Jozef Teodor Mousson (; 15 December 1887 – 6 November 1946) was a Slovak

Impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

painter. Born in a Hungarian village called Hőgyész to a family of a French origin, he moved to

Michalovce Michalovce (; hu, Nagymihály, german: Großmichel, Romani language, Romani: ''Mihalya'', Yiddish language, Yiddish: ''Mikhaylovets'' or ''Mykhaylovyts''; uk, Михайлівці) is a town on the Laborec river in eastern Slovakia. Originally ...

, Slovakia in 1911, where he stayed for another 33 years. As a result, he is often referred to as "the painter of the Zemplín sun and people".

Biography

Jozef Teodor Mousson was born on 15 December 1887 in a village called Hőgyész which lies in today Hungary's

Tolna County Tolna ( hu, Tolna megye, ; german: Komitat Tolnau) is an administrative county (Comitatus (Kingdom of Hungary), comitatus or megye) in present Hungary as it was of the former Kingdom of Hungary. It lies in central Hungary, on the west bank of the ...

. In his vital records his family name is spelt as Moussong, i.e. with a letter g at the end. His father worked as a teacher and his mother was a housewife. It is said that their ancestors came to

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 ...

from the

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

region. Between 1905 and 1909 Mousson studied at the

Hungarian University of Fine Arts The Hungarian University of Fine Arts ( Hungarian: ''Magyar Képzőművészeti Egyetem'', MKE) is the central Hungarian art school in Budapest, Andrássy Avenue. It was founded in 1871 as the Hungarian Royal Drawing School ''(Magyar Királyi Mi ...

in Budapest. He married Irena Grundová in 1910 whom he met during a study trip at the

Lake Balaton Lake Balaton () is a freshwater lake in the Transdanubian region of Hungary. It is the largest lake in Central Europe, and one of the region's foremost tourist destinations. The Zala River provides the largest inflow of water to the lake, and th ...

. Shortly after the marriage he got an offer to teach in

, Slovakia. In 1911 he moved to

, where he served as a teacher until 1919. That's when he started his career as a professional painter. In 1942 he suffered an intracerebral hemorrhage and the whole left part of his body became paralysed. In 1946 he moved to

Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approxim ...

due to his bad physical and psychic state and later to his son in

Trenčín Trenčín (, also known by other alternative names) is a city in western Slovakia of the central Váh River valley near the Czech border, around from Bratislava. It has a population of more than 55,000, which makes it the eighth largest municip ...

, where he died.

References

Citations
Jozef Teodor Mousson
(in Slovak) – Original source of this article
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SOGA, aukčná spoločnosť
(in Slovak)
Mesto Michalovce – Jozef Teodor Mousson
(in Slovak)
Magistra história
(in Slovak)
Zemplínske múzeum
(in Slovak)
Galéria Nedbalka
(in Slovak)
SME.sk – Maliar Michaloviec – J. T. Mousson
(in Slovak) Bibliography * Lačná, Emília (2012). ''Jozef Teodor Mousson: personálna výberová bibliografia''. Michalovce: Zemplínska knižnica Gorazda Zvonického Michalovce. . * Vízdalová, Gabriela. (1977) ''Teodor Jozef Mousson v zbierkach Zemplínskeho múzea v Michalovciach''. Východoslovenské vydavatel'stvo, Košice. {{DEFAULTSORT:Mousson, Jozef Teodor 1887 births 1946 deaths Slovak painters Impressionist painters Czechoslovak painters Slovak people of French descent People from Tolna County