Julius Podlipny
Encyclopedia
Julius or Iulius Podlipny (most common renditions of the ; ; Hungarian
: Podlipny Gyula; Romanian
: Iuliu Podlipny; April 12, 1898–1991) was an Austro-Hungarian
-born Czechoslovak
and Romania
n artist, best known for his work in drawing and his long period as teacher at the Art Lyceum in Timişoara
. First acknowledged as a promoter of modern art
during the interwar period
, Podlipny was a contributor to the avant-garde
and socialist
magazine Ma, edited by Hungarian
critic and promoter Lajos Kassák
.
Having adopted a style which echoed Expressionism
, he influenced Romanian art
mainly as a pedagogue: among the critically acclaimed contemporary painters to have been inspired by his views is Ştefan Câlţia
. Podlipny's widow, Annemarie Podlipny-Hehn, is an art and literary critic. Part of her research is dedicated to her husband's artistic contributions.
origin, Podlipny was born in Pressburg
, Austria-Hungary (today Bratislava, Slovakia
). During the early 1920s, he studied at the Hungarian Art Academy in Budapest
, which saw him joining the Central Europe
an modern art movement. In 1926, he moved to Timişoara, which had become part of the Romanian Kingdom
upon the end of World War I
.
In Timişoara, where he taught draftsmanship, Podlipny led the Free School of Painting before joining the teaching staff at the Decorative Art School (later restructured as the Art Lyceum). During the following period, he was associated with Hungarian-language
avant-garde
magazine Ma, published in Vienna
by the socialist artist Kassák. Literary critics Cornel Ungureanu and Paul Cernat note that the links created between Ma and the Bucharest
-based magazine Contimporanul
, centered on the friendship between their two editors (Kassák and Ion Vinea), may also have involved a loose group of Timişoarans. Alongside Podlipny, they were ethnic Romanian
politico Aurel Buteanu and German
poet and anarchist
activist Robert Reiter, together with the Hungarian writers Rodion Markovits
and Károly Endre. Like many in the avant-garde environment, Podlipny also became known for his left-wing and socialist sympathies. Occasionally, historian Victor Neumann
writes, Podlipny supported causes associated with the far left
.
After the establishment of the Romanian communist regime
, and especially in the 1960s and '70s, Julius Podlipny focused on his work as an educator, helping to create a distinct and critically acclaimed artistic trend among Banat
youth, and creating a bridge between early modern art and post-World War II
tendencies. In the 1950s, he married Annemarie Hehn. The daughter of middle-class Swabian
parents, she had been a displaced person
during the final stage of the war, before being employed as an art historian for the Banat Museum. An amateur artist herself, she met her future husband through her two sisters, who took lessons in drawing from Podlipny. In 2008, she recalled: "following my marriage and through my work at the Banat Museum art section, I 'submerged' myself in the field of fine arts, and thus I could more easily bear the communist dictatorship." One of her two sisters, Ilse Hehn-Guzun, also became a noted artist.
Podlipny contributed significantly to the artistic development of his students. According to Neumann: "He was [...] a person with formative knowledge, some of the best-received Romanian artists being indebted to his school." The latter category, Neumann indicates, was primarily illustrated by Ştefan Câlţia. Podlipny was also the teacher of Roman Cotoşman, Paul Neagu
, Dietrich Sayler, Traian Brădean and Constantin Flondor. Remembered as a tenacious artist, Podlipny also had to struggle with a disability: one of his arms had been amputated.
Several texts by Annemarie Podlipny-Hehn, including a monograph, deal with her husband's work and its context. Discussing these writings, Cornel Ungureanu writes: "To understand the Austro-Hungarian empire with its left-wing movements, to understand the crepuscular art of Central Europe, Mrs. Podlipny shows, is impossible unless we carefully follow the evolution of esteemed Timoşoarans, among whom the most important one in her studies is still Julius Podlipny." In 1998, Podlipny was posthumously granted the title of honorary citizen of Timişoara. A street in the city was renamed in his honor.
His approach to art and his views on life had a sizable impact on his pupils' careers. In particular, Neumann writes, the artist made himself known for imposing a disciplined approach to art, and for familiarizing young artists with mixed media
techniques. Ştefan Câlţia credits Podlipny and Corneliu Baba
with having instilled in him a "respect for school" that replaced his initial "rather nonconformist" approach to art training. He also recalled Podlipny telling his students that "the most important thing we have been given is the total freedom of expression." Constantin Flondor, who was Podlipny's student between 1950 and 1954, remembers being influenced by his "simple, clear and unshakable" pronouncements on artistic matters, such as: "Art requires an abandonment, a self-sacrifice. Taking your place in front of a sheet or a canvass which promises the meeting between a piece of vine charcoal or a brush and the white surface is a moment charged with the thrills of genesis. Nothing and no one has the right to disturb one who is in the sacred moment of labor." Livius Ciocârlie also notes that, although Podlipny "spoke a very corrupted form of Romanian
[...], any phrase he had uttered became memorable."
