MARTYN, Ferenc
painter, graphic artist, sculptor
(10 June, 1899, Kaposvár–10 April, 1986, Pécs)
1918–1919 and 1923–1924: College of Fine Arts, Budapest, masters: József Rippl-Rónai and István Réti. 1962: Munkácsy Award; 1970: Meritorious Artist Award; 1973: Kossuth Award; 1978: Outstanding Artist Award; 1979: the Honoraray Citizen of the City of Pécs. 1984: the Honor of Flags of the Hungarian Peoples’s Republic. Between 1926 and 1940 he resided in Paris and was a member of the Abstraction-Création artistic group. He lived in Budapest from 1940 to 1945, after which he moved to Pécs where he resided up until his death. Martyn lead the fine arts life of the Southern-Transdanubian for decades. A permanent exhibition was opened in Pécs (under Káptalan street 6.) from the works bequeathed by him to the Hungarian Government. He spent his childhood at the house of József Rippl-Rónai, where he became acquainted with the culture of the French Painting of the period. His two paintings entitled Önarckép /Self-Portrait/, and Öreganyám /My Grandmother/ are outstanding pieces from his early creative years. During his first years in Paris he prepared a number of bronze etchings and aquarelles under the title of Párizsi mappa (Parisian Portfolio). The constructive depiction mode of the streets, galleries, and cafés of Paris went far beyond the nature-orientated methods taught during his college years. Later, between 1928 and 1930 he joined the surrealist movements, however for only a short period, preparing works such as Nagyvárosi ítélete /The Judgment of the Big City/, Parasztudvar alakokkal /Peasant Yard with Figures/. After 1930 he became a follower of the abstract movement. Within the scope of his drawings prepared with red chalk, he produced a system of pulsating, fluctuating, rhythmic lines. After 1933 he produced water-paintings with clear colors, and a series of further works prepared with chalk, which were immediate predecessors to his large-scale abstract paintings prepared later on. By 1939 he developed his own painting style, which consisted of the abstract and sublimated depiction of space and movement within the confines of the two dimensional plane. This was strengthened by the clearness of his colors, as well as the harmony brought forth through their interaction with one another. As a result of the Second World War he returned to Hungary in 1940. During this period he continued, in Budapest, the series began in Paris, with large sized colorful compositions. During the years of the war he demonstrated his opposition with his series of drawings entitled A fasizmus szörnyetegei /The Monsters of Fascism/. He upheld his artistic lifestyle and the production of abstract paintings even during the years of Dogmatist Cultural Politics spanning between the 1950’s and 1960’s, however was unable to present any such works to the public up until 1969. Alongside painting, the production of drawings gained a more and more important place in his work. In his series entitled Napló prepared in 1950, he documented the happenings of everyday life. Parallel to these works he also prepared symbolic, natural and figural drawings, with great technical precision. His strongly abstract drawing-compositions appeared from around 1965 (e.g.: Álló alak – serleg /Standing Figure – Goblet/, Vonalas Szerkezet /Lined Structure/). He prepared illustrations for a number of literary works, as well as drawings to accompany the writer’s thoughts. In these works he not only illustrated an episode of the story, but was also able to depict the characters of the plot in a genuine manner. Outstanding works in this series are the figures and portraits of Cervantes’s Don Quixote, G. Flaubert’s Mrs. Bovary, or J. Joyce’s Ulysses, or for instance the drawings depicting the days of Dániel Berzsenyi prepared with deep compassion. Abstraction and visions of reality did not break away from each other through his oeuvre. Natural, material and human references were present in the hidden realms of his images. Primarily the different symbols of freedom, such as the bird, the boat, and the struggle itself, then later the elements of Hungarian Folklore and ancient mythology also were to be found in both his graphic and painting works. Martyn held music a very significant element in the development of his oeuvre. He experienced the sounds of music through lines and colors, music to him meant rhythm and harmony. The Center of Twentieth Century Modern Arts was founded inspired by and in remembrance of his outstanding achievement and example.
