Ödön Márffy (30 November 1878 – 3 December 1959) was a Hungarian

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ...

, one of The Eight 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 ...

, credited with bringing cubism, Fauvism and expressionism to the country.

Biography

Following a short basic training, he obtained a grant to study art 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. ...

, from the autumn of 1902. He started as a student of

Jean-Paul Laurens Jean-Paul Laurens (; 28 March 1838 – 23 March 1921) was a French painter and sculptor, and one of the last major exponents of the French Academic style. Biography Laurens was born in Fourquevaux and was a pupil of Léon Cogniet and Alex ...

at the

Académie Julian The Académie Julian () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907) that was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the numbe ...

, as did numerous several modern-minded Hungarian painters after him, but a few months later, ostensibly for financial reasons, he transferred to the

École des Beaux-Arts École des Beaux-Arts (; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth centur ...

. There

Fernand Cormon Fernand Cormon (24 December 1845 – 20 March 1924) was a French painter born in Paris. He became a pupil of Alexandre Cabanel, Eugène Fromentin, and Jean-François Portaels, and one of the leading historical painters of modern France. Biograp ...

was his teacher. With classmates they often went to

Ambroise Vollard Ambroise Vollard (3 July 1866 – 21 July 1939) was a French art dealer who is regarded as one of the most important dealers in French contemporary art at the beginning of the twentieth century. He is credited with providing exposure and emoti ...

's art dealership together, where Márffy was most impressed by the pictures of

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 ...

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 drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, and sculptur ...

Pierre Bonnard Pierre Bonnard (; 3 October 186723 January 1947) was a French painter, illustrator and printmaker, known especially for the stylized decorative qualities of his paintings and his bold use of color. A founding member of the Post-Impressionist gr ...

Georges Rouault Georges Henri Rouault (; 27 May 1871, Paris – 13 February 1958) was a French painter, draughtsman and print artist, whose work is often associated with Fauvism and Expressionism. Childhood and education Rouault was born in Paris into a p ...

and

Georges Braque Georges Braque ( , ; 13 May 1882 – 31 August 1963) was a major 20th-century List of French artists, French painter, Collage, collagist, Drawing, draughtsman, printmaker and sculpture, sculptor. His most notable contributions were in his all ...

. He claims to have met

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 primar ...

in 1905, who had been sent down from the École des Beaux-Arts, but would return there from time to time, and to have visited him in his studio once. Márffy's time in Paris was crucial for his artistic development and later career, not only because he gained familiarity with French painters and students, but also of his connections with other Hungarian artists:

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 ...

, Róbert Berény 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 ...

, later members of the Eight (Nyolcak) with him. In addition, he met the philosopher of art Lajos Fülep, the writer and critic

György Bölöni György () is a Hungarian version of the name ''George''. Some notable people with this given name: * György Alexits, as a Hungarian mathematician * György Almásy, Hungarian asiologist, traveler, zoologist and ethnographer, father of László ...

, who wrote about the new art, and the poet Endre Ady, all of whom later also returned to Budapest. In 1906, the last year of his stay in France, Márffy exhibited with fauvists at the ''

Salon d'Automne The Salon d'Automne (; en, Autumn Salon), or Société du Salon d'automne, is an art exhibition held annually in Paris, France. Since 2011, it is held on the Champs-Élysées, between the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais, in mid-October. The f ...

'' of Paris. Back in Budapest, in March 1907, Márffy exhibited the works he made in France in the Uránia art dealership, in the company of

Lajos Gulácsy Lajos Gulácsy (12 October 1882 – 21 February 1932) was a Hungarian painter with works collected by the Hungarian National Gallery. Heavily influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites, his rather dreamlike work is associated with Art Nouveau and Symbolism ...

, at a show that received very good reviews. The success of this exhibition brought him the friendship of József Rippl-Rónai and Károly Kernstok. Rippl-Rónai, who had lived in France and was one of the ''

Nabis Nabis ( grc-gre, Νάβις) was the last king of independent Sparta. He was probably a member of the Heracleidae, and he ruled from 207 BC to 192 BC, during the years of the First and Second Macedonian Wars and the eponymous " War against Nabis ...

'', invited the young painter to

Kaposvár Kaposvár (; also known by other alternative names) is a city with county rights in the southwestern part of Hungary, south of Lake Balaton. It is one of the leading cities of Transdanubia, the capital of Somogy County, and the seat of the Kapo ...

. Due to his support, Márffy became a founding member of MIÉNK (''Magyar Impresszionisták és Naturalisták Köre'' – Circle of Hungarian Impressionists and Naturalists). Károly Kernstok, a well-established painter who led The Eight, invited Márffy to his inherited property in

Nyergesújfalu Nyergesújfalu (german: Neudorf; la, Crumerum) is a town in Komárom-Esztergom County, Hungary, in the Central Transdanubia region. The city, located near the river Danube, is an ancient site of habitation. It was located on the Crumerum, a ...

. There Márffy worked at art, exploring

fauvism 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 ...

. From late 1909, Márffy actively participated with the group of artists who seceded from the MIÉNK, and were to become famous as The Eight (''A Nyolcak''). Other members were Róbert Berény, Dezső Czigány,

, Károly Kernstok, Dezső Orbán,

and

Lajos Tihanyi 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, France. After emigrating in 1919, he never returned to Hungary, even on a ...

