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BORTNYIK, Sándor
BORTNYIK, Sándor
painter, graphic artist, graphic designer
(3. July, 1893, Marosvásárhely – 31. Dec. 1976, Budapest)
In the oeuvre of this artist, painting and applied graphics are inextricably intertwined. Orphaned at a young age, Sándor Bortnyik arrived in Budapest in 1910, and in order to make a living he became a publiciser and packaging designer for a perfume manufacturer. He quickly enrolled in the free school run by József Rippl-Rónai, where two similarly progressively-minded painters, Károly Kernstock and János Vaszary, were teaching; and in no small measure it was under the influence of what he heard and saw there that this Activist, who amalgamated elements of Futurism and Cubism in his own special way, developed his style. The propagandising linocuts he produced in this spirit appeared regularly in the columns of Kassák's avant-garde periodicals Ma ("Today") and Tett ("Deed"). The radical nature of his personal philosophy brought similar developments in his artistic style: at the start of the twenties he painted abstract pictures and then went to Weimar in 1922 where he came into contact with the work of the Bauhaus. He did not become a pupil or a teacher there, but what he experienced left a great impression on him. Although from the mid-twenties his attitude was critical towards the views of those representing the new aesthetic that championed the age of the machine, for a while he abandoned pure art. Going back to Hungary in 1925 he designed many posters, books, advertisements and even furniture, and in 1928, a convert to the new architecture, he opened a free school , "Workshop" , which his contemporaries called the "Hungarian Bauhaus" on account of its modern teaching methods. (One of the pupils was Gyõzõ Vásárhely, known to the world in later years as Victor Vasarely.) From the mid-twenties his painting became realistic, dominated by elements of post-Impressionism a la Gresham circle; but he lost none of his sarcasm. The most interesting pieces he produced before the war questioned the value-system of bourgeois existence, those from afterwards questioned that of the socialist idyll, though they became less and less frequent and gradually lost their power.
[József Vadas: Hungarian Masterpieces (Vadas József : A magyar festészet remekei), translator: Godfrey Offord, Corvina Publishers, 2004.] One-Man Shows:
1919 • Exhibition Rooms of the Ma, Budapest
1923 • Galerie Nierendorf, Berlin
1924 • Vychodoslovensky Museum, Kassa
1925 • Mentor Bookstore, Budapest
1930 • Tamás Gallery, Budapest
1969 • Retrospective Exhibition of ~, Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest
1977 • Memorial Exhibition of ~, Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest
1978 • Memorial Exhibition of ~, Uitz Hall, Dunaújváros (HU)
1993 • ~, The Graphic and Book Artist, Petõfi Literary Museum, Budapest. Selected Group Exhibition:
1916 • National Salon, Budapest
1918 • 3rd Demonstrative Exhibition of the Ma
1919 • Graphical Exhibition of the Ma, Budapest
1922 • Der Sturm Galerie, Berlin
1923 • Der Sturm Galerie, Berlin
1923 • Eeckeren-Antwerpen
1927 • Stadtische Kunsthalle, Mannheim
1929, 1930 • KÚT, Budapest
1930 • Exhibition of the Book and Publicity Art Society, Museum of Applied Arts, Budapest • International Placard Exhibition, Bolzano
1931, 1933 • Exhibition of Art Groups, Műcsarnok, Budapest
1931 • Exhibition of the Bortnyik Students, National Institute for Educational Technology, Budapest
1933 • Triennial of Applied Arts, Milan • Memorial Exhibition of Kálmán Györgyi, Museum of Applied Arts, Budapest
1937 • Hungarian National Print Exhibition, Műcsarnok, Budapest
1945 • First Free National Exhibition, Műcsarnok, Budapest
1954-1955 • Modernized Classics, Budapest-Moscow
1961 • Herwarth Walden und die osteuropäische Avantgarde 1912-1932, Berlin
1967 • Avantgarde in Osteuropa 1910-1930, Berlin
1971 • Internationale Plakate 1871-1971, Haus der Kunst, Munich • Ungarische Avantgarde 1909-1930, Galerie del Levante, Munich • Osteuropäische Avantgarde, Galerie Gmurzynska-Bargera, Cologne
1973 • Hungarian Activism, Janus Pannonius Museum, Pécs (HU)
1981 • The Eights and activists, Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest. Works in Public Collections:
Municipal Picture Gallery, Budapest
Janus Pannonius Museum, Pécs (HU)
Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest
National Széchényi Library, Budapest. Bibliography:
Kemény, A.: ~ képei és grafikája, Ma, 1919. június 15.
Hevesy, I.: ~ Modiano plakátjai, Reklám-élet, 1929/9.
Hevesy, I.: ~ piktúrája és grafikája, Magyar Grafika, 1929/1-2.
Kállai, E.: Új magyar festészet, Budapest, 1925
Rozgonyi, I.: Beszélgetés ~ral, MTA Mûvészettörténeti Kutatócsoport Közleményei, 1963
Borbély, L.: ~, Budapest, 1971
Körner, É.: ~. Mappa, Budapest, 1975
Hajdu, I.: Beszélgetés ~ral, Kritika, 1976. augusztus
Bakos, K.: Az elsõ magyar Gebrauchsgraphiker. ~ mûhelye és "Mûhely"-e, Új Mûvészet, 1993/11.
