Ferenc Joachim (May 21, 1882 – September 16, 1964) was a
Hungarian painter of portraits and landscapes in oil, watercolors and pastels on canvas, board and paper. He studied and painted in Budapest and Western Europe. As an untitled member of the minor nobility, Joachim was entitled to bear the honorary prefix ''
Csejtei'', so prior to the Communist abolition of honorifics in 1947 his name might be found in the form "Csejtei Joachim Ferenc" (or "Cs. Joachim F.") in Hungarian, or in German "Franz Joachim von Csejthey".
Early life
Joachim's parents were Ferenc Joachim and Emilia Metz of Szeged, Hungary. He had two brothers, Jozsef and KĂĄroly, and four sisters, Gizella, Mariska, JolĂĄn, and Mici. The family was Roman Catholic. Some of his siblings were also artists in their own right: Jozsef was a sculptor and painter while Gizella became a stage actress.
Ferenc Joachim was born in
Szeged
Szeged ( , ; see also #Etymology, other alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county seat ...
, in what was at that time the
Austro-Hungarian Empire
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 ...
. For the first 36 years of his life he lived and worked in Hungary and in various parts of Western Europe.
Little is known about the first 30 years of Joachim's life. It appears that Joachim was married twice. He married Margit GrĂĄf (1892â1965) around 1912. They had three children: one daughter, Piroska (1913â2007), and two sons, Ferenc Gabriel (1920â1989) and Attila (1923â1947).
Joachim studied painting in
Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
(
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, MagyarorszĂĄg ) 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 ...
),
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
(
Austria
Austria, , bar, Ăstareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
),
Munich
Munich ( ; german: MĂŒnchen ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
(
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 ...
), and
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 kmÂČ (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
(
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 ...
). He studied with Hungarian art educator
Simon HollĂłsy
Simon HollĂłsy; (2 February 1857, MĂĄramarossziget (now Sighetu MarmaÈiei, Romania) â 8 May 1918, TĂ©csĆ (now Tiachiv, Ukraine) was a Hungarian painter of Armenian ancestry; original name was: Choriban (Korbuly).Gudenus JĂĄnos JĂłzsef:Ăr ...
at his private school in Munich,
and periodically visited HollĂłsy's
NagybĂĄnya artists' colony
The NagybĂĄnya artists' colony was an art colony in NagybĂĄnya, a town in eastern Hungary that became Baia Mare in Romania after World War I. The colony started as a summer retreat for artists, mainly painters from Simon HollĂłsy's ''szabadiskola' ...
in
Transylvania
Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, ErdĂ©ly; german: SiebenbĂŒrgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...
.
Painting career
While his principal residences and studios were in his birthplace of
Szeged
Szeged ( , ; see also #Etymology, other alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county seat ...
and in
Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
, Joachim also painted in
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
,
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
,
Marseilles
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-RhĂŽne and capital of the Provence-Alpes-CĂŽte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...
, and the south of France. During his time in France he went by the name ''François Joachim''. His works were exhibited in Paris, Rome, Venice,
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
and Munich.
Joachim was a proponent of the late 19th-century concept of leaving the studio and painting in nature. One of his most productive periods was during one of his stays in Marseilles and along the Mediterranean coast, where he painted over a hundred canvases.
In Szeged he was active in promoting the arts in the region. Articles from ''MƱvĂ©szet'' in both 1910 and 1913 show him with other local artists. A publication from HĂłdmezĆvĂĄsĂĄrhely dated 15 April 1910 reports the annual spring exhibition of artists in Szeged, with Joachim Ferenc cited as the most modern of them, with a first-class sensibility for colors. Joachim's paintings were exhibited at the Salon d'Automne (1911) and Salon des Indepenedents (1913) in Paris, and at the Nemzeti Szalon (National Salon) in Budapest. His paintings were also exhibited at the SzĂ©pmƱveszeti MĂșzeum or
Museum of Fine Arts (Budapest)
The Museum of Fine Arts ( hu, SzĂ©pmƱvĂ©szeti MĂșzeum seËpmyveËsÉti ËmuËzÉum is a museum in Heroes' Square, Budapest, Hungary, facing the Palace of Art.
It was built by the plans of Albert Schickedanz and FĂŒlöp Herzog in an eclecti ...