**************************************************************
His mother having died when he was young, Ferenc Martyn grew up in the home of one of the great figures of the beginning of the century, the painter József Rippl-Rónai. Since Rippl had close ties with French culture, it followed almost as night follows day that after the first World War Martyn's career should take him to Paris; he lived there from 1926 to 1940. But whereas his parental master had turned his back on modernism - at least after he had moved back to Hungary - his young pupil moved in avant-garde circles. The first thing to influence him was Surrealism, while at the beginning of the twenties he started painting non-figurative pictures. His compositions, restricted to reddish-brown tones to begin with, gradually grew lighter; the sinuous organic shapes were replaced by geometric configurations painted in bright colours. With these works Martyn joined the group of artists known as Abstraction-Création, among whose members such luminaries as Kandinsky and Arp were to be found. At this time he developed the style that would stay with him for the rest of his life, which is not remotely Constructivist, in spite of its geometric shapes and pure colouring. This art is not an experiment in modelling the universe or in sketching out the future: in his works Martyn simply makes an abstract, that is, he never completely divorces himself from what he sees, and in nearly all his works random or amorphous elements of reality can be found. He looked deep into appearances, and it was the nature of the world behind them - impulses and motives, memories and experiences - that preoccupied him. This is probably why as an illustrator he felt an empathy with the basic text in world literature that exposes duplicity: Cervantes' Don Quixote; his work in this respect is perhaps his outstanding achievement as a draughtsman, and of a quality equal to his work as a painter. After the second World war Martyn became a member of the progressive artists' association known as the European School, and settled in Pécs, where he took an active part in local artistic life until his death.
[József Vadas: Hungarian Masterpieces (Vadas József : A magyar festészet remekei), translator: Godfrey Offord, Corvina Publishers, 2004.] One-Man Shows:
1929 • Tamás Gallery, Budapest
1934 • Fränkel Gallery, Budapest [with Béla Czóbel]
1946 • Free Organization of Hungarian Fine Artists, Budapest
1947 • Pécs (HU)
1951 • Janus Pannonius Museum, Pécs (HU)
1955 • Transdanubian Landscapes, Janus Pannonius Museum, Pécs (HU)
1957 • Landscapes, Rákóczi-series, Pécs (HU)
1960 • Cervantes - Don Quixote-drawings, József Rippl-Rónai Museum, Kaposvár (HU)
1962 • Book Illustrations, Institute of Cultural Connections, Budapest • Porcelain works, Janus Pannonius Museum, Pécs (HU) • XXXI. Biennial of Venice, Venice
1965 • Dürer Hall, Budapest • Drawings and Porcelain Works, József Rippl-Rónai Museum, Kaposvár (HU)
1966 • Book Illustrations, Petőfi Literary Museum, Budapest
1969 • Pécs (HU) (cat.) • Berzsenyi-drawings, Nikla (HU)
1970 • Tihany (HU) (cat.)
1971 • Berzsenyi-drawings, Kaposvár (HU) • To the Portrait of Janus Pannonius, Janus Pannonius Museum, Pécs (HU)
1973 • In the midst of reading Petőfi, Kaposvár (HU)
1976 • Transdanubian Landscapes, M. Lvov • Drawings, Essays
1978 • Budapest Historical Museum, Budapest (cat.)
1979 • 50 Drawings, Hungarian Academy, Rome • 50 Drawings, Gallery of Miskolc, Miskolc (HU) • Permanent, Janus Pannonius Museum, Pécs • 100 Literary Illustrations, Pécs (HU) • 155 Drawings, Vigadó Gallery, Budapest
1981 • Diary 1950, Pécs (HU) • Red chalk drawings from Paris and sculptutes, Janus Pannonius Museum, Pécs (HU)
1982 • Drawings, Gallery of Somogy, Kaposvár (HU) • Ulysses-drawings, Castle, Tata (HU)
1983 • Castle, Tata (HU)
1983-1984 • Paintings, Janus Pannonius Museum, Pécs (HU)
since 1984 • permanent exhibition, Somogy County Museum, Kaposvár (HU)
1997 • ~’ sculptures, Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts (cat.)