Bajkay, É.: Aktuális ~ -történetek, Új Mûvészet, 1993/12.
painter, graphic artist, graphic designer
(3. July, 1893, Marosvásárhely – 31. Dec. 1976, Budapest)
In the oeuvre of this artist, painting and applied graphics are inextricably intertwined. Orphaned at a young age, Sándor Bortnyik arrived in Budapest in 1910, and in order to make a living he became a publiciser and packaging designer for a perfume manufacturer. He quickly enrolled in the free school run by József Rippl-Rónai, where two similarly progressively-minded painters, Károly Kernstock and János Vaszary, were teaching; and in no small measure it was under the influence of what he heard and saw there that this Activist, who amalgamated elements of Futurism and Cubism in his own special way, developed his style. The propagandising linocuts he produced in this spirit appeared regularly in the columns of Kassák's avant-garde periodicals Ma ("Today") and Tett ("Deed"). The radical nature of his personal philosophy brought similar developments in his artistic style: at the start of the twenties he painted abstract pictures and then went to Weimar in 1922 where he came into contact with the work of the Bauhaus. He did not become a pupil or a teacher there, but what he experienced left a great impression on him. Although from the mid-twenties his attitude was critical towards the views of those representing the new aesthetic that championed the age of the machine, for a while he abandoned pure art. Going back to Hungary in 1925 he designed many posters, books, advertisements and even furniture, and in 1928, a convert to the new architecture, he opened a free school , "Workshop" , which his contemporaries called the "Hungarian Bauhaus" on account of its modern teaching methods. (One of the pupils was Gyõzõ Vásárhely, known to the world in later years as Victor Vasarely.) From the mid-twenties his painting became realistic, dominated by elements of post-Impressionism a la Gresham circle; but he lost none of his sarcasm. The most interesting pieces he produced before the war questioned the value-system of bourgeois existence, those from afterwards questioned that of the socialist idyll, though they became less and less frequent and gradually lost their power.
[József Vadas: Hungarian Masterpieces (Vadas József : A magyar festészet remekei), translator: Godfrey Offord, Corvina Publishers, 2004.] One-Man Shows:
1919 • Exhibition Rooms of the Ma, Budapest
1923 • Galerie Nierendorf, Berlin
1924 • Vychodoslovensky Museum, Kassa
1925 • Mentor Bookstore, Budapest
1930 • Tamás Gallery, Budapest
1969 • Retrospective Exhibition of ~, Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest
1977 • Memorial Exhibition of ~, Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest
1978 • Memorial Exhibition of ~, Uitz Hall, Dunaújváros (HU)
1993 • ~, The Graphic and Book Artist, Petõfi Literary Museum, Budapest. Selected Group Exhibition:
1916 • National Salon, Budapest
1918 • 3rd Demonstrative Exhibition of the Ma
1919 • Graphical Exhibition of the Ma, Budapest
1922 • Der Sturm Galerie, Berlin
1923 • Der Sturm Galerie, Berlin
1923 • Eeckeren-Antwerpen
1927 • Stadtische Kunsthalle, Mannheim
1929, 1930 • KÚT, Budapest
1930 • Exhibition of the Book and Publicity Art Society, Museum of Applied Arts, Budapest • International Placard Exhibition, Bolzano
1931, 1933 • Exhibition of Art Groups, Műcsarnok, Budapest
1931 • Exhibition of the Bortnyik Students, National Institute for Educational Technology, Budapest
1933 • Triennial of Applied Arts, Milan • Memorial Exhibition of Kálmán Györgyi, Museum of Applied Arts, Budapest
1937 • Hungarian National Print Exhibition, Műcsarnok, Budapest
1945 • First Free National Exhibition, Műcsarnok, Budapest
1954-1955 • Modernized Classics, Budapest-Moscow
1961 • Herwarth Walden und die osteuropäische Avantgarde 1912-1932, Berlin
1967 • Avantgarde in Osteuropa 1910-1930, Berlin
1971 • Internationale Plakate 1871-1971, Haus der Kunst, Munich • Ungarische Avantgarde 1909-1930, Galerie del Levante, Munich • Osteuropäische Avantgarde, Galerie Gmurzynska-Bargera, Cologne
1973 • Hungarian Activism, Janus Pannonius Museum, Pécs (HU)
1981 • The Eights and activists, Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest. Works in Public Collections:
Municipal Picture Gallery, Budapest
Janus Pannonius Museum, Pécs (HU)
Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest
National Széchényi Library, Budapest. Bibliography:
Kemény, A.: ~ képei és grafikája, Ma, 1919. június 15.
Hevesy, I.: ~ Modiano plakátjai, Reklám-élet, 1929/9.
Hevesy, I.: ~ piktúrája és grafikája, Magyar Grafika, 1929/1-2.
Kállai, E.: Új magyar festészet, Budapest, 1925
Rozgonyi, I.: Beszélgetés ~ral, MTA Mûvészettörténeti Kutatócsoport Közleményei, 1963
Borbély, L.: ~, Budapest, 1971
Körner, É.: ~. Mappa, Budapest, 1975
Hajdu, I.: Beszélgetés ~ral, Kritika, 1976. augusztus
Bakos, K.: Az elsõ magyar Gebrauchsgraphiker. ~ mûhelye és "Mûhely"-e, Új Mûvészet, 1993/11.
Bajkay, É.: Aktuális ~ -történetek, Új Mûvészet, 1993/12.
