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MÁRFFY, Ödön
MÁRFFY, Ödön
painter
(30 Nov. 1878, Budapest – 3 Dec. 1959, Budapest)
1902–1904: Julian Academy and École des Beaux-Arts, masters: J.P. Laurens and F. Cormon. He was awarded the Governmental Golden Medalion Award in 1946. Márffy was the member of the groups MIÉNK /OURS/ (1908), Nyolcak /The Eight/ (1908), then the Képzőművészek Új Társasága /Society of New Fine Artists/ (1924), as well as the artist of the Európai Iskola /European School/ (1945). Márffy was a defining figure of the twentieth century painting of Hungary. His style is related to the Fauves and in a small degree to cubism. Independent of the fact that he did not visit Nagybánya the painting of the Neo group also influenced his work, as well as the painting of Rippl-Rónai, who he considered his master. He became acquainted with Endre Ady and Lajos Fülep around the beginning of the 1900’s, in Paris. His attitude towards painting was influenced not only by French Art, for instance Mattise, but also by the outstanding representatives of Hungarian Art (Aktos kompozíció /Nude composition/, around 1911). He returned from Paris to Hungary in 1906. His painting reached its fruition with his joining the Nyolcak. The essence of his new style was the conjoining of the methods of Cezánne and the results of both cubism and fauvism during the production of the composition, while remaining tied to a method of figuration, which emphasized the structure and coloring of the images (Régi váci vám /Old tax of Vác/, around 1911). His social status was strengthened and his financial situation stabilized by his marriage to Berta Boncza, “Csinszka”, the widow of Endre Ady,. From thereon he was able to spend almost all his time with painting. The method of portrayal of the ex-members of Nyolcak group was characterized during the two world wars by a shift towards a much more intimate voice, a turning inwards, the depiction of the private sphere, and a drawing nearer to the style of postmodernism. This so-called light-color-sensual painting, typical of Márffy at the time, made his painting much more unique and expressive through the strengthening, lightening, and turning humid, airy, and enigmatic-like of his colors (Csipke kendős nő /Woman with lace kerchief/, around 1930, Tiarich Zdenka és Csinszka /Zdenka Tiarich and Csinszka/, 1930). The open-mindedness of his attitude at the time is displayed by his joining the European School, however the character of his paintings did not change significantly from thereon (Lovak /Horses/, 1940’s, Önarckép /Self-portrait/, around 1950). A collective exhibition was held at the Ernst Museum a year before his death, in 1958, where he had exhibited his works a number of times during the years between the two World Wars. Márffy was a typical artist of the first half of the twentieth century. He was able to reform Hungarian painting through the fusion of the modern painting styles of Europe after the turn of the century with Hungarian traditions, especially those typical of Nagybánya, which he did with masterful talent, independent of the fact that a sense of dualism may be noticed in his works.
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Ödön Márffy started his career as a prominent member of the reforming generation which banded together as the Group of Eight to rebel in the name of the European avant-garde against the plein-air figurative art of the Nagybánya artists' colony. Between 1902 and 1906 he studied not in Nagybánya but in Paris where he assimilated the spirit of Fauvism in a way that would affect his whole life; it is what underpins perhaps the greatest strength of his painting, its glorious colouring. It was also in Paris that he struck up an acquaintance with Endre Ady, the greatest Hungarian poet of the early 20th century, who befriended him, and with Csinszka, Ady's companion, who would later become his wife. With this impressive haul he returned home to engage in Hungarian artistic life; in 1907, for instance, he had a joint exhibition with Lajos Gulácsy, with whom he shared a studio and of whom he painted an excellent portrait. In the 1920s, as both a painter and organiser in the art world he returned to the post-Impressionist ideals he had rejected as a young man. He played a large part in helping to establish the New Association of Artists that took in hand the legacy of Pál Szinyei Merse's Impressionistic figurative art, and for ten years from 1927 he was that organisation's head. And although it is a paradox, with his increasingly lyrical and French-oriented pictures he developed an unmistakable personal style characterised by delicate brushwork and an atmosphere of shining iridescent colour. These attributes won him unequalled popularity among his contemporaries. (Krisztina Passuth: Ödön Márffy. Budapest, 1978, with extracts in French, German and English)