1999 • Municipal Museum of Art, Győr • Gallery of Szombathely, Szombathely (HU)• Centenary Exhibition, Ernst Museum, Budapest. Selected Group Exhibitions:
1938 • First Exhibition of the Abstract Artists in Hungary, Tamás Gallery, Budapest
1966 • Madách-Illustrations, Petőfi Literary Museum, Budapest
1969 • Artists of Pécs and Baranya, Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest (cat.). Works in Public Places:
Spatial Sculpture [white marble, 1978, sculpture parc, Szársomlyó (HU)]
Memorial of the Ants [bronze, 1982, Martyn Museum, Pécs (HU)]
Sculpture with bow [bronze, 1983, Káptalan Street, Pécs (HU)]
Glass window [coloured stained glass (with E. Szabó), 1983, Martyn Museum, Pécs (HU)]
Glass window [1984, Káptalan Street, Pécs (HU)]
Hommage à Gabriel Fauré [bronze, 1984, Káptalan Street, Pécs (HU)]
Memorial [iron casting, 1984, Iron Works, Dunaújváros (HU)]
Glass Window [1985, Library of Baranya County, Pécs (HU)]
Sailing boat [bronze, 1996, Tópart Street, Tata (HU)]. Works in Public Collections:
Ádám Béri Balogh Museum, Szekszárd (HU)
Municipal Picture Gallery, Budapest
Association Flaubert, Rouen
Ottó Herman Museum, Miskolc (HU)
King Saint Stephen Museum, Székesfehérvár (HU)
Janus Pannonius Museum, Pécs (HU)
Domonkos Kuny Museum, Tata (HU)
Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest
Museum, Dublin
Petőfi Literary Museum, Budapest
József Rippl-Rónai Museum, Kaposvár (HU)
Gallery of Szombathely, Szombathely (HU)
István Türr Museum, Baja (HU)
Jewish Museum, Budapest. Books with Drawing Series:
Ramon L.: Imádónak és imádottnak könyve, Vác, 1943
Petőfi: Az Apostol, 1961
Cervantes: Don Quijote, 1962
Mallarmé: Költeményei, 1964
Tüskés T.: Vallomás a városról, 1970
Petőfi olvasása közben (album), 1973
Költők a városról (szerk.: Szederkényi E.), Pécs, 1974
minikönyv, 1975
Berzsenyi-emlékkönyv (szerk.: Dr. Merényi O.), Somogy megyei Tanács és Vas megyei Tanács, 1976
Baranyai képek (Weöres S. verseivel), Budapest, 1979
~: Töredékek. ~ írásai művészetről, művészekről. Baranya megyei Tanács, 1979. Bibliography:
Monographs: Tüskés, T.: A szó és a vonal (irodalmi kísérőrajzok), Somogyi Múzeum Füzetei, 17., 1970
Hárs, É.: ~ (cat., Tihany, 1970)
Hárs, É.: ~, A Művészet kiskönyvtára 46, 1970
Hárs, É.: ~ (monogr.), 1975
Egy életmű vonulatai (~ művészetéről), Művészet (különszám), 1978/5.
Aknai, T.-Hárs, É.-Kerékgyártó, I.-Menyhárt, L.-Mezei, O.-P. Szűcs, J.-Bertalan, V.: ~- életmű-kiállítás (cat., intro., BTM, 1978)
Aknai, T.-Hárs, É.: ~ Múzeum (permanent exhib. cat.) Janus Pannonius Múzeum Füzetei 51., 1984
Közelítések (írások ~ről az emberről és a művészről), szerk.: Tüskés, T., Baranya megyei Múzeumok Igazgatósága, Pécs, 1984
Hárs, É.: ~ életmű-katalógusa, Somogy megyei Múzeumok Igazgatósága, Kaposvár, 1985
Tüskés, T.: ~ Mester (írások ~ről) Berzsenyi Dániel Irodalmi és Művészeti Társaság, Kaposvár, 1997.
