Ödön Márffy
Encyclopedia
Ödön Márffy was a Hungarian painter
.
from the autumn of 1902. He started as a student of Jean-Paul Laurens
at the Académie Julian
, like several modern-minded Hungarian painters after him, but a few months later, ostensibly for financial reasons, he transferred to the École des Beaux-Arts
, where Fernand Cormon
was his teacher. With classmates they often went to Ambroise Vollard
’s famous art dealership together, where Márffy was most impressed by the pictures of Cézanne, Matisse, Bonnard
, Rouault and Braque. He claims to have met Matisse in 1905, who had been sent down from the École des Beaux-Arts, but would return there from time to time, and even to have visited him in his studio once.
His stay in Paris was crucial for his artistic development and later career not only because of his familiarity with French painters and students, but also because this was where he became friends with Béla Czobel
, Róbert Berény
and Bertalan Pór
, later members of the Eight (Nyolcak)
, and this was where he met philosopher of art Lajos Fülep, writer and columnist György Bölöni and poet Endre Ady
. It was in 1906, the last year of his stay in France that he first exhibited at the Salon d'Automne
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, 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
– not only invited the young painter to Kaposvár, but it was thanks to his substantial support that Márffy could become a founding member of MIÉNK (Magyar Impresszionisták és Naturalisták Köre – Circle of Hungarian Impressionists and Naturalists). Károly Kernstok, another well-established painter, invited him to his Nyergesújfalu estate, where Márffy’s fauvism came to maturity.
From late 1909 Márffy was actively participating in the works of the group of artists who seceded from the MIÉNK, and were to become famous as the Eight. The group was formed by Róbert Berény
, Dezső Czigány, Béla Czóbel
, Károly Kernstok, Ödön Márffy, Dezső Orbán
, Bertalan Pór
and Lajos Tihanyi in 1909, though they adopted the epithet “the Eight” only in the Spring of 1911. They opened their first exhibition on December 30, 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, their activity was of immense significance, with an influence that went far beyond the visual arts, involving new Hungarian literature and contemporary music was, in the case of the Eight, more than entertainment or publicity. The list of contributors reveals that literature was represented by those associated with the journal Nyugat (Endre Ady, Dezső Kosztolányi), and music was by the most modern composers: Bartók Béla, Kodály Zoltán.
Between 1909-1914, Márffy’s painting was constantly transforming. The exalted, fauvist brushwork gave way, in his landscapes, nudes, still lifes and even his portraits, to an increasingly rigorous mode of composition. The disciplined, constructive approach would be loosened up in the second half of the decade by increasingly expressionistic solutions – thanks in part to his encounter with Kokoschka.
Ödön Márffy married Endre Ady
’s widow, Csinszka in August 1920. The marriage brought emotional and financial security. By the 1920s, Márffy had become an acknowledged, much sought-after painter who exhibited regularly. He could afford to travel, he often went to paint in Germany and Italy, took part regularly at the Venice Biennials, and exhibited, among other places, in the United States, Italy, Poland, Vienna, Nuremberg and Munich. The only member of the Eight to work regularly in Hungary, he had considerable authority in the local scene. In 1924 he 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 for a decade.
Meanwhile, his style grew softer, more accessible, as well as airier and more decorative. Though his canvases long retained the fauvist colours and remnants of the constructive 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 the vibrant colours were replaced by a scumbled, misty, more relaxed atmosphere, and the style became smoother, more decorative, more palatable for a middle class audience. The vision of the landscapes, garden and seaside scenes, nudes and still lifes he made between the wars resembles the approach of the École de Paris painters, especially of Kisling
, Pascin
, Van Dongen and Dufy.
After th Second World War he was among the first to join the European School, founded on October 13, 1945. Though his painterly style, even his views on art, were distant from the approach of the European School
’s young painters – who were attracted partly to the Surrealists and partly to the abstracts, and who can in many ways be linked to the art of Corneille
and the Cobra
group.
Ödön Márffy died in the Kútvölgyi Hospital on December 3, 1959, three days after his 81st birthday.
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
.
Biography
Following a short basic training, he managed to get a grant to study art in ParisParis
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
from the autumn of 1902. He started as a student of Jean-Paul Laurens
Jean-Paul Laurens
Jean-Paul Laurens , was a French painter and sculptor, and one of the last major exponents of the French Academic style.Born in Fourquevaux, he was a pupil of Léon Cogniet and Alexandre Bida...
at the Académie Julian
Académie Julian
The Académie Julian was an art school in Paris, France.Rodolphe Julian established the Académie Julian in 1868 at the Passage des Panoramas, as a private studio school for art students. The Académie Julian not only prepared students to the exams at the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts, but offered...
