Ödön Márffy (30 November 1878 – 3 December 1959) 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 ...

, one of The Eight 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 ...

, credited with bringing cubism, Fauvism and expressionism to the country.

Biography

Following a short basic training, he obtained a grant to study art in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, from the autumn of 1902. He started as a student of

Jean-Paul Laurens Jean-Paul Laurens (; 28 March 1838 – 23 March 1921) was a romanticism French painter and sculptor, and he is one of the last major exponents of the French Academic style. Biography Laurens was born in Fourquevaux and was a pupil of Léon ...

at the

Académie Julian The () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907). The school was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number and qual ...

, as did numerous several modern-minded Hungarian painters after him, but a few months later, ostensibly for financial reasons, he transferred to the

École des Beaux-Arts ; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth centu ...

. There

Fernand Cormon Fernand Cormon (; 24 December 1845 – 20 March 1924) was a French painter born in Paris. He became a pupil of Alexandre Cabanel, Eugène Fromentin, and Jean-François Portaels, and one of the leading historical painters of modern France. Biog ...

was his teacher. With classmates they often went to

Ambroise Vollard Ambroise Vollard (; 3 July 1866 – 21 July 1939) was a French art dealer who is regarded as one of the most important dealers in French contemporary art at the beginning of the twentieth century. He is credited with being a major supporter an ...

's art dealership together, where Márffy was most impressed by the pictures of

Paul Cézanne Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter whose work introduced new modes of representation, influenced avant-garde artistic movements of the early 20th century a ...

Henri Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual arts, visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, ...

Pierre Bonnard Pierre Bonnard (; 3 October 186723 January 1947) was a French painter, illustrator and printmaker, known especially for the stylized decorative qualities of his paintings and his bold use of color. A founding member of the Post-Impressionist gr ...

Georges Rouault Georges-Henri Rouault (; 27 May 1871, Paris - 13 February 1958, Paris) was a French painter, draughtsman, and printmaker, whose work is often associated with Fauvism and Expressionism. Childhood and education Rouault was born into a poor famil ...

and

Georges Braque Georges Braque ( ; ; 13 May 1882 – 31 August 1963) was a major 20th-century List of French artists, French painter, Collage, collagist, Drawing, draughtsman, printmaker and sculptor. His most notable contributions were in his alliance with ...

. He claims to have met

Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual arts, visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, ...

in 1905, who had been sent down from the École des Beaux-Arts, but would return there from time to time, and to have visited him in his studio once. Márffy's time in Paris was crucial for his artistic development and later career, not only because he gained familiarity with French painters and students, but also of his connections with other Hungarian artists:

Béla Czóbel Béla Czóbel (4 September 1883 – 30 January 1976) was a Hungarian painter, known for his association with The Eight in the early 20th century in Budapest. They were known for introducing Post-Impressionist styles into Hungary, in addition t ...

Róbert Berény Róbert Berény (18 March 1887 – 10 September 1953) was a Hungary, Hungarian Painting, painter, one of the ''avant-garde'' group known as The Eight (Nyolcak), The Eight who introduced cubism and expressionism to Hungarian art in the early twen ...

and

Bertalan Pór Bertalan Pór (4 November 1880 – 28 August 1964) was a Hungarian painter associated with the development of modernist Hungarian art. He was a member of The Eight, a movement among several Hungarian painters in the early twentieth century who ...

, later members of

the Eight (Nyolcak) The Eight (''A Nyolcak'' in Hungarian language) was an avant-garde art movement of Hungarian painters active mostly in Budapest from 1909 to 1918. They were connected to Post-Impressionism and radical movements in literature and music as well, ...

with him. In addition, he met the philosopher of art Lajos Fülep, the writer and critic György Bölöni, who wrote about the new art, and the poet

Endre Ady Endre Ady (Hungarian: ''diósadi Ady András Endre,'' archaic English: Andrew Ady; 22 November 1877 – 27 January 1919) was a turn-of-the-century Hungarian poet and journalist. Regarded by many as the greatest Hungarian poet of the 20th centur ...

