The Nagybánya artists' colony was an

art colony An art colony, also known as an artists' colony, can be defined two ways. Its most liberal description refers to the organic congregation of artists in towns, villages and rural areas, often drawn by areas of natural beauty, the prior existence o ...

Nagybánya Baia Mare ( , ; hu, Nagybánya; german: Frauenbach or Groß-Neustadt; la, Rivulus Dominarum) is a municipality along the Săsar River, in northwestern Romania; it is the capital of Maramureș County. The city lies in the region of Maramureș ...

, 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 Hollósy's ''szabadiskola'' (Free School) in Munich. The original group focused on plein-air painting. It was Hollósy's idea to have a summer school in a small town. Fellow artists

Károly Ferenczy Károly Ferenczy (February 8, 1862 – March 18, 1917) was a Hungarian painter and leading member of the Nagybánya artists' colony.Ilona Sármány-Parsons"Károly Ferenczy" Oxford Art Online He was among several artists who went to Munich for ...

Béla Iványi-Grünwald Béla Iványi-Grünwald (6 May 1867 – 24 September 1940) was a Hungarian painter, a leading member of the Nagybánya artists' colony and founder of the Kecskemét artists' colony. Life Born in Som, Iványi-Grünwald began his artistic ...

István Réti István Réti (26 December 1872 – 17 January 1945) was a Hungarian painter, professor, art historian and leading member, as well as a founder and theoretician, of the Nagybánya artists' colony, located in what is present-day Baia Mare, ...

and János Thorma were involved with the founding of the artists' colony. The colony attracted many artists from Hungary interested in learning the plein-air style taught by Hollósy in the bright atmosphere of Nagybánya. The colony held its first exhibition in 1897 at the ''Műcsarnok'' It was well received by some critics as reflecting the new style of European painting, and ridiculed by other critics. Through the course of its existence the teachers and students worked in the emerging modern styles such as Expressionism, Fauvism, Cubism, and

Symbolism Symbolism or symbolist may refer to: Arts * Symbolism (arts), a 19th-century movement rejecting Realism ** Symbolist movement in Romania, symbolist literature and visual arts in Romania during the late 19th and early 20th centuries ** Russian sym ...

. Some styles were adopted and some rejected, along with the allegiance of various artists. Hollósy influence at the colony was overtaken by the style of Károly Ferenczy. Hollósy departed around 1901 to open another school in Técső,

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 ...

(now western Ukraine). The colony in Nagybánya continued under the administration of the four remaining founders and renamed the ''Ingyenes festőiskola'' (Free Painting School). In 1910 founder Grünwald left to run the ''Kecskemét Artist's Colony'' in

Kecskemét Kecskemét ( , sk, Kečkemét) is a city with county rights central part Hungary. It is the eighth-largest city in the country, and the county seat of Bács-Kiskun. Kecskemét lies halfway between the capital Budapest and the country's th ...

, Hungary. In the 1910s attendance at Nagybánya continued but lagged due to

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 ...

and the difficulty of travel. In 1927, the school was handed over to a new generation of painters and renamed ''Szépművészeti Iskola'' (School of Fine Arts). In 1935 the school property and colony was taken over by the town as part of the rise of the fascist Iron Guard. In 1937 the group dissolved. The property was used as a barracks for a time and attempts to revive the property as an art school were unsuccessful. In 1966 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 ...

had retrospective titled ''The Art of Nagybánya. Centennial Exhibition in Celebration of the Artists' Colony in Nagybánya.''Valerie Majoros, "Lajos Tihanyi and his friends in the Paris of the nineteen-thirties"
''French Cultural Studies'', 2000, Vol. 11:387, Footnote, p. 388, Sage Publications, accessed 9 April 2021

Associated artists

* Ervin Baktay (Amrita Sher-Gil, uncle) * Mikola András * Samu Börtsök * Géza Bornemisza * Zoltán Csáktornyai * Antónia Csíkos *

István Csók István Csók (13 February 1865, Sáregres – 1 February 1961) was a Hungarian Impressionist painter. Csok lived and exhibited in Paris for a portion of his life. He became most famous in Hungary for his nudes, portraits, and landscapes o ...

* Viktor Erdei * József Faragó *

* Valér Ferenczy *

Béni Ferenczy Béni Ferenczy (18 June 1890 – 2 June 1967) was a Hungarian sculptor, medalist and graphic artist. Early life and education Béni Ferenczy was born in 1890 in Szentendre, Hungary, the second son of Károly Ferenczy and Olga Fialka, bo ...

Noémi Ferenczy Noémi Ferenczy (18 June 1890 – 20 December 1957) was a Hungarian artist, best known for her tapestry designs. She wove her own tapestries, and was influenced by the Nagybánya art movement. She was born in Szentendre, the twin sister of sculpt ...

* Sándor Galimberti * Oszkár Glatz *

* Simon Hollósy * Béla Horthy * Réti István * Zoltán Jakab * Iván Komoróczy * János Krizsán * Alexander Kubínyi * Jenő Maticska * Sándor Nyilasy * Vilmos Perlrott-Csaba * Péter Rátz * Károly Réthy * János Thorma * Ernő Béli Vörös * Sándor Ziffer

Gallery

Hollósy, Simon - Autumn (1899).jpg, Simon Hollósy ''Autumn'' 1899 View of Nagybánya with the River Gutin.jpg, Béla Iványi-Grünwald ''View of Nagybánya with the River Gutin'' Károly Ferenczy (1862-1917) On the Hill-top (1901).jpg, Károly Ferenczy ''On a Hilltop'' (1901) Maticska Nagybányai táj.jpg, Jenő Maticska ''Nagybánya Landscape'' Galimberti, Sándor - Cityscape, Nagybánya (ca 1910).jpg, Sándor Galimberti ''Nagybánya'', c. 1910 Thorma János painter (1870-1937.12.05) Paintress.jpg, János Thorma ''Woman Painter'' 1934

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nagybánya artists' colony Romanian art Hungarian art Baia Mare Artist colonies 1896 establishments in Hungary 1937 disestablishments in Romania