painter, graphic artist, sculptor
(10 June, 1899, Kaposvár–10 April, 1986, Pécs)
1918–1919 and 1923–1924: College of Fine Arts, Budapest, masters: József Rippl-Rónai and István Réti. 1962: Munkácsy Award; 1970: Meritorious Artist Award; 1973: Kossuth Award; 1978: Outstanding Artist Award; 1979: the Honoraray Citizen of the City of Pécs. 1984: the Honor of Flags of the Hungarian Peoples’s Republic. Between 1926 and 1940 he resided in Paris and was a member of the Abstraction-Création artistic group. He lived in Budapest from 1940 to 1945, after which he moved to Pécs where he resided up until his death. Martyn lead the fine arts life of the Southern-Transdanubian for decades. A permanent exhibition was opened in Pécs (under Káptalan street 6.) from the works bequeathed by him to the Hungarian Government. He spent his childhood at the house of József Rippl-Rónai, where he became acquainted with the culture of the French Painting of the period. His two paintings entitled Önarckép /Self-Portrait/, and Öreganyám /My Grandmother/ are outstanding pieces from his early creative years. During his first years in Paris he prepared a number of bronze etchings and aquarelles under the title of Párizsi mappa (Parisian Portfolio). The constructive depiction mode of the streets, galleries, and cafés of Paris went far beyond the nature-orientated methods taught during his college years. Later, between 1928 and 1930 he joined the surrealist movements, however for only a short period, preparing works such as Nagyvárosi ítélete /The Judgment of the Big City/, Parasztudvar alakokkal /Peasant Yard with Figures/. After 1930 he became a follower of the abstract movement. Within the scope of his drawings prepared with red chalk, he produced a system of pulsating, fluctuating, rhythmic lines. After 1933 he produced water-paintings with clear colors, and a series of further works prepared with chalk, which were immediate predecessors to his large-scale abstract paintings prepared later on. By 1939 he developed his own painting style, which consisted of the abstract and sublimated depiction of space and movement within the confines of the two dimensional plane. This was strengthened by the clearness of his colors, as well as the harmony brought forth through their interaction with one another. As a result of the Second World War he returned to Hungary in 1940. During this period he continued, in Budapest, the series began in Paris, with large sized colorful compositions. During the years of the war he demonstrated his opposition with his series of drawings entitled A fasizmus szörnyetegei /The Monsters of Fascism/. He upheld his artistic lifestyle and the production of abstract paintings even during the years of Dogmatist Cultural Politics spanning between the 1950’s and 1960’s, however was unable to present any such works to the public up until 1969. Alongside painting, the production of drawings gained a more and more important place in his work. In his series entitled Napló prepared in 1950, he documented the happenings of everyday life. Parallel to these works he also prepared symbolic, natural and figural drawings, with great technical precision. His strongly abstract drawing-compositions appeared from around 1965 (e.g.: Álló alak – serleg /Standing Figure – Goblet/, Vonalas Szerkezet /Lined Structure/). He prepared illustrations for a number of literary works, as well as drawings to accompany the writer’s thoughts. In these works he not only illustrated an episode of the story, but was also able to depict the characters of the plot in a genuine manner. Outstanding works in this series are the figures and portraits of Cervantes’s Don Quixote, G. Flaubert’s Mrs. Bovary, or J. Joyce’s Ulysses, or for instance the drawings depicting the days of Dániel Berzsenyi prepared with deep compassion. Abstraction and visions of reality did not break away from each other through his oeuvre. Natural, material and human references were present in the hidden realms of his images. Primarily the different symbols of freedom, such as the bird, the boat, and the struggle itself, then later the elements of Hungarian Folklore and ancient mythology also were to be found in both his graphic and painting works. Martyn held music a very significant element in the development of his oeuvre. He experienced the sounds of music through lines and colors, music to him meant rhythm and harmony. The Center of Twentieth Century Modern Arts was founded inspired by and in remembrance of his outstanding achievement and example.
