István Nagy (Born 1873) was an artist from Hungary artist who specialized in figure painting and landscapes. A native of Misentea, Harghita County, (formerly Csíkmindszent), he was born into a well-to-do family who owned land. However, he chose to attend a teacher training college in Kolozsvár rather than take up agricultural pursuits, and he taught in Homokmégy after completing his studies. At college drawing in charcoal was what one of his courses involved and this made him to discover that he had artistic talent. This talent was noticed by many including Gusztáv Kelety who encouraged him to consider taking at as a career. He went to Budapest and joined the Hungarian University of Fine Arts where Székely Bertalan was his primary teacher.
Nagy also studied with Franz von Lenbach in Munich and due to his hard work and the quality of his products he obtained a scholarship to study in Paris at the Académie Julian. At the age of 29 years old, he held his first exhibition near his hometown in Csíkszereda. It was successful and was followed by a long period of isolation that was characterized by unmitigated sojourns for drawing and painting in the forests that surrounded his home. The First World War brought Nagy out again. The artist went to the Galician and Transylvanian fronts, where he produced some portraits of the soldiers. These portraits were not of good quality. In 1919, After the First World War, he returned to Budapest. About 10 years later, his ill health made him to settle in Baja with his family. Nagy died in 1937.
