Lajos Tihanyi (29 October 1885 – 11 June 1938) was a Hungarian painter and lithographer who achieved international renown working outside his country, primarily in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. After emigrating in 1919, he never returned to Hungary, even on a visit. Born in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population o ...

, as a young man, Tihanyi was part of the "Neoimpressionists" or "Neos", and later the influential ''

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretica ...

'' group of painters called The Eight (''A Nyolcak''), founded in 1909 in Hungary. They were experimenting with styles of

Post-Impressionism Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction ...

and rejected the naturalism of the Nagybánya artists' colony. Their work is considered highly influential in establishing modernism in Hungary to 1918, when the First World War and revolution overtook the country. After the fall of the

Hungarian Democratic Republic The First Hungarian Republic ( hu, Első Magyar Köztársaság), until 21 March 1919 the Hungarian People's Republic (), was a short-lived unrecognized country, which quickly transformed into a small rump state due to the foreign and military ...

in 1919, Tihanyi left and lived briefly in Vienna. He moved on to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

for a few years, where he connected with many Hungarian émigré writers and artists, such as Gyorgy Bölöni and the future

Brassaï Brassaï (; pseudonym of Gyula Halász; 9 September 1899 – 8 July 1984) was a Hungarian–French photographer, sculptor, medalist, writer, and filmmaker who rose to international fame in France in the 20th century. He was one of the numerous H ...

. By 1924 Tihanyi and numerous other artists moved to Paris, where he stayed for the remainder of his life. In Paris, Tihanyi gradually shifted to more abstract styles in his work. His paintings and lithographs are held by the

Hungarian National Gallery The Hungarian National Gallery (also known as Magyar Nemzeti Galéria), was established in 1957 as the national art museum. It is located in Buda Castle in Budapest, Hungary. Its collections cover Hungarian art in all genres, including the works ...

, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, and the

Brooklyn Museum of Art The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Cro ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, among other institutions, and by private collectors. With the centenary of The Eight's first exhibition, Tihanyi has been featured in five exhibitions since 2004, including ones held in 2010 and 2012 in Hungary and Austria, and another in 2012 devoted to a solo retrospective of his work.

Early life and education

Lajos Tihanyi was born in Budapest in 1885 to a Hungarian-Jewish family in 1885. He had a younger sister Berta. Due to

meningitis Meningitis is acute or chronic inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, collectively called the meninges. The most common symptoms are fever, headache, and neck stiffness. Other symptoms include confusion or ...

, Tihanyi became

deaf Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an audiological condition. In this context it is written ...

and

mute Muteness is a speech disorder in which a person lacks the ability to speak. Mute or the Mute may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Mute'' (2005 film), a short film by Melissa Joan Hart * ''Mute'' (2018 film), a scien ...

at the age of eleven, which narrowly restricted his schooling. He studied drawing at the School of Industrial Art and Design, as Hungary did not then have a fine art academy, but he is considered largely self-taught as an artist.

Career

Tihanyi was largely self-taught and started working in Budapest. As a young man, he studied in the summer of 1906 at the Nagybánya artists' colony, in present-day

Baia Mare Baia Mare ( , ; hu, Nagybánya; german: Frauenbach or Groß-Neustadt; la, Rivulus Dominarum) is a municipality along the Săsar River, in northwestern Romania; it is the capital of Maramureș County. The city lies in the region of Maramur ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

, and was associated with them for some time. He aligned with younger painters, who were ready to absorb new directions, including the brilliant use of color by

Fauvists Fauvism /ˈfoʊvɪzm̩/ is the style of ''les Fauves'' (French language, French for "the wild beasts"), a group of early 20th-century modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong colour over the Representation (arts), repr ...