**************************************************************
His mother having died when he was young, Ferenc Martyn grew up in the home of one of the great figures of the beginning of the century, the painter József Rippl-Rónai. Since Rippl had close ties with French culture, it followed almost as night follows day that after the first World War Martyn's career should take him to Paris; he lived there from 1926 to 1940. But whereas his parental master had turned his back on modernism - at least after he had moved back to Hungary - his young pupil moved in avant-garde circles. The first thing to influence him was Surrealism, while at the beginning of the twenties he started painting non-figurative pictures. His compositions, restricted to reddish-brown tones to begin with, gradually grew lighter; the sinuous organic shapes were replaced by geometric configurations painted in bright colours. With these works Martyn joined the group of artists known as Abstraction-Création, among whose members such luminaries as Kandinsky and Arp were to be found. At this time he developed the style that would stay with him for the rest of his life, which is not remotely Constructivist, in spite of its geometric shapes and pure colouring. This art is not an experiment in modelling the universe or in sketching out the future: in his works Martyn simply makes an abstract, that is, he never completely divorces himself from what he sees, and in nearly all his works random or amorphous elements of reality can be found. He looked deep into appearances, and it was the nature of the world behind them - impulses and motives, memories and experiences - that preoccupied him. This is probably why as an illustrator he felt an empathy with the basic text in world literature that exposes duplicity: Cervantes' Don Quixote; his work in this respect is perhaps his outstanding achievement as a draughtsman, and of a quality equal to his work as a painter. After the second World war Martyn became a member of the progressive artists' association known as the European School, and settled in Pécs, where he took an active part in local artistic life until his death.
[József Vadas: Hungarian Masterpieces (Vadas József : A magyar festészet remekei), translator: Godfrey Offord, Corvina Publishers, 2004.] One-Man Shows:
1929 • Tamás Gallery, Budapest
1934 • Fränkel Gallery, Budapest [with Béla Czóbel]
1946 • Free Organization of Hungarian Fine Artists, Budapest
1947 • Pécs (HU)
1951 • Janus Pannonius Museum, Pécs (HU)
1955 • Transdanubian Landscapes, Janus Pannonius Museum, Pécs (HU)
1957 • Landscapes, Rákóczi-series, Pécs (HU)
1960 • Cervantes - Don Quixote-drawings, József Rippl-Rónai Museum, Kaposvár (HU)
1962 • Book Illustrations, Institute of Cultural Connections, Budapest • Porcelain works, Janus Pannonius Museum, Pécs (HU) • XXXI. Biennial of Venice, Venice
1965 • Dürer Hall, Budapest • Drawings and Porcelain Works, József Rippl-Rónai Museum, Kaposvár (HU)
1966 • Book Illustrations, Petőfi Literary Museum, Budapest
1969 • Pécs (HU) (cat.) • Berzsenyi-drawings, Nikla (HU)
1970 • Tihany (HU) (cat.)
1971 • Berzsenyi-drawings, Kaposvár (HU) • To the Portrait of Janus Pannonius, Janus Pannonius Museum, Pécs (HU)
1973 • In the midst of reading Petőfi, Kaposvár (HU)
1976 • Transdanubian Landscapes, M. Lvov • Drawings, Essays
1978 • Budapest Historical Museum, Budapest (cat.)
1979 • 50 Drawings, Hungarian Academy, Rome • 50 Drawings, Gallery of Miskolc, Miskolc (HU) • Permanent, Janus Pannonius Museum, Pécs • 100 Literary Illustrations, Pécs (HU) • 155 Drawings, Vigadó Gallery, Budapest
1981 • Diary 1950, Pécs (HU) • Red chalk drawings from Paris and sculptutes, Janus Pannonius Museum, Pécs (HU)
1982 • Drawings, Gallery of Somogy, Kaposvár (HU) • Ulysses-drawings, Castle, Tata (HU)
1983 • Castle, Tata (HU)
1983-1984 • Paintings, Janus Pannonius Museum, Pécs (HU)
since 1984 • permanent exhibition, Somogy County Museum, Kaposvár (HU)
1997 • ~’ sculptures, Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts (cat.)
