Ármin Klein (1855 – 1883) was a Hungarian

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

and applied artist in the medium of

ceramics A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant, and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porce ...

, who created almost his entire artistic oeuvre for the Zsolnay Ceramics Factory in

Pécs Pécs ( , ; ; Slovak language, Slovak: ''Päťkostolie''; also known by #Name, alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the fifth largest city in Hungary, on the slopes of the Mecsek mountains in the c ...

. Along with the owner's daughter, sister Teréz and

Julia Zsolnay Julia Zsolnay, married Sikorski (15 February 1856 – 2 April 1950) was a Hungary, Hungarian applied arts, applied artist and painter in the medium of ceramics who worked for the Zsolnay, Zsolnay Ceramic Factory, founded by her father Vilmos Zsoln ...

, he was the most important artist of that factory during its fast development and worldwide success at the end of the 19th century.

Early life and education

He was born in 1855 in

Veszprém Veszprém (; , , , ) is one of the oldest urban areas in Hungary, and a city with county rights. It lies approximately north of the Lake Balaton. It is the administrative center of the county of the same name. Etymology The city's name derives ...

, in a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family. He studied sculpture at the University of Applied Arts 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. ...

and at the suggestion of his professors he went to Pécs.

Career

With his arrival, Klein introduced a new spirit to the previous production of Zsolnay ceramics, which at that time was based mainly on oriental (

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

and

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

), and

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

and Turkish ornamentation, as well as on the ornamentation of domestic Hungarian

folk art Folk art covers all forms of visual art made in the context of folk culture. Definitions vary, but generally the objects have practical utility of some kind, rather than being exclusively decorative art, decorative. The makers of folk art a ...

. Klein, however, brought breath of European art of that time, and especially in the German cultural circle of then-popular style of

historicism Historicism is an approach to explaining the existence of phenomena, especially social and cultural practices (including ideas and beliefs), by studying the process or history by which they came about. The term is widely used in philosophy, ant ...

, specifically:

Neo-Renaissance Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th-century Revivalism (architecture), architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival architecture, Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival ar ...

. However, in Klein's expression there was no trace of the pedantry of German historicism and the copying of templates. Although he was a sculptor by training, he was also quite skilled in

drawing Drawing is a Visual arts, visual art that uses an instrument to mark paper or another two-dimensional surface, or a digital representation of such. Traditionally, the instruments used to make a drawing include pencils, crayons, and ink pens, some ...

, which was decorative and lyrical at the same time. This is especially shown in his ''Amoretti series'' from 1878 and 1879. Typical for this series are plates with a rim divided by a stripe and decorated with a

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

ornament on the rim, while in the recipient are drawn amoretti in pairs, shown in

genre scenes Genre art is the pictorial representation in any of various media of scenes or events from everyday life, such as markets, domestic settings, interiors, parties, inn scenes, work, and street scenes. Such representations (also called genre works, ...

. All this was done in

cobalt Cobalt is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Co and atomic number 27. As with nickel, cobalt is found in the Earth's crust only in a chemically combined form, save for small deposits found in alloys of natural meteoric iron. ...

sepia. The amoretti motif was especially popularized by

Hans Makart Hans Makart (28 May 1840 – 3 October 1884) was an Austrian academic history painter, designer and decorator. Makart was a prolific painter whose ideas significantly influenced the development of visual art in Austria-Hungary, Germany, and other ...

, a popular Viennese painter at the time, whom Teréz and Julia Zsolnay visited in his Viennese atelier, and Klein even made a female

portrait A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face is always predominant. In arts, a portrait may be represented as half body and even full body. If the subject in full body better r ...

in his style. Klein also painted other types of vessels, so, for example, he painted flasks with scenes from folk life. There are several of his flasks with depictions of the wedding party. Although he was much less productive in sculpture, it is certainly worth mentioning his depictions of famous scientists (

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 - 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested o ...

Newton Newton most commonly refers to: * Isaac Newton (1642–1726/1727), English scientist * Newton (unit), SI unit of force named after Isaac Newton Newton may also refer to: People * Newton (surname), including a list of people with the surname * ...

Watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

...) for the Polytechnic in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

. These circular, colored ceramic reliefs, were later also installed in the Apprentice School in Pécs. Klein's creativity essentially shaped the artistic production of the Zsolnay Factory. In accordance with the artistic currents of his time, he united the ideas and styles of large centers with local features,Kovács 1989, 37 and despite his early death at the age of 28, he left an indelible mark on the

Austro-Hungarian Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...

ceramic art of his time.

Literature

*Kovács 1989 - Orsolya Kovács: Ármin Klein, umjetnik - projektant tvornice Zsolnay (1855 - 1883), in: Keramika Zsolnay, exhibition catalogue, Zagreb, 1989., p. 33-37 *Romváry 1989 - Ferenc Romváry: Keramika Zsolnay, in: Keramika Zsolnay, exhibition catalogue, Zagreb, 1989., p. 16-22 *Sorić 1989 – Ante Sorić: Uvod, in: Keramika Zsolnay, exhibition catalogue, Zagreb, 1989., p. 7

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Klein, Armin 1855 births 1883 deaths Artists from Austria-Hungary Hungarian potters 20th-century ceramists People from Pécs