. He went in a different direction from the aesthetic of naturalism of many in the colony. He helped introduce the

Post-Impressionist Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction ag ...

concepts and techniques of

Cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...

and

Expressionism Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it ra ...

to art circles in Hungary. As one of a group called the "Neos," he adopted techniques other than the naturalism espoused by

Simon Hollósy Simon Hollósy; (2 February 1857, Máramarossziget (now Sighetu Marmației, Romania) – 8 May 1918, Técső (now Tiachiv, Ukraine) was a Hungarian painter of Armenian ancestry; original name was: Choriban (Korbuly).Gudenus János József:Ö ...

and others of the artists' colony. The older men had studied together in Munich in the late nineteenth century."Munich in Hungarian, Hungarian Artists in Munich 1850–1914, 2 Oct 2009 – Jan 2010"
, Hungarian National Gallery, accessed 6 Sep 2010 Tihanyi and others of the "Neos" developed into the Hungarian ''

''. Károly Kernstok was considered a leader, and others were

Béla Czóbel Béla Czóbel (4 September 1883 – 30 January 1976) was a Hungarian painter, known for his association with The Eight in the early 20th century in Budapest. They were known for introducing Post-Impressionist styles into Hungary, in addition to ...

, Vilmos Perlrott-Csaba and Béla Iványi Grünwald, and Sándor Ziffer. Some had already been to Paris, where they were influenced by the work of French painters such as

Paul Cézanne Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French artist and Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th-century conception of artistic endeavour to a new and radically d ...

and

Henri Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known prim ...

. At the age of 24, Tihanyi was one of The Eight (''A Nyolcak'') (1909–1918) at the leading edge of Hungarian art life. The Eight included the painters Kernstok and Czóbel, plus

Róbert Berény Róbert Berény (18 March 1887 – 10 September 1953) was a Hungarian painter, one of the ''avant-garde'' group known as The Eight who introduced cubism and expressionism to Hungarian art in the early twentieth century before the First World W ...

, Dezső Czigány, Ödön Márffy, Dezső Orbán, and

Bertalan Pór Bertalan Pór (4 November 1880 – 28 August 1964) was a Hungarian painter associated with the development of modernist Hungarian art. He was a member of The Eight, a movement among several Hungarian painters in the early twentieth century who ...

. The sculptors Márk Vedres and Vilmos Fémes Beck were also associated with them."Painting and Sculpture in the First Half of 20th Century"
Hungarian National Gallery, accessed 15 Sep 2010 While they had three exhibits as a group, they were also influential for participating in related events in literature and music, and were important through 1918. The Eight were part of the radical intellectual movements in the early 20th century Budapest, which attracted new artists in literature and music as well. Among the new writers and composers were

Endre Ady Endre Ady (Hungarian: ''diósadi Ady András Endre,'' archaic English: Andrew Ady, 22 November 1877 – 27 January 1919) was a turn-of-the-century Hungarian poet and journalist. Regarded by many as the greatest Hungarian poet of the 20th century ...

and

Béla Bartók Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist, and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as Hu ...

. The Eight's style was quite complex. They worked with the rationalism of cubists, the decorative use of color as seen in the '' Fauves,'' and the emotional depth of

German Expressionism German Expressionism () consisted of several related creative movements in Germany before the First World War that reached a peak in Berlin during the 1920s. These developments were part of a larger Expressionist movement in north and central ...

. Their many-sided artistic activities are represented by Kernstok's "monumental painting," ''Riders at the Waterside'' (1910) and

's ''The Family'' (1909). (Tihanyi, together with Ziffer, Czóbel and Berény, was considered one of the Hungarian Fauves. This aspect of their work was featured together with pieces by French artists in a 2006 exhibition at the

.) The writer and journalist

Lajos Kassák Lajos Kassák (March 21, 1887 – July 22, 1967) was a Hungarian poet, novelist, painter, essayist, editor, theoretician of the avant-garde, and occasional translator. He was among the first genuine working-class writers in Hungarian litera ...

founded ''A Tett'' (Action) in 1915, and later ''Ma'' (Today); these published articles on literature and art, and provided reproductions of some work. They featured Tihanyi, who had a solo exhibit in their offices in 1915. Before the war, he was recognized for his independent creativity.Valerie Majoros, "Lajos Tihanyi and his friends in the Paris of the nineteen-thirties"
''French Cultural Studies'', 2000, Vol. 11:387, Sage Publications, accessed 30 January 2013 By the end of World War I, the leading art style in Hungary shifted to the radical movement of

Activism Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

, in which Tihanyi also participated. The Activists pushed the cubist and expressionist innovations into a radical direction. In addition to Tihanyi, masters were József Nemes Lampérth and

Béla Uitz Béla Uitz (8 March 1887, Mehála, Kingdom of Hungary (today part of Timișoara, Romania) – 26 January 1972, Budapest, Hungary) was a Hungarian painter and communist activist. In 1907 he studied at the Hungarian National School of Applied ...