[József Vadas: Hungarian Masterpieces (Vadas József : A magyar festészet remekei), translator: Godfrey Offord, Corvina Publishers, 2004.] One-Man Shows:
1907 • Uránia Gallery [with Lajos Gulácsy]
1921 • Studio, Budapest
1922 • Helikon Gallery, Budapest
1928 • Ernst Museum, Budapest
1930 • Ernst Museum, Budapest
1931 • Tamás Gallery, Budapest
1946 • Ernst Museum, Budapest
1958 • Ernst Museum, Budapest
1978 • Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest
1986 • Vigadó Gallery, Budapest. Selected Group Exhibition:
1906 • Salon d'Automne, Paris
1911 • The Eights, National Salon, Budapest
1946 • Graphic Art and Small Sculpture Exhibition of The European School (Európai Iskola), Democratic Alliance of Hungarian Women, Budapest
1948 • Ourselves, Üllői Road 11., Budapest Works in Public Collections:
Deák Collections, Székesfehérvár (HU)
Municipal Picture Gallery, Budapest
Janus Pannonius Museum, Modern Hungarian Gallery, Pécs (HU)
Kieselbach Collection
Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest
Radnai Collection, Municipal Museum of Art, Győr (HU)
Rippl-Rónai Museum, Kaposvár (HU). Bibliography:
Bölöni, Gy.: ~, Auróra, 1911/7.
Kállai, E.: ~ újabb munkái, Ars Una, 1924/4.
Pátzay, P.: ~, Berlin, 1927
Rabinovszky, M.: ~ művészete, Magyar Grafika, 1928/3-4.
Márffy, Ö.: Gondolatok a művészetről, Új Szín, 1930/1.
Kassák, L.: Vallomás tizenöt művészről, Budapest, 1942
Kassák, L.: Képzőművészetünk Nagybányától napjainkig 1947. Éljünk a mi időnkben, Budapest, 1978
Körner, É.: Műteremlátogatás ~nél, Műterem, 1958/1.
Zolnay, L.: ~, Budapest, 1966
Passuth, K.: ~ (monogr.), Budapest, 1978.
painter
(30 Nov. 1878, Budapest – 3 Dec. 1959, Budapest)
1902–1904: Julian Academy and École des Beaux-Arts, masters: J.P. Laurens and F. Cormon. He was awarded the Governmental Golden Medalion Award in 1946. Márffy was the member of the groups MIÉNK /OURS/ (1908), Nyolcak /The Eight/ (1908), then the Képzőművészek Új Társasága /Society of New Fine Artists/ (1924), as well as the artist of the Európai Iskola /European School/ (1945). Márffy was a defining figure of the twentieth century painting of Hungary. His style is related to the Fauves and in a small degree to cubism. Independent of the fact that he did not visit Nagybánya the painting of the Neo group also influenced his work, as well as the painting of Rippl-Rónai, who he considered his master. He became acquainted with Endre Ady and Lajos Fülep around the beginning of the 1900’s, in Paris. His attitude towards painting was influenced not only by French Art, for instance Mattise, but also by the outstanding representatives of Hungarian Art (Aktos kompozíció /Nude composition/, around 1911). He returned from Paris to Hungary in 1906. His painting reached its fruition with his joining the Nyolcak. The essence of his new style was the conjoining of the methods of Cezánne and the results of both cubism and fauvism during the production of the composition, while remaining tied to a method of figuration, which emphasized the structure and coloring of the images (Régi váci vám /Old tax of Vác/, around 1911). His social status was strengthened and his financial situation stabilized by his marriage to Berta Boncza, “Csinszka”, the widow of Endre Ady,. From thereon he was able to spend almost all his time with painting. The method of portrayal of the ex-members of Nyolcak group was characterized during the two world wars by a shift towards a much more intimate voice, a turning inwards, the depiction of the private sphere, and a drawing nearer to the style of postmodernism. This so-called light-color-sensual painting, typical of Márffy at the time, made his painting much more unique and expressive through the strengthening, lightening, and turning humid, airy, and enigmatic-like of his colors (Csipke kendős nő /Woman with lace kerchief/, around 1930, Tiarich Zdenka és Csinszka /Zdenka Tiarich and Csinszka/, 1930). The open-mindedness of his attitude at the time is displayed by his joining the European School, however the character of his paintings did not change significantly from thereon (Lovak /Horses/, 1940’s, Önarckép /Self-portrait/, around 1950). A collective exhibition was held at the Ernst Museum a year before his death, in 1958, where he had exhibited his works a number of times during the years between the two World Wars. Márffy was a typical artist of the first half of the twentieth century. He was able to reform Hungarian painting through the fusion of the modern painting styles of Europe after the turn of the century with Hungarian traditions, especially those typical of Nagybánya, which he did with masterful talent, independent of the fact that a sense of dualism may be noticed in his works.