1999 • Municipal Museum of Art, Győr • Gallery of Szombathely, Szombathely (HU)• Centenary Exhibition, Ernst Museum, Budapest. Selected Group Exhibitions:
1938 • First Exhibition of the Abstract Artists in Hungary, Tamás Gallery, Budapest
1966 • Madách-Illustrations, Petőfi Literary Museum, Budapest
1969 • Artists of Pécs and Baranya, Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest (cat.). Works in Public Places:
Spatial Sculpture [white marble, 1978, sculpture parc, Szársomlyó (HU)]
Memorial of the Ants [bronze, 1982, Martyn Museum, Pécs (HU)]
Sculpture with bow [bronze, 1983, Káptalan Street, Pécs (HU)]
Glass window [coloured stained glass (with E. Szabó), 1983, Martyn Museum, Pécs (HU)]
Glass window [1984, Káptalan Street, Pécs (HU)]
Hommage à Gabriel Fauré [bronze, 1984, Káptalan Street, Pécs (HU)]
Memorial [iron casting, 1984, Iron Works, Dunaújváros (HU)]
Glass Window [1985, Library of Baranya County, Pécs (HU)]
Sailing boat [bronze, 1996, Tópart Street, Tata (HU)]. Works in Public Collections:
Ádám Béri Balogh Museum, Szekszárd (HU)
Municipal Picture Gallery, Budapest
Association Flaubert, Rouen
Ottó Herman Museum, Miskolc (HU)
King Saint Stephen Museum, Székesfehérvár (HU)
Janus Pannonius Museum, Pécs (HU)
Domonkos Kuny Museum, Tata (HU)
Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest
Museum, Dublin
Petőfi Literary Museum, Budapest
József Rippl-Rónai Museum, Kaposvár (HU)
Gallery of Szombathely, Szombathely (HU)
István Türr Museum, Baja (HU)
Jewish Museum, Budapest. Books with Drawing Series:
Ramon L.: Imádónak és imádottnak könyve, Vác, 1943
Petőfi: Az Apostol, 1961
Cervantes: Don Quijote, 1962
Mallarmé: Költeményei, 1964
Tüskés T.: Vallomás a városról, 1970
Petőfi olvasása közben (album), 1973
Költők a városról (szerk.: Szederkényi E.), Pécs, 1974
minikönyv, 1975
Berzsenyi-emlékkönyv (szerk.: Dr. Merényi O.), Somogy megyei Tanács és Vas megyei Tanács, 1976
Baranyai képek (Weöres S. verseivel), Budapest, 1979
~: Töredékek. ~ írásai művészetről, művészekről. Baranya megyei Tanács, 1979. Bibliography:
Monographs: Tüskés, T.: A szó és a vonal (irodalmi kísérőrajzok), Somogyi Múzeum Füzetei, 17., 1970
Hárs, É.: ~ (cat., Tihany, 1970)
Hárs, É.: ~, A Művészet kiskönyvtára 46, 1970
Hárs, É.: ~ (monogr.), 1975
Egy életmű vonulatai (~ művészetéről), Művészet (különszám), 1978/5.
Aknai, T.-Hárs, É.-Kerékgyártó, I.-Menyhárt, L.-Mezei, O.-P. Szűcs, J.-Bertalan, V.: ~- életmű-kiállítás (cat., intro., BTM, 1978)
Aknai, T.-Hárs, É.: ~ Múzeum (permanent exhib. cat.) Janus Pannonius Múzeum Füzetei 51., 1984
Közelítések (írások ~ről az emberről és a művészről), szerk.: Tüskés, T., Baranya megyei Múzeumok Igazgatósága, Pécs, 1984
Hárs, É.: ~ életmű-katalógusa, Somogy megyei Múzeumok Igazgatósága, Kaposvár, 1985
Tüskés, T.: ~ Mester (írások ~ről) Berzsenyi Dániel Irodalmi és Művészeti Társaság, Kaposvár, 1997.
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