Béni Ferenczy Béni Ferenczy (18 June 1890 – 2 June 1967) was a Hungarian sculptor, medalist and graphic artist. Early life and education Béni Ferenczy was born in 1890 in Szentendre, Hungary, the second son of Károly Ferenczy and Olga Fialka, ...

's sculpture, ''Standing Boy,'' also showed the influence of Cubism.

1919 and emigration

Tihanyi was one of several younger artists who had achieved recognition before the revolution of 1919.Kristina Passuth, "Contemporary and Kindred: review of 'Modernisms'"
''Hungarian Quarterly'', No. 175/7, 2004 That year, after the fall of the

and the failure of its revolution, Tihanyi and many artists and intellectuals left the country ''en masse.'' He had aided the communists, and there were reprisals afterward against allies of the revolution. Tihanyi worked and lived for the rest of his life abroad, first briefly in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, then a few years in

, which was flooded with radical artists and intellectuals from Eastern and Central Europe.Krisztina Passuth, "Hungarian Art Outside Hungary: Berlin in the 1920s"
''Hungarian Studies'', 1994, Vol.19, No. 1-2, 1994, accessed 2 February 2013 Kassak's journal ''Ma'' started publishing in Vienna, and

László Moholy-Nagy László Moholy-Nagy (; ; born László Weisz; July 20, 1895 – November 24, 1946) was a Hungarian painter and photographer as well as a professor in the Bauhaus school. He was highly influenced by constructivism and a strong advocate of the ...

became its Berlin editor in April 1921. In addition to the Hungarians, by that time Russians, including the Ukrainian artist Archipenko, were arriving in Berlin; he quickly achieved more notice for his constructions than he had in Paris, and the first monograph was published on him in 1921. There was a "short-lived synthesis" of the international avant-garde in Berlin, as the Eastern, Central, and Western European intellectual currents came together. After that time, Tihanyi moved on to Paris, where he lived most of his life. Because of his reluctance to sell his paintings, in his early years abroad, he sometimes relied on some financial help from his father, who owned a coffee shop in Budapest. In Berlin, Tihanyi met the Hungarian writer Gyórgy Bölöni, the 12-years-younger artist Gyula Halász (later known as the photographer

), and other artists and writers.Brassai, ''Letters to My Parents''
University of Chicago Press, 1995, p. 241, accessed 6 Sep 2010

Paris

By 1924 Tihanyi settled in Paris, where many fellow artists and writers also migrated; part of the Hungarian circle, he got to know other foreigners in Paris, including Americans, such as the writer

Henry Miller Henry Valentine Miller (December 26, 1891 – June 7, 1980) was an American novelist. He broke with existing literary forms and developed a new type of semi- autobiographical novel that blended character study, social criticism, philosophical re ...

.“Tihanyi, Lajos”
Terminartors, accessed 3 Sep 2010 His portraits, such as of Bölöni (1912) and the painter Jacques de la Fregonnière (1928), represent some of his artistic circle. He was also friends with the photographer

André Kertész André Kertész (; 2 July 1894 – 28 September 1985), born Andor Kertész, was a Hungarian-born photographer known for his groundbreaking contributions to photographic composition and the photo essay. In the early years of his career, his th ...

, whom he introduced to the Parisian community. At one point, Tihanyi, Brassaï and Gyula Zilzer all lived in the Hotel Terrasse. Working in the Constructivist and Expressionist modes of his activism, Tihanyi painted and drew many of his friends, mostly fellow foreigners: among his subjects were the American composer George Antheil, the German writer

Johannes Becher Johannes Robert Becher (, 22 May 1891 – 11 October 1958) was a German politician, novelist, and poet. He was affiliated with the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) before World War II. At one time, he was part of the literary avant-garde, writi ...

