János Jankó (1833–1896) was a Hungarian painter, caricaturist and graphicist. He is one of the earliest Hungarian comics artists.

Life

Jankó was born in

Tótkomlós Tótkomlós () is a town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic cha ...

. He came from a

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

industrialist family as the son of János Jankó and Zsuzsanna Tomka. He attended high school in

Szarvas Szarvas (, ; ) is a town in Békés County, Hungary. Name Placename Szarvas originated from the old Hungarian language, Hungarian word ''szarvas'', which means deer. Deer also can be found in the coat of arms of the town. Location Szarv ...

and also taught drawing. In 1855, he moved to Pest and worked as a newspaper illustrator. From 1858,

Mór Jókai Móricz Jókay of Ásva (18 February 1825 – 5 May 1904), known as Mór Jókai, was a Hungarian novelist, dramatist and revolutionary. Outside of Hungary, he was also known as Maurice Jókai or Maurus Jókai or Mauritius Jókai. He was a le ...

's newly launched newspaper Az Üstökös reported. From 1854 to 1861, he exhibited his folk portraits at the Pest Society of Art, with some of them he was successful, but as time went on, he was less and less able to spare time for his favorite occupation, painting. From 1864, he studied for two years in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, where his caricatures were quickly noticed. His drawings were published in several Hungarian

humor magazine A humor magazine is a magazine specifically designed to deliver humorous content to its readership. These publications often offer satire and parody, but some also put an emphasis on cartoons, caricature, absurdity, one-liners, witty aphorisms ...

s, and they were popular and typical of the era. His drawings were published in Vienna's Kikeriki, as well as Miska Bolond, Bolond Istók, Fekete Leves, Füstölő, Nagy Tükör, Urambatyám, Üstökös, Vasárnapi Újság, etc. published. His typical and popular caricature characters (Vendel Sanyaró, Dániel Tojáss, Salamon Seiffensteiner, etc.) appeared mainly in Borsszem Jankó. The number of his drawings is estimated at around 70,000. He returned to Pest in 1866 at the invitation of the Hungarian leading newspapers, and in January he married Gizella Bajai in the Deák tér Lutheran church (his godmother was Jókai). At the same time, he worked for several media organizations (regardless of

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

orientation, his talent was used by many newspaper editors). He also illustrated works of

fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying character (arts), individuals, events, or setting (narrative), places that are imagination, imaginary or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent ...

as a graphic designer. Until the middle of the 1880s, for more than 2 decades, he pretty much dominated the front page illustrations: "Pest had well-known painters, but the publishers could not find a good draftsman or illustrator for expensive money. Under such circumstances, the fast-working and imaginative János Jankó had to be highly appreciated." His picture stories created together with Mór Jókai for Üstökös can be considered the forerunners of Hungarian comics. The first ones were drawn by Jókai himself, later he only gave sketches to Jankó. Their returning figures were Gömböcz and Csukli, as well as Magyar Miska and Német Miska. The story "Old tale about the common donkey", originally published in the February 1867 issue of 'Hazánk s a Külföld' ur country and abroad was republished in the 2nd issue of the Papírmozi comics anthology in 2007.

His oil paintings

* Outlaw in hiding, 1854 * Greeting to the innkeeper, 1855 * Greeting the Bride, 1855 * Hungarian peasant entertainment, 1860 * The birth of the folk song, 1860 (Budapest,

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 w ...

) * Csokonai at the wedding, 1869 (

Debrecen Debrecen ( ; ; ; ) is Hungary's cities of Hungary, second-largest city, after Budapest, the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain Regions of Hungary, region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar County. A city with county rights, it was the large ...

, Déri Museum)

References

19th-century Hungarian illustrators Hungarian comics artists Hungarian comic strip cartoonists Hungarian magazine illustrators Hungarian political artists Hungarian caricaturists 1833 births 1896 deaths People from Tótkomlós Painters from Austria-Hungary 19th-century Hungarian painters Hungarian male painters 19th-century Hungarian male artists {{Hungary-painter-stub