, all of whom later also returned to Budapest. In 1906, the last year of his stay in France, Márffy exhibited with fauvists at the '' Salon d'Automne'' of Paris. Back in Budapest, in March 1907, Márffy exhibited the works he made in France in the Uránia art dealership, in the company of Lajos Gulácsy, at a show that received very good reviews. The success of this exhibition brought him the friendship of

József Rippl-Rónai József Rippl-Rónai (23 May 1861 – 25 November 1927) was a Hungarian painter. He was among the first Hungarian exponents of artistic modernism. Biography He was born in Kaposvár. After his studies at the high school there, he went to ...

and

Károly Kernstok Károly Kernstok (23 December 1873, in Budapest – 9 June 1940, in Budapest) was a Hungary, Hungarian painter. In the early twentieth century, he was known for being among the leading groups of Hungarian painters known as the "Neos" and The Ei ...

. Rippl-Rónai, who had lived in France and was one of the ''

Nabis Nabis may refer to: * Nabis of Sparta, reigned 207–192 BCE * Nabis (art), a Parisian post-Impressionist artistic group * ''Nabis'' (bug), a genus of insects * NABIS, National Ballistics Intelligence Service, a British government agency See a ...

'', invited the young painter to

Kaposvár Kaposvár (; also known by alternative names) is a city with county rights in southwestern Hungary, south of Lake Balaton. It is one of the leading cities of Transdanubia, the capital of Somogy County, and the seat of the Kaposvár District and th ...

. Due to his support, Márffy became a founding member of MIÉNK (''Magyar Impresszionisták és Naturalisták Köre'' – Circle of Hungarian Impressionists and Naturalists).

, a well-established painter who led The Eight, invited Márffy to his inherited property in Nyergesújfalu. There Márffy worked at art, exploring

fauvism Fauvism ( ) is a style of painting and an art movement that emerged in France at the beginning of the 20th century. It was the style of (, ''the wild beasts''), a group of modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong col ...

. From late 1909, Márffy actively participated with the group of artists who seceded from the MIÉNK, and were to become famous as The Eight (''A Nyolcak''). Other members were

, Dezső Czigány,

, Dezső Orbán,

and

Lajos Tihanyi Lajos Tihanyi (29 October 1885 – 11 June 1938) was a Hungarian painter and lithographer who achieved international renown working outside his country, primarily in Paris, France. After emigrating in 1919, he never returned to Hungary, even on a ...

. They had their first exhibit together in 1909. In 1911 they held their first exhibit under the name of ''The Eight.'' Their first exhibit opened on 30 December 1909, at the Könyves Kálmán Salon (Budapest), under the title ''New Pictures.'' Their second exhibition – already entitled ''The Eight'' – opened in April 1911 in the National Salon. While the Eight as a group had only three exhibitions in total, they were involved in all the new intellectual movements, and were part of evenings with new Hungarian literature and contemporary music. Contributors included many writers associated with the journal ''

Nyugat ''Nyugat'' (, ''West''; pronounced similar to ''New-Got''), was an important Hungarian literary journal in the first half of the 20th century. Writers and poets from that era are referred to as "1st/2nd/3rd generation of the NYUGAT". History an ...

'' (

(d. 1919),

Dezső Kosztolányi Dezső Kosztolányi (; March 29, 1885 – November 3, 1936) was a Hungarian writer, journalist, translator, and also a speaker of Esperanto. He wrote in all literary genres, from poetry to essays to theatre plays. Building his own style, he used ...

), and the music was by the most modern composers: for instance,

Béla Bartók Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as Hunga ...

and

Zoltán Kodály Zoltán Kodály (, ; , ; 16 December 1882 – 6 March 1967) was a Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist, music pedagogue, linguist, and philosopher. He is well known internationally as the creator of the Kodály method of music education. ...

. Between 1909 and 1914, Márffy's painting was constantly transforming. The exalted, fauvist brushwork gave way, in his landscapes, nudes, still lifes and portraits, to an increasingly rigorous mode of composition. The disciplined, constructivist approach would be loosened up in the second half of the decade by increasingly

expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

ic solutions, thanks in part to his encounter with

Oskar Kokoschka Oskar Kokoschka (1 March 1886 – 22 February 1980) was an Austrian artist, poet, playwright and teacher, best known for his intense expressionistic portraits and landscapes, as well as his theories on vision that influenced the Viennese Expre ...

Marriage and family

In August 1920, Ödön Márffy married the young widow Berta (Boncza) Ady, also known as "Csinszka." Her husband Endre Ady had died in 1919, after they had been married four years. The marriage brought emotional and financial security to Márffy.