, like 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
École des Beaux-Arts refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The most famous is the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, now located on the left bank in Paris, across the Seine from the Louvre, in the 6th arrondissement. The school has a history spanning more than 350 years,...
, where Fernand Cormon
Fernand Cormon
Fernand Cormon 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....
was his teacher. With classmates they often went to Ambroise Vollard
Ambroise Vollard
Ambroise Vollard is regarded as one of the most important dealers in French contemporary art at the beginning of the twentieth century...
’s famous art dealership together, where Márffy was most impressed by the pictures of Cézanne, Matisse, Bonnard
Pierre Bonnard
Pierre Bonnard was a French painter and printmaker, as well as a founding member of Les Nabis.-Biography:...
, Rouault and Braque. He claims to have met Matisse in 1905, who had been sent down from the École des Beaux-Arts, but would return there from time to time, and even to have visited him in his studio once.
His stay in Paris was crucial for his artistic development and later career not only because of his familiarity with French painters and students, but also because this was where he became friends with Béla Czobel
Béla Czóbel
Béla Czóbel was a Hungarian painter.-Biography:He was a student of Béla Iványi-Grünwald in the Nagybánya free school. He was enrolled in the Académie Julian in Paris in 1903 as a pupil of Jean Paul Laurens. His style reflects the principles of the Nagybánya school...
, Róbert Berény
Róbert Berény
Róbert Berény was a Hungarian painter, one of the avant-garde group known as The Eight who introduced cubism and expressionism to Hungarian art.-Early life and education:...
and Bertalan Pór
Bertalan Pór
Bertalan Pór was a twentieth-century Hungarian painter, associated with the development of Hungarian art. He was a member of The Eight, a movement among Hungarian artists in the early twentieth century. Others included Lajos Tihanyi,...
, later members of the Eight (Nyolcak)
The Eight (Nyolcak)
The Eight was an avant-garde art movement of Hungarian painters active mostly in Budapest from 1909 to 1918.The members of the Eight Róbert Berény, Dezső Czigány, Béla Czóbel, Károly Kernstok, Ödön Márffy, Dezső Orbán, Bertalan Pór, Lajos Tihanyi were primarily inspired by Matisse and the fauvism...
, and this was where he met philosopher of art Lajos Fülep, writer and columnist György Bölöni and poet Endre Ady
Endre Ady
Endre Ady was a Hungarian poet.-Biography:Ady was born in Érmindszent, Szilágy county . He belonged to an impoverished Calvinist noble family...
. It was in 1906, the last year of his stay in France that he first exhibited at the Salon d'Automne
Salon d'Automne
In 1903, the first Salon d'Automne was organized by Georges Rouault, André Derain, Henri Matisse, Angele Delasalle and Albert Marquet as a reaction to the conservative policies of the official Paris Salon...
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, at a show that received very good reviews.
The success of this exhibition brought him the friendship of József Rippl-Rónai
József Rippl-Rónai
József Rippl-Rónai was a Hungarian painter.He was born in Kaposvár. After his studies at the High School there, he went to study in Budapest, where he obtained a degree in pharmacology. In 1884 he travelled to Munich to study painting at the Academy. Two years later he obtained a grant which...
and Károly Kernstok. Rippl-Rónai – who had lived in France and was one of the Nabis
Nabis
Nabis was ruler of Sparta from 207 BC to 192 BC, during the years of the First and Second Macedonian Wars and the War against Nabis. After taking the throne by executing two claimants, he began rebuilding Sparta's power. During the Second Macedonian War, he sided with King Philip V of Macedon and...
– not only invited the young painter to Kaposvár, but it was thanks to his substantial support that Márffy could become a founding member of MIÉNK (Magyar Impresszionisták és Naturalisták Köre – Circle of Hungarian Impressionists and Naturalists). Károly Kernstok, another well-established painter, invited him to his Nyergesújfalu estate, where Márffy’s fauvism came to maturity.
From late 1909 Márffy was actively participating in the works of the group of artists who seceded from the MIÉNK, and were to become famous as the Eight. The group was formed by Róbert Berény
Róbert Berény
Róbert Berény was a Hungarian painter, one of the avant-garde group known as The Eight who introduced cubism and expressionism to Hungarian art.-Early life and education:...
, Dezső Czigány, Béla Czóbel
Béla Czóbel
Béla Czóbel was a Hungarian painter.-Biography:He was a student of Béla Iványi-Grünwald in the Nagybánya free school. He was enrolled in the Académie Julian in Paris in 1903 as a pupil of Jean Paul Laurens. His style reflects the principles of the Nagybánya school...