Ciocârlie, who writes that Podlipny was often "intransigent" and "sarcastic", also recounts the teacher's contempt for painting as opposed to drawing and graphics. He argues: "to him, colorists were a finical bunch lacking in energy, incapable of tracing a single line." According to Victor Neumann, Julius Podlipny had a rather tense relationship with Cotoşman, who, in 1966, created the nucleus of what became the underground avant-garde venue known as Grupul Sigma. Neumann notes that this might not have been a singular situation, and that Podlipny may have likely been seen as "too demanding" by several other of his pupils.
Hungarian language
Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....
: Podlipny Gyula; Romanian
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
: Iuliu Podlipny; April 12, 1898–1991) was an Austro-Hungarian
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
-born Czechoslovak
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
and Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n artist, best known for his work in drawing and his long period as teacher at the Art Lyceum in Timişoara
Timisoara
Timișoara is the capital city of Timiș County, in western Romania. One of the largest Romanian cities, with an estimated population of 311,586 inhabitants , and considered the informal capital city of the historical region of Banat, Timișoara is the main social, economic and cultural center in the...
. First acknowledged as a promoter of modern art
Modern art
Modern art includes artistic works produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the style and philosophy of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the traditions of the past have been thrown aside in a spirit of...
during the interwar period
Interwar period
Interwar period can refer to any period between two wars. The Interbellum is understood to be the period between the end of the Great War or First World War and the beginning of the Second World War in Europe....
, Podlipny was a contributor to the avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
and socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
magazine Ma, edited by Hungarian
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
critic and promoter Lajos Kassák
Lajos Kassák
Lajos Kassák was a Hungarian poet, novelist, painter, essayist, editor, theoretician of the avant-garde and occasional translator, was the father of many modernisms....
.
Having adopted a style which echoed Expressionism
Expressionism
Expressionism was a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas...
, he influenced Romanian art
Art of Romania
Art of Romania encompasses the artists and artistic movements in Romania.-Romanian contemporary and modern artists:* Almaşan Virgil* Adela Andea* George Apostu* Corneliu Baba* Calin Baban* Sabin Bălaşa* Horia Bernea* Traian Brădean...
mainly as a pedagogue: among the critically acclaimed contemporary painters to have been inspired by his views is Ştefan Câlţia
Stefan Câltia
Ştefan Câlţia is a contemporary Romanian painter.Born in Braşov, he attended the Arts and Music high school in Timişoara from 1959 to 1963, having Julius Podlipny as a teacher...
. Podlipny's widow, Annemarie Podlipny-Hehn, is an art and literary critic. Part of her research is dedicated to her husband's artistic contributions.
Biography
Of CzechCzech people
Czechs, or Czech people are a western Slavic people of Central Europe, living predominantly in the Czech Republic. Small populations of Czechs also live in Slovakia, Austria, the United States, the United Kingdom, Chile, Argentina, Canada, Germany, Russia and other countries...
origin, Podlipny was born in Pressburg
Bratislava
Bratislava is the capital of Slovakia and, with a population of about 431,000, also the country's largest city. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia on both banks of the Danube River. Bordering Austria and Hungary, it is the only national capital that borders two independent countries.Bratislava...
, Austria-Hungary (today Bratislava, Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
). During the early 1920s, he studied at the Hungarian Art Academy in Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
, which saw him joining the Central Europe
Central Europe
Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...
an modern art movement. In 1926, he moved to Timişoara, which had become part of the Romanian Kingdom
Kingdom of Romania
The Kingdom of Romania was the Romanian state based on a form of parliamentary monarchy between 13 March 1881 and 30 December 1947, specified by the first three Constitutions of Romania...
upon the end of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
In Timişoara, where he taught draftsmanship, Podlipny led the Free School of Painting before joining the teaching staff at the Decorative Art School (later restructured as the Art Lyceum). During the following period, he was associated with Hungarian-language
Hungarian language
Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....
avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
magazine Ma, published in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
by the socialist artist Kassák. Literary critics Cornel Ungureanu and Paul Cernat note that the links created between Ma and the Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
-based magazine Contimporanul
Contimporanul
Contimporanul was a Romanian avant-garde literary and art magazine, published in Bucharest between June 1922 and 1932...
, centered on the friendship between their two editors (Kassák and Ion Vinea), may also have involved a loose group of Timişoarans. Alongside Podlipny, they were ethnic Romanian
Romanians
The Romanians are an ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian; they are the majority inhabitants of Romania....
politico Aurel Buteanu and German
Germans of Romania
The Germans of Romania or Rumäniendeutsche were 760,000 strong in 1930. They are not a single group; thus, to understand their language, culture, and history, one must view them as independent groups:...
poet and anarchist
Anarchism
Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...
activist Robert Reiter, together with the Hungarian writers Rodion Markovits
Rodion Markovits
Rodion Markovits was an Austro-Hungarian-born writer, journalist and lawyer, one of the early modernist contributors to Magyar literary culture in Transylvania and Banat regions...
and Károly Endre. Like many in the avant-garde environment, Podlipny also became known for his left-wing and socialist sympathies. Occasionally, historian Victor Neumann
Victor Neumann
Victor Neumann is a Romanian historian, political analyst, and professor at the West University in Timişoara. He is a well-known specialist in the recent cultural and intellectual histories of Eastern and Central Europe...
writes, Podlipny supported causes associated with the far left
Far left
Far left, also known as the revolutionary left, radical left and extreme left are terms which refer to the highest degree of leftist positions among left-wing politics...