.
An article documents that in April 1919 Joachim was a member of the committee of the Szeged Museum trying to save and catalogue the museum's collections following the ravages and chaos of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
(during which Joachim had served in the ''
Kaiserlich und königlich
The phrase Imperial and Royal (German: ''kaiserlich und königlich'', ), typically abbreviated as ''k. u. k.'', ''k. und k.'', ''k. & k.'' in German (the "und" is always spoken unabbreviated), ''cs. és k. (csåszåri és kirålyi)'' in Hungari ...
'' forces of the
Austro-Hungarian Army
The Austro-Hungarian Army (, literally "Ground Forces of the Austro-Hungarians"; , literally "Imperial and Royal Army") was the ground force of the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy from 1867 to 1918. It was composed of three parts: the joint arm ...
). Another document, dated January 15, 1928, shows Ferenc Joachim to be a founding member of the "Alföld Artists Association" ("Alföldi MĂŒvĂ©szek EgyesĂŒlete") in Szeged.
Today a small collection of his paintings (partly owned and partly on loan) is preserved in the repository of the ''"MĂłra Ferenc MĂșzeum"'' in Szeged. One painting, "KĆbĂĄnya AlbĂĄniĂĄban" (Stone Quarry in Albania), is owned by the
Hungarian National Gallery
The Hungarian National Gallery (also known as Magyar Nemzeti Galéria), was established in 1957 as the national art museum. It is located in Buda Castle in Budapest, Hungary. Its collections cover Hungarian art in all genres, including the works ...
.
[ All other paintings are in private hands, occasionally appearing at public art auctions in Hungary and the US.
]
Family difficulties
During the years of the Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
the family was reduced to poverty; in an interview in 1935 Joachim attributed his daughter's attempted suicide to their financial straits.
During the Second World War
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 countriesâincluding all of the great powersâforming two opposin ...
a number of Joachim's relatives and in-laws were persecuted or murdered. Both of his sisters-in-law (one of whom, Julia GrĂĄf, had sat for a portrait with him in 1938), their husbands and children died in the Budapest holocaust, while the fate of his three brothers-in-law is unknown. Joachim's younger son, Attila, enrolled as a student at the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts in 1941, and graduated in 1946. His early death, the year after his graduation, was attributed to complications arising from internal injuries received from beatings by Hungarian Fascists and German Nazis, during the Budapest holocaust.
Later life
The final 20 years of Joachim's life, from 1944 to 1964, were spent in Communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
Hungary.[Private communication from Mrs. Piroska PorkolĂĄb, Joachim's daughter, aged 92, in conversations during July, August, September, October and November 2005: "He had a voracious intellectual curiosity which he fed incessantly by avid reading of literature, history, science, newspapers. He had many friends and acquaintances amongst his contemporaries and colleagues in the arts including painters, sculptors, writers, and musicians. He had never renounced anyone for any reasons. He had always protected anyone seeking his assistance. The last twenty-five years of his life, from the onset of World War II to his death, he lived under extreme adversity and hardships due to the German Nazi and then Russian communist occupations causing deprivations of basic human rights, human dignity, jobs, income, livelihood, artistic supplies and materials, artistic integrity."] His two surviving children, Piroska and Ferenc Gabriel, fled the country after the Hungarian Revolution of 1956
The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October â 10 November 1956; hu, 1956-os forradalom), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was a countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949â1989) and the Hunga ...
, and found refuge in Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, both later moving to the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. Ferenc Gabriel, under the name Frank G. Joachim, became a research biologist and entomologist with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...
) Metabolism and Radiation Laboratory.
In their old age, Joachim and his wife were moved to separate old age homes: Joachim went to Gyula, where he died and was buried on September 16, 1964, at age 82; Margit went to SzentgotthĂĄrd
SzentgotthĂĄrd ( sl, MonoĆĄter; german: St. Gotthard) is the westernmost town of Hungary. It is situated on the RĂĄba River near the Austrian border.
History
The town took its name from, and grew up round, the Cistercian SzentgotthĂĄrd Abbey, fo ...
, where she died and was buried at age 73 in 1965.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Joachim, Ferenc
1882 births
1964 deaths
People from Szeged
People from the Kingdom of Hungary
Hungarian painters
Modern painters