*******************************************************************
Ödön Márffy started his career as a prominent member of the reforming generation which banded together as the Group of Eight to rebel in the name of the European avant-garde against the plein-air figurative art of the Nagybánya artists' colony. Between 1902 and 1906 he studied not in Nagybánya but in Paris where he assimilated the spirit of Fauvism in a way that would affect his whole life; it is what underpins perhaps the greatest strength of his painting, its glorious colouring. It was also in Paris that he struck up an acquaintance with Endre Ady, the greatest Hungarian poet of the early 20th century, who befriended him, and with Csinszka, Ady's companion, who would later become his wife. With this impressive haul he returned home to engage in Hungarian artistic life; in 1907, for instance, he had a joint exhibition with Lajos Gulácsy, with whom he shared a studio and of whom he painted an excellent portrait. In the 1920s, as both a painter and organiser in the art world he returned to the post-Impressionist ideals he had rejected as a young man. He played a large part in helping to establish the New Association of Artists that took in hand the legacy of Pál Szinyei Merse's Impressionistic figurative art, and for ten years from 1927 he was that organisation's head. And although it is a paradox, with his increasingly lyrical and French-oriented pictures he developed an unmistakable personal style characterised by delicate brushwork and an atmosphere of shining iridescent colour. These attributes won him unequalled popularity among his contemporaries. (Krisztina Passuth: Ödön Márffy. Budapest, 1978, with extracts in French, German and English)
[József Vadas: Hungarian Masterpieces (Vadas József : A magyar festészet remekei), translator: Godfrey Offord, Corvina Publishers, 2004.] One-Man Shows:
1907 • Uránia Gallery [with Lajos Gulácsy]
1921 • Studio, Budapest
1922 • Helikon Gallery, Budapest
1928 • Ernst Museum, Budapest
1930 • Ernst Museum, Budapest
1931 • Tamás Gallery, Budapest
1946 • Ernst Museum, Budapest
1958 • Ernst Museum, Budapest
1978 • Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest
1986 • Vigadó Gallery, Budapest. Selected Group Exhibition:
1906 • Salon d'Automne, Paris
1911 • The Eights, National Salon, Budapest
1946 • Graphic Art and Small Sculpture Exhibition of The European School (Európai Iskola), Democratic Alliance of Hungarian Women, Budapest
1948 • Ourselves, Üllői Road 11., Budapest Works in Public Collections:
Deák Collections, Székesfehérvár (HU)
Municipal Picture Gallery, Budapest
Janus Pannonius Museum, Modern Hungarian Gallery, Pécs (HU)
Kieselbach Collection
Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest
Radnai Collection, Municipal Museum of Art, Győr (HU)
Rippl-Rónai Museum, Kaposvár (HU). Bibliography:
Bölöni, Gy.: ~, Auróra, 1911/7.
Kállai, E.: ~ újabb munkái, Ars Una, 1924/4.
Pátzay, P.: ~, Berlin, 1927
Rabinovszky, M.: ~ művészete, Magyar Grafika, 1928/3-4.
Márffy, Ö.: Gondolatok a művészetről, Új Szín, 1930/1.
Kassák, L.: Vallomás tizenöt művészről, Budapest, 1942
Kassák, L.: Képzőművészetünk Nagybányától napjainkig 1947. Éljünk a mi időnkben, Budapest, 1978
Körner, É.: Műteremlátogatás ~nél, Műterem, 1958/1.
Zolnay, L.: ~, Budapest, 1966
Passuth, K.: ~ (monogr.), Budapest, 1978.