.
After the establishment of the Romanian communist regime
Communist Romania
Communist Romania was the period in Romanian history when that country was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc, with the dominant role of Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its successive constitutions...
, and especially in the 1960s and '70s, Julius Podlipny focused on his work as an educator, helping to create a distinct and critically acclaimed artistic trend among Banat
Banat
The Banat is a geographical and historical region in Central Europe currently divided between three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania , the western part in northeastern Serbia , and a small...
youth, and creating a bridge between early modern art and post-World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
tendencies. In the 1950s, he married Annemarie Hehn. The daughter of middle-class Swabian
Banat Swabians
The Banat Swabians are an ethnic German population in Southeast Europe, part of the Danube Swabians. They emigrated in the 18th century to what was then the Austrian Banat province, which had been left sparsely populated by the wars with Turkey. This once strong and important ethnic Banat Swabian...
parents, she had been a displaced person
Displaced person
A displaced person is a person who has been forced to leave his or her native place, a phenomenon known as forced migration.- Origin of term :...
during the final stage of the war, before being employed as an art historian for the Banat Museum. An amateur artist herself, she met her future husband through her two sisters, who took lessons in drawing from Podlipny. In 2008, she recalled: "following my marriage and through my work at the Banat Museum art section, I 'submerged' myself in the field of fine arts, and thus I could more easily bear the communist dictatorship." One of her two sisters, Ilse Hehn-Guzun, also became a noted artist.
Podlipny contributed significantly to the artistic development of his students. According to Neumann: "He was [...] a person with formative knowledge, some of the best-received Romanian artists being indebted to his school." The latter category, Neumann indicates, was primarily illustrated by Ştefan Câlţia. Podlipny was also the teacher of Roman Cotoşman, Paul Neagu
Paul Neagu
Paul Neagu was an internationally important British-Romanian artist, working in diverse media such as drawing, sculpture, performance art and watercolor...
, Dietrich Sayler, Traian Brădean and Constantin Flondor. Remembered as a tenacious artist, Podlipny also had to struggle with a disability: one of his arms had been amputated.
Several texts by Annemarie Podlipny-Hehn, including a monograph, deal with her husband's work and its context. Discussing these writings, Cornel Ungureanu writes: "To understand the Austro-Hungarian empire with its left-wing movements, to understand the crepuscular art of Central Europe, Mrs. Podlipny shows, is impossible unless we carefully follow the evolution of esteemed Timoşoarans, among whom the most important one in her studies is still Julius Podlipny." In 1998, Podlipny was posthumously granted the title of honorary citizen of Timişoara. A street in the city was renamed in his honor.
Style and influence
Podlipny's style was developed under the influence of Central European currents. Writer Livius Ciocârlie, who was active on Timişoara's cultural scene at the same time as Cotoşman, and who was an acquaintance of Podlipny, describes the latter as "an interesting Expressionist".His approach to art and his views on life had a sizable impact on his pupils' careers. In particular, Neumann writes, the artist made himself known for imposing a disciplined approach to art, and for familiarizing young artists with mixed media
Mixed media
Mixed media, in visual art, refers to an artwork in the making of which more than one medium has been employed.There is an important distinction between "mixed-media" artworks and "multimedia art". Mixed media tends to refer to a work of visual art that combines various traditionally distinct...
techniques. Ştefan Câlţia credits Podlipny and Corneliu Baba
Corneliu Baba
Corneliu Baba was a Romanian painter, primarily a portraitist, but also known as a genre painter and an illustrator of books.-Early life:Having first studied under his father, the academic painter Gheorghe Baba, Baba studied briefly at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Bucharest, but did not receive a...
with having instilled in him a "respect for school" that replaced his initial "rather nonconformist" approach to art training. He also recalled Podlipny telling his students that "the most important thing we have been given is the total freedom of expression." Constantin Flondor, who was Podlipny's student between 1950 and 1954, remembers being influenced by his "simple, clear and unshakable" pronouncements on artistic matters, such as: "Art requires an abandonment, a self-sacrifice. Taking your place in front of a sheet or a canvass which promises the meeting between a piece of vine charcoal or a brush and the white surface is a moment charged with the thrills of genesis. Nothing and no one has the right to disturb one who is in the sacred moment of labor." Livius Ciocârlie also notes that, although Podlipny "spoke a very corrupted form of Romanian
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
[...], any phrase he had uttered became memorable."
Ciocârlie, who writes that Podlipny was often "intransigent" and "sarcastic", also recounts the teacher's contempt for painting as opposed to drawing and graphics. He argues: "to him, colorists were a finical bunch lacking in energy, incapable of tracing a single line." According to Victor Neumann, Julius Podlipny had a rather tense relationship with Cotoşman, who, in 1966, created the nucleus of what became the underground avant-garde venue known as Grupul Sigma. Neumann notes that this might not have been a singular situation, and that Podlipny may have likely been seen as "too demanding" by several other of his pupils.