Emerik Feješ ( sr-Cyrl, Емерик Фејеш;

Osijek Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja ...

, November 3, 1904 –

Novi Sad Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; hu, Újvidék, ; german: Neusatz; see below for other names) is the second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pan ...

, July 9, 1969) was a

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

; a classic of Serbian

Naïve art Naïve art is usually defined as visual art that is created by a person who lacks the formal education and training that a professional artist undergoes (in anatomy, art history, technique, perspective, ways of seeing). When this aesthetic is ...

Biography

He was born in

in 1904 in the

Croatia-Slavonia The Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia ( hr, Kraljevina Hrvatska i Slavonija; hu, Horvát-Szlavónország or ; de-AT, Königreich Kroatien und Slawonien) was a nominally autonomous kingdom and constitutionally defined separate political nation with ...

(

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

, from 1918 part of the Serb-Croat-Slovene Kingdom) to a poor family of mixed Hungarian- Serbian heritage (original surname of his family was Stefanović / Стефановић). At the age of five he moved to

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

with his parents and spent his life in

, where he began to paint in 1949 after his serious illness and retiring. Between two world wars he worked as a button-maker, second-hand dealer, comb-maker, shop assistant and lathe operator in various towns of former Yugoslavia. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he lived in exile, in

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

, and in 1945 he returned to Novi Sad. Feješ suffered from

asthma Asthma is a long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wheezing, cou ...

and

sciatica Sciatica is pain going down the leg from the lower back. This pain may go down the back, outside, or front of the leg. Onset is often sudden following activities like heavy lifting, though gradual onset may also occur. The pain is often described ...

throughout his life, keeping him bed-ridden. In 1949, he discovered painting and handicrafts, and began his first works. In 1969 Feješ died in

, leaving behind many buttons and combs, and hundreds of pictures that are much admired for their lack of inhibition and universal appeal.Н.Крстић, ''Бајка о градовима'', monograph, MNMA, Jagodina, 2014, 11N. Krstić, ''Outsider Art in Serbia'', monograph, MNMA, Јагодина, 2014, pp. 144-151

Artistic Style

He began to paint nudes,

portraits A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this re ...

still life A still life (plural: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or artificiality, m ...

and genre scenes from suburban life; from 1954 he exclusively painted

urban Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of people ...

scenes. He had his first exhibition in 1955 and independent show in 1956. He was a protagonist of urban landscape in

naïve art Naïve art is usually defined as visual art that is created by a person who lacks the formal education and training that a professional artist undergoes (in anatomy, art history, technique, perspective, ways of seeing). When this aesthetic is ...

and

outsider art Outsider art is art made by self-taught or supposedly naïve artists with typically little or no contact with the conventions of the art worlds. In many cases, their work is discovered only after their deaths. Often, outsider art illustrates e ...

in the South–Slavic region. Despite his great freedom in presentation and stylization, his compositions did not exceed the domain of the explicit and the recognizable, because he took black and white postcards with monumental buildings as models, and copied them by using carbon paper, then magnified them, always adding something from his fantasy. Realistic appearance and coloring of buildings were subordinated to the artist's fancy, sometimes not the least like original. He painted the towns at the

Adriatic Coast The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) to the ...

, the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, etc. Defining the arches and architraves by use of frieze of dominoes, scattered buttons instead of oculi the artist showed his lucidity. With his irresistible wish to make the reality more beautiful, to make the grey colourful, he uses warm, sound and fauvist bright tints. The absence of narration, i.e. the abstract forms, coloring, inclination to the geometrical, strong rhythm and stylization in the presentation, flatness and ornamentation point to instinctively conceived modern sensibility of Emerik Feješ. A figure did not interest him much, but the dance of tiles, specific boogie-woogie, by which he made unique, cheerful scenery, rhapsodies of shapes and colours, behind which he used to hide, lonely, ill and fragile like a small, grey screw in the machinery of mainstream which devours everything. He lived in his own world of infantile game of colours and lines in the ambience of everlasting childhood. He was not considerably prominent during his lifetime. His art was recognized by the audience many years later. He is a world classic today.

Exhibitions

He exhibited his urban legends worldwide and many times received awards and recognition. The greatest and most representative collections of his works are i
Museum of Naïve and Marginal Art (MNMA)

Jagodina ) , image_shield = Jagodina-grb.png , image_flag = FLAG Jagodina.png , image_skyline = , image_caption = , image_map = File:Municipalities of Serbia Jagodina.png , map_caption = Location of Jagodina w ...

, Serbia, in

Croatian Museum of Naïve Art The Croatian Museum of Naïve Art ( hr, Hrvatski muzej naivne umjetnosti) is a fine art museum in Zagreb, Croatia dedicated to the work of naïve artists of the 20th century. The museum holdings consist of over 1,900 works of art - paintings, scul ...

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

, Gallery Elke und Werner Zimmer,

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

; and Galerie Charlotte Zande Bönningheim,

, etc.

Gallery

Feješ Emerik, Big-Ben – parlament u Londonu.jpg, ''Big Ben - Parliament in London'', about 1962,
tempera on paper, 56x85cm,
MNMA, Jagodina Feješ Emerik, Notr-Dam u Parizu.jpg, ''Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris'', about 1962,
tempera on paper, 56x85cm,
MNMA, Jagodina Feješ Emerik, Stari Beograd.jpg, ''Old Belgrade'', about 1960
tempera on paper, 58x73cm,
MNMA, Jagodina Feješ Emerik, Venecija.jpg, ''Venice'', about 1966
tempera on paper, 58x40cm,
MNMA, Jagodina Feješ Emerik, Vorms.jpg, ''Worms'', about 1963
tempera on paper, 50,5x62cm,
MNMA, Jagodina

References

Literature

* М.Бошковић; М.Маширевић,Самоуки ликовни уметници у Србији, Торино, 1977 * Ото Бихаљи-Мерин; Небојша Бато Томашевић, Енциклопедија наивне уметности света, Београд, 1984 * Н. Крстић, Наивна уметност Србије, САНУ, MNMA, Jagodina, 2003 * Н. Крстић, Наивна и маргинална уметност Србије, MNMA, Jagodina, 2007 * N. Krstić, Outsiders, catalogue, MNMA, Jagodina, 2013 * Н. Крстић, Бајка о градовима, монографија, MNMA, Jagodina, 2014 * N. Krstić, Outsider Art in Serbia, MNMA, Јагодина, 2014, pp. 144–151

External links

Emerik Feješ paintings, autobiography, photo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fejes, Emerik Outsider artists Naïve painters People from Osijek Artists from Novi Sad 1904 births 1969 deaths 20th-century Serbian painters Serbian male painters 20th-century Serbian male artists