Lajos Markos (1917–1993) was a
Hungarian-American
Hungarian Americans ( Hungarian: ''amerikai magyarok'') are Americans of Hungarian descent. The U.S. Census Bureau has estimated that there are approximately 1.396 million Americans of Hungarian descent as of 2018. The total number of people wit ...
artist. He trained at the
Royal Academy of Budapest.
Career
Markos came to the United States following
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 ...
and worked as a portrait painter in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, painting celebrities such as
John Wayne
Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne and nicknamed The Duke or Duke Wayne, was an American actor who became a popular icon through his starring roles in films made during Hollywood's Gol ...
,
Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925June 6, 1968), also known by his initials RFK and by the nickname Bobby, was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, a ...
,
President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
, and
Pablo Casals
Pau Casals i Defilló (Catalan: ; 29 December 187622 October 1973), usually known in English by his Castilian Spanish name Pablo Casals, . Lajos Markos completed over 2,000 portraits.
In the 1960s, he moved to
Houston, Texas
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
, where he sparked an interest in Western American art. Examples of his work can be found in the
Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and the
Zigler Museum in Jennings, Louisiana, as well as other museums and private collections.
JP Morgan acquired his works, which are housed today at its main headquarters.
His portraits are scarce. He painted portraits of the 12 "Texas Immortals," which hangs in the Texas Commerce Bank in Houston, the "Siege of the Alamo," which hangs in the
Texas State Capitol in Austin, and countless western paintings depicting the history of the cowboy era, which hang in private and corporate collections in the US and abroad. Paintings of
Sam Houston
Samuel Houston (, ; March 2, 1793 – July 26, 1863) was an American general and statesman who played an important role in the Texas Revolution. He served as the first and third president of the Republic of Texas and was one of the first two i ...
,
Robert E. Lee
Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a Confederate general during the American Civil War, towards the end of which he was appointed the overall commander of the Confederate States Army. He led the Army of Nort ...
, and
George S. Patton
George Smith Patton Jr. (November 11, 1885 – December 21, 1945) was a general in the United States Army who commanded the Seventh United States Army in the Mediterranean Theater of World War II, and the Third United States Army in France ...
are in private collections.
Personal life
Markos married an opera singer and routinely played her music as he painted. Robert F. Kennedy assisted Markos in obtaining permission to return to his home country, behind the
Iron Curtain
The Iron Curtain was the political boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. The term symbolizes the efforts by the Soviet Union (USSR) to block itself and its s ...
, in the early 1960s.
He is buried in Italy, near Udine, in his wife's hometown of Lavariano.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Markos, Lajos
1917 births
1993 deaths
20th-century Hungarian painters
Hungarian male painters
Hungarian emigrants to the United States
20th-century Hungarian male artists