, Leonard Frank, the writer Ivan Goll, Louis Gruenberg, a Russian-American composer; Henri Guilbeaux, a French socialist; Vincent Huidoboro, the architect Adolph Loos, and the writer Karl Kraus. In turn, Tihanyi often appeared in photos by Kertész and Brassaï of groups at their favorite cafés. In Paris, by 1933 he joined the "Abstraction-Creation" group, with whom he sometimes showed his work, and also had solo shows. Tihanyi became internationally known for his painting and lithography, with much of his best work held by museums outside Hungary. When Tihanyi's nephew

Ervin Marton Ervin Marton (known as Marton Ervin in Hungarian; 17 June 1912 – 30 April 1968) was a Hungarian-born artist and photographer who became an integral part of the Paris art culture beginning in 1937. An internationally recognized photographer, h ...

came to Paris in 1937, the painter introduced the younger man to many of his friends, bringing him within his circle. Marton became most prominent as a photographer after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, although he also worked in graphic arts and sculpture. He lived the remainder of his life in Paris. Tihanyi died an early death in 1938, not yet 53. He was buried in

Père Lachaise Cemetery Père Lachaise Cemetery (french: Cimetière du Père-Lachaise ; formerly , "East Cemetery") is the largest cemetery in Paris, France (). With more than 3.5 million visitors annually, it is the most visited necropolis in the world. Notable figure ...

, where the author

Robert Desnos Robert Desnos (; 4 July 1900 – 8 June 1945) was a French poet who played a key role in the Surrealist movement of his day. Biography Robert Desnos was born in Paris on 4 July 1900, the son of a licensed dealer in game and poultry at the '' ...

gave the valedictory, standing next to the politician Michael Karolyi, "a leading figure of the 1918 Revolution". Brassaï and Bölöni arranged for storage of art works by Hungarians in Paris during World War II, including many by Tihanyi. Their support of Hungarian art continued after the war. Together with Kertész, Brassaï and de la Frégonnière in 1970 helped transfer much of Tihanyi's work to the

, founded in 1957. With fellow painter Bertalan Pór, Tihanyi figures prominently as a fictionalized character in Cafe Europa: An Edna Ferber Mystery, by Ed Ifkovic, which deals with 1914 Budapest.

Exhibits

* 1920, solo exhibit in Vienna * 1921, solo exhibit in Berlin * 1973, ''Tihanyi Lajos emlékkiálitása'' (Memorial exhibition), Hungarian National Gallery *1991–1992, ''Standing in the Storm: The Hungarian Avant-Garde from 1908–1930'', Santa Barbara Museum of Art,

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning " Saint Barbara") is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West ...

''Standing in the Storm: The Hungarian Avant-Garde from 1908–1930''
''Hungarian Studies'', Vol. 19, No. 1-2, 1994, accessed 2 February 2013 * 2004, ''Modernisms: European Graphic Art 1900–1930'', Hungarian National Gallery, June 18 – September 12, 2004 * 2006, ''Hungarian Fauves from Paris to Nagybánya, 1904–1914'', 21 March—30 July 2006, Hungarian National Gallery''Hungarian Fauves from Paris to Nagybánya, 1904–1914: Exhibition in the Hungarian National Gallery, 21 March–30 July 2006'', Kristina Passuth and György Szǔcs, Lóránd Bereczky, 2006

Legacy

* 2010, ''A Nyolcak (The Eight): A Centenary Exhibition,'' 10 December 2010 – 27 March 2011, Janus Pannonius Museum, Pécs * 2012, ''Lajos Tihanyi – A bohème painter in Budapest, Berlin and Paris'', 20 April – 20 August 2012, KOGART Haz, Budapest * 2012, ''The Eight. Hungary's Highway in the Modern'' (Die Acht. Ungarns Highway in die Moderne), 12 September – 2 December 2012, Bank Austria Kunstforum,

Wien en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, collaboration with Museum of Fine Arts and Magyar Nemzeti Galéria, Budapest.Bécs, Kunstforum: ''Die Acht. Ungarns Highway in die Moderne''
2012, Bank Austria Kunstforum, accessed 29 January 2013

References

External links

Andre Kertesz, photo
– includes Lajos Tihanyi between two women, Le Dôme, Paris
"Lajos Tihanyi"
Hungarian National Gallery (in English)

Fine Arts in Hungary: from the beginning to the mid-20th century, website
"Lajos Tihanyi"
Terminartors {{DEFAULTSORT:Tihanyi, Lajos Artists from Budapest Artists from Paris 1885 births 1938 deaths 20th-century Hungarian painters Hungarian emigrants to France Hungarian male painters 20th-century Hungarian male artists