, Károly Kernstok, Ödön Márffy, Dezső Orbán
Desiderius Orban
Desiderius Orban OBE was a renowned Hungarian-born Australian painter, printmaker and teacher. He was influenced by the paintings of Henri Matisse, Vincent van Gogh and Paul Cézanne.-Biography:...
, Bertalan Pór
Bertalan Pór
Bertalan Pór was a twentieth-century Hungarian painter, associated with the development of Hungarian art. He was a member of The Eight, a movement among Hungarian artists in the early twentieth century. Others included Lajos Tihanyi,...
and Lajos Tihanyi in 1909, though they adopted the epithet “the Eight” only in the Spring of 1911. They opened their first exhibition on December 30, 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, their activity was of immense significance, with an influence that went far beyond the visual arts, involving new Hungarian literature and contemporary music was, in the case of the Eight, more than entertainment or publicity. The list of contributors reveals that literature was represented by those associated with the journal Nyugat (Endre Ady, Dezső Kosztolányi), and music was by the most modern composers: Bartók Béla, Kodály Zoltán.
Between 1909-1914, Márffy’s painting was constantly transforming. The exalted, fauvist brushwork gave way, in his landscapes, nudes, still lifes and even his portraits, to an increasingly rigorous mode of composition. The disciplined, constructive approach would be loosened up in the second half of the decade by increasingly expressionistic solutions – thanks in part to his encounter with Kokoschka.
Ödön Márffy married Endre Ady
Endre Ady
Endre Ady was a Hungarian poet.-Biography:Ady was born in Érmindszent, Szilágy county . He belonged to an impoverished Calvinist noble family...
’s widow, Csinszka in August 1920. The marriage brought emotional and financial security. By the 1920s, Márffy had become an acknowledged, much sought-after painter who exhibited regularly. He could afford to travel, he often went to paint in Germany and Italy, took part regularly at the Venice Biennials, and exhibited, among other places, in the United States, Italy, Poland, Vienna, Nuremberg and Munich. The only member of the Eight to work regularly in Hungary, he had considerable authority in the local scene. In 1924 he became a founding member of the KUT
Kut
Al-Kūt is a city in eastern Iraq, on the left bank of the Tigris River, about 160 kilometres south east of Baghdad. the estimated population is about 374,000 people...
(New Society of Visual Artists) an umbrella of modern endeavours. In 1927 Ödön Márffy was elected to the head of the organization for a decade.
Meanwhile, his style grew softer, more accessible, as well as airier and more decorative. Though his canvases long retained the fauvist colours and remnants of the constructive 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 the vibrant colours were replaced by a scumbled, misty, more relaxed atmosphere, and the style became smoother, more decorative, more palatable for a middle class audience. The vision of the landscapes, garden and seaside scenes, nudes and still lifes he made between the wars resembles the approach of the École de Paris painters, especially of Kisling
Kisling
Kisling:* Moise Kisling , a Jewish Polish painter* Jérémie Kisling , a Swiss singer/songwriter* Richard D. Kisling * Kisling, a fictional character...
, Pascin
Pascin
Julius Mordecai Pincas, known as Pascin, Jules Pascin, or the "Prince of Montparnasse", was born in Bulgaria to parents of four ethnicities. During World War I, he worked in the United States. He is best known as a painter in Paris, where he was strongly identified with the Modernist movement and...
, Van Dongen and Dufy.
After th Second World War he was among the first to join the European School, founded on October 13, 1945. Though his painterly style, even his views on art, were distant from the approach of the European School
European School
The European Schools are co-educational schools providing nursery, primary and secondary. They are established to provide free education for children of personnel of the European Institutions and leading to the European Baccalaureate. Other children may be admitted subject to the availability of...
’s young painters – who were attracted partly to the Surrealists and partly to the abstracts, and who can in many ways be linked to the art of Corneille
Guillaume Cornelis van Beverloo
Guillaume Cornelis van Beverloo , better known under his pseudonym Corneille, was a Dutch artist.Corneille was born in Liege, Belgium, although his parents were Dutch and moved back to the Netherlands when he was 12. He studied art at the Academy of Art in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands...
and the Cobra
Cobra
Cobra is a venomous snake belonging to the family Elapidae. However, not all snakes commonly referred to as cobras are of the same genus, or even of the same family. The name is short for cobra capo or capa Snake, which is Portuguese for "snake with hood", or "hood-snake"...
group.
Ödön Márffy died in the Kútvölgyi Hospital on December 3, 1959, three days after his 81st birthday.