife, Nadine Daskaloff said.

Born May 15, 1923, in Sofia, Bulgaria, to parents Zlatka and Asen Daskaloff, Mr. Daskaloff eventually became a well-known artist there. He attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Bulgaria, graduating with honors in 1949. For the next 12 years, Mr. Daskaloff exhibited his work, much of it modernism and abstracts, in Bulgaria and throughout Europe.

In 1961, he moved to Paris, exhibiting at the distinguished Salon de Automne, and continuing to show his work throughout Europe. It was also in Paris, in 1966, that Mr. Daskaloff met his future wife, Nadine, who is also an artist. Soon after they met, the couple moved to New York City, where Mr. Daskaloff had just begun showing his work. They were married in 1970.

Mr. Daskaloff’s work was varied, and he always maintained an eye on the human form, Mrs. Daskaloff said.

He created abstract and modernist work for much of his career, and, with the birth of his son, Alexander, in 1973, began to explore and research the art of portraiture.

Many of his resulting portraits were done in carbon conte crayon and pencil and are so lifelike they almost resemble photographs. But a closer look reveals painstaking illustrative work, using different gradations of gray pencils and crayon to establish shadows and light.

“Using this supple and responsive technique, Daskaloff—who has an extraordinary gift for likenesses—has produced a series of life-size portraits that have depth, richness and a remarkable subtlety,” wrote art historian and novelist Roxana Robinson in the preface of a book that features a collection of Daskaloff portraits.

While he enjoyed the pencil illustrations, his passion was in the many oil portraits he also created, Mrs. Daskaloff said. Many of these are included in the book, “Gyorgy Daskaloff American Portraits,” released in 1997. The book also contains several color abstract portraits, which show the range of his artistic abilities.

“How wonderfully mysterious life can be,” wrote Gerrit L. Lansing in the book’s introduction. At the time of his writing, Lansing was chairman of Independent Curators Inc., dedicated to traveling exhibitions of contemporary art. “And so many of these enigmas are to be found in Gyorgy Daskaloff’s work. In particular, the artists renderings of family relationships, as well as individual portraits. I am confident the reader will find this exceptional artist’s work as endlessly intriguing a tour-de-force of draftsmanly skills as do the proud owners of his pictures.”

Mrs. Daskaloff described her husband’s personal side.

“He was a very sensitive man with many friends here and in New York, and his life was the arts. He was a wonderful man with an incredible presence,” she said.

He was also a man of great humility, who spoke little about himself and enjoyed the company of other artists, she said.

His portraits were of many well-known people, including CBS’s William Paley.

Mr. Daskaloff’s earlier works, primarily from the 1960s, were shown in galleries and museums in Paris, London, Copenhagen, Brussels, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Canada. In the United States, in addition to New York, his work was shown in Detroit, Oklahoma City, West Hartford, Conn., and Boston.

In addition to The Metropolitan in New York, Mr. Daskaloff’s work is in the permanent collections of Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, Ohio; The National Museum in Sofie, Bulgaria; the Royal Library in Brussells; and the Hoffman La Roche museum in Nutley, N.J.

The artist’s work has been the subject of many essays and articles in 49 publications in New York and Europe, including The New York Times; American Art Magazine; Arts Review, London; Art News and Art Magazine.

“I will miss everything about him—he was my life,” Mrs. Daskaloff said.

Mr. Daskaloff is survived by his wife and their son, Alexander Daskaloff, of Miami, Fla.

A memorial service for Mr. Daskaloff, will be at noon, Friday, Oct. 14, at the Springs Community Presbyterian Church at Springs Fireplace Road and Old Stone Hwy. in Springs.