János Tornyai (January 18, 1869 – September 20, 1936) was a renowned Hungarian painter born in Hódmezővásárhely.

Early life

Tornyai, the son of day labourers, studied at the School of Decorative Art in 1886–1888, then a guest pupil of

Bertalan Székely Bertalan Székely (8 May 1835, Kolozsvár, Transylvania, Kingdom of Hungary (Now Cluj-Napoca after annexation by Romania following the Treaty of Trianon – 21 August 1910, Budapest) was a Hungarian history and portrait painter who worked in t ...

Károly Lotz Lotz Károly Antal Pál, or Karl Anton Paul Lotz (16 December 1833 – 13 October 1904) was a Germans, German-Hungarian people, Hungarian Painting, painter. Career Karl Lotz was born in Bad Homburg vor der Taunus, Höhe, Germany, the 7th an ...

and János Greguss in 1888–89. He studied at the Académie Julian in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

from 1894 where he was influenced by

Mihály Munkácsy Mihály Munkácsy (20 February 1844 – 1 May 1900) was a Hungarian painter. He earned international reputation with his genre pictures and large-scale biblical paintings. Early years Munkácsy was born as ''Mihály Leó Lieb'' ( hu, Li ...

's art. He visited Germany and Italy in 1897, then returned to Hódmezővásárhely. He had hardly enough to keep body and soul together, and had a studio from 1903 only. He started to collect folklore products together with and Béla Endre and they founded a school in Hódmezővásárhely to save folk pottery. He lived in Mártély from the 1910s onwards where he painted a series of landscapes on the Great Plain. He moved to

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 ...

in 1919. He worked in Szentendre for a few months in 1933–34. First he was Munkácsy's follower in portraying peasants' lives. His major works from this period "Rákóczi in Rodostó", 1904, "The Outlaw's Love", 1907, and "Miklós Nagy Bercsényi", 1908. "Heritage" inspired him to paint landscapes with delicate colours ("Well-Sweep", "Hungarian Fate", etc.). In his late Szentendre period, colours became lighter and he was engaged in

plein air ''En plein air'' (; French for 'outdoors'), or ''plein air'' painting, is the act of painting outdoors. This method contrasts with studio painting or academic rules that might create a predetermined look. The theory of 'En plein air' painting ...

("Woman in Green Coat", 1932–34, etc.). He became interested in the Great Plain around 1904 and from then on he made several pictures of farmsteads with violent brushwork and sweeping style. Hódmezővásárhely was the place he always returned to after his journeys to

, Paris and Szentendre, and he spent his last years nearby, in Mártély; very peaceful and productive years. In 1984, 718 pictures were found under the floor of his studio. Now these pictures are in the Tornyai Museum of Hódmezővásárhely..

Gallery

Realistic style

File:János Tornyai (1869-1936) Young Woman in the Atelier (1904).jpg, Young peasant woman in the studio (1904) File:János Tornyai (1869-1936) Lesson on the Farm (1896).jpg, Lesson on the Farm (1896) File:János Tornyai (1869-1936) Bolting Girl (c.1900).jpg, Bolting girl (c. 1900) File:János Tornyai (1869-1936) The Legacy (1920).jpg, The Legacy (1920) File:János Tornyai (1869-1936) Making a Buch of Flowers (1933).jpg, Making a buch of flowers (1933)

Landscapes

File:János Tornyai (1869-1936)Farm on the Great Hungarian Plain (c.1910).jpg, Farm on the Great Hungarian Plain (c. 1910) File:János Tornyai (1896-1936)Farm with Shadoof (1907).jpg, Farm with shadoof (1907) File:János Tornyai (1869-1936) Shadoof (Looming) (1910s).jpg, Shadoof with looming (1910) File:János Tornyai (1869-1936) Great Tree at Mártély (1910s).jpg, Great tree at Mártély (1910)

Post-
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 ...
style

File:János Tornyai (1869-1936) Wheatland with Woman of Shawl (1912).jpg, Wheatland with woman of shawl (1912) File:János Tornyai (1869-1936) Cortyard in Sunshine(1928).jpg, Courtyard in Sunshine (1928) File:János Tornyai (1869-1936) Interior with Curtained Window (1929).jpg, Interior with Curtained Window (1929) File:János Tornyai (1869-1936) View at Szentendre(1933).jpg, View at Szentendre (1933) File:János Tornyai (1869-1936) Woman Standing in a Door (c.1933-34).jpg, Woman Standing in a Door (c. 1933–34) File:János Tornyai (1869-1936) On the Bench (1933-34).jpg, On the Bench (1933–34) File:János Tornyai (1869-1936) Window of the Atelier(1934).jpg, Window of the Atelier (1934) File:János Tornyai Interior (1934).jpg, Interior (1934)

References

* XIX-XX. century Hungarian painting. Ed. Ibos Éva. Transl. Havasi Máté. Kisújszállás : Pannon-Literatúra Kft., 2007. János Tornyai see 94–95. p.

External links

ArtNet Entry

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tornyai, Janos 1869 births 1936 deaths People from Hódmezővásárhely 19th-century Hungarian painters 20th-century Hungarian painters Hungarian male painters 19th-century Hungarian male artists 20th-century Hungarian male artists Painters from Austria-Hungary