. They had their first exhibit together in 1909. In 1911 they held their first exhibit under the name of ''The Eight.'' Their first exhibit opened on 30 December 1909, at the Könyves Kálmán Salon (Budapest), under the title ''New Pictures.'' Their second exhibition – already entitled ''The Eight'' – opened in April 1911 in the National Salon. While the Eight as a group had only three exhibitions in total, they were involved in all the new intellectual movements, and were part of evenings with new Hungarian literature and contemporary music. Contributors included many writers associated with the journal '' Nyugat'' ( Endre Ady (d. 1919),

Dezső Kosztolányi Dezső Kosztolányi (; March 29, 1885 – November 3, 1936) was a Hungarian writer, journalist, translator and also a speaker of Esperanto. He wrote in all literary genres, from poetry to essays to theatre plays. Building his own style, he used ...

), and the music was by the most modern composers: for instance,

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 Hun ...

and

Zoltán Kodály Zoltán Kodály (; hu, Kodály Zoltán, ; 16 December 1882 – 6 March 1967) was a Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist, pedagogue, linguist, and philosopher. He is well known internationally as the creator of the Kodály method of music ed ...

. Between 1909 and 1914, Márffy's painting was constantly transforming. The exalted, fauvist brushwork gave way, in his landscapes, nudes, still lifes and portraits, to an increasingly rigorous mode of composition. The disciplined, constructivist approach would be loosened up in the second half of the decade by increasingly

expressionist 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 rad ...

ic solutions, thanks in part to his encounter with

Oskar Kokoschka Oskar Kokoschka (1 March 1886 – 22 February 1980) was an Austrian artist, poet, playwright, and teacher best known for his intense expressionistic portraits and landscapes, as well as his theories on vision that influenced the Viennese Exp ...

Marriage and family

In August 1920, Ödön Márffy married the young widow Berta (Boncza) Ady, also known as "Csinszka." Her husband Endre Ady had died in 1919, after they had been married four years. The marriage brought emotional and financial security to Márffy.

Success

By the 1920s, Márffy had become an acknowledged, much sought-after painter, who exhibited regularly. He could afford to travel and often went to paint in Germany and Italy, where he also took part regularly at the Venice Biennials. He exhibited internationally, including in the United States, Italy, Poland, Vienna, and Nuremberg and Munich in Germany. The only member of the Eight to work regularly in Hungary, he had considerable authority in the local scene. Most of the other artists had emigrated after the fall of the Hungarian Democratic Republic in 1919. Orbán emigrated in 1939, with the rise in anti-Semitism and invasion of Poland. In 1924 Márffy became a founding member of the KUT (New Society of Visual Artists), an umbrella of modern endeavours. In 1927 Ödön Márffy was elected to the head of the organization, serving for a decade. Meanwhile, his style grew softer, more accessible, as well as airier and more decorative. His canvases long retained the fauvist colours and remnants of the constructivist space structures, and he would return to his earlier vision for the sake of the odd picture or two. By the end of the 1920s, he replaced the vibrant colours with a scumbled, misty, more relaxed atmosphere, and the style became smoother, more decorative, more palatable for a middle-class audience. The landscapes, garden and seaside scenes, nudes and still lifes he painted between the wars resemble the approach of the ''

École de Paris The School of Paris (french: École de Paris) refers to the French and émigré artists who worked in Paris in the first half of the 20th century. The School of Paris was not a single art movement or institution, but refers to the importance ...

'' painters, especially of Moïse Kisling,

Jules Pascin Julius Mordecai Pincas (March 31, 1885 – June 5, 1930), known as Pascin (; erroneously or ), Jules Pascin, or the "Prince of Montparnasse", was a Bulgarian artist known for his paintings and drawings. He later became an American citize ...

, Van Dongen and

Raoul Dufy Raoul Dufy (; 3 June 1877 – 23 March 1953) was a French Fauvist painter. He developed a colorful, decorative style that became fashionable for designs of ceramics and textile as well as decorative schemes for public buildings. He is noted ...

. After the

Second World War 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 ...

, Márffy was among the first to join the

European School A European School ( la, Schola Europaea) is a type of international school emphasising a multilingual and multicultural pedagogical approach to the teaching of nursery, primary and secondary students, leading to the European Baccalaureate as th ...

, founded on 13 October 1945. His painterly style, even his views on art, were distant from the approach of the School's younger painters. They were attracted partly to the

Surrealists Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to ...

and partly to the

abstract Abstract may refer to: * ''Abstract'' (album), 1962 album by Joe Harriott * Abstract of title a summary of the documents affecting title to parcel of land * Abstract (law), a summary of a legal document * Abstract (summary), in academic publishi ...

artists; in many ways they were connected to the art of Corneille and the Cobra group. Ödön Márffy died in the Kútvölgyi Hospital on 3 December 1959, three days after his 81st birthday.

Exhibits

*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 Coa ...

''Standing in the Storm: The Hungarian Avant-Garde from 1908-1930''
''Hungarian Studies'', Vol. 19, No. 1-2, 1994, accessed 2 February 2013 * 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, ''The Eight. Hungary's Highway in the Modern'' (Die Acht. Ungarns Highway in die Moderne), 12 September – 2 December 2012, Bank Austria Kunstforum,

Vienna 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 the 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

* Rockenbauer oltán ''Márffy. Catalogue Raisonné'', Budapest/Paris, Makláry Artworks, 2006. (with English summary) * ''Fauves Hongrois. (1904–1914)''. Paris. Ed. Biro. 2008. (Catalog in French)

External links

sur le site de Gallery Kieselbach

sur le site de Artportal (english)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marffy, Oedoen 1878 births 1959 deaths 20th-century Hungarian painters École des Beaux-Arts alumni Académie Julian alumni Artists from Budapest Hungarian male painters 20th-century Hungarian male artists