Success

By the 1920s, Márffy had become an acknowledged, much sought-after painter, who exhibited regularly. He could afford to travel and often went to paint in Germany and Italy, where he also took part regularly at the Venice Biennials. He exhibited internationally, including in the United States, Italy, Poland, Vienna, and Nuremberg and Munich in Germany. The only member of the Eight to work regularly in Hungary, he had considerable authority in the local scene. Most of the other artists had emigrated after the fall of the Hungarian Democratic Republic in 1919. Orbán emigrated in 1939, with the rise in anti-Semitism and invasion of Poland. In 1924 Márffy became a founding member of the

KUT Kūt (), officially Al-Kut, also spelled Kutulamare, Kut al-Imara, or Kut Al Amara is a city in eastern Iraq, on the left bank of the Tigris River, about south east of Baghdad, and the capital of the Wasit Governorate. the estimated populatio ...

(New Society of Visual Artists), an umbrella of modern endeavours. In 1927 Ödön Márffy was elected to the head of the organization, serving for a decade. Meanwhile, his style grew softer, more accessible, as well as airier and more decorative. His canvases long retained the fauvist colours and remnants of the constructivist space structures, and he would return to his earlier vision for the sake of the odd picture or two. By the end of the 1920s, he replaced the vibrant colours with a scumbled, misty, more relaxed atmosphere, and the style became smoother, more decorative, more palatable for a middle-class audience. The landscapes, garden and seaside scenes, nudes and still lifes he painted between the wars resemble the approach of the ''

École de Paris The School of Paris (, ) refers to the French and émigré artists who worked in Paris in the first half of the 20th century. The School of Paris was not a single art movement or institution, but refers to the importance of Paris as a centre o ...

'' painters, especially of Moïse Kisling,

Jules Pascin Julius Mordecai Pincas (March 31, 1885 – June 2, 1930), known as Pascin (, erroneously or ), Jules Pascin, also known as the "Prince of Montparnasse", was a Bulgarian artist of the School of Paris, known for his paintings and drawings. He ...

, Van Dongen and

Raoul Dufy Raoul Dufy (; 3 June 1877 – 23 March 1953) was a French painter associated with the Fauvist movement. He gained recognition for his vibrant and decorative style, which became popular in various forms, such as textile designs, and public build ...

. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Márffy was among the first to join the

European School A European School () is a type of international school emphasising a multilingual and multicultural pedagogical approach to the teaching of nursery, primary and secondary students, leading to the European Baccalaureate as their secondary lea ...

, founded on 13 October 1945. His painterly style, even his views on art, were distant from the approach of the School's younger painters. They were attracted partly to the

Surrealists Surrealism is an art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike scenes and id ...

and partly to the abstract artists; in many ways they were connected to the art of Corneille and the

Cobra COBRA or Cobra, often stylized as CoBrA, was a European avant-garde art group active from 1948 to 1951. The name was coined in 1948 by Christian Dotremont from the initials of the members' home countries' capital cities: Copenhagen (Co), Brussels ...

group. Ödön Márffy died in the Kútvölgyi Hospital on 3 December 1959, three days after his 81st birthday.

Exhibits

*1991-1992, ''Standing in the Storm: The Hungarian Avant-Garde from 1908-1930'', Santa Barbara Museum of Art,

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara (, meaning ) is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States excepting A ...

''Standing in the Storm: The Hungarian Avant-Garde from 1908-1930''
''Hungarian Studies'', Vol. 19, No. 1-2, 1994, accessed 2 February 2013 * 2006, ''Hungarian Fauves from Paris to Nagybánya, 1904-1914'', 21 March—30 July 2006, Hungarian National Gallery''Hungarian Fauves from Paris to Nagybánya, 1904-1914: Exhibition in the Hungarian National Gallery, 21 March--30 July 2006'', Kristina Passuth and György Szǔcs, Lóránd Bereczky, 2006

Legacy

* 2010, ''A Nyolcak (The Eight): A Centenary Exhibition,'' 10 December 2010 – 27 March 2011, Janus Pannonius Museum, Pécs * 2012, ''The Eight. Hungary's Highway in the Modern'' (Die Acht. Ungarns Highway in die Moderne), 12 September – 2 December 2012, Bank Austria Kunstforum,

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. ...

, collaboration with the Museum of Fine Arts and Magyar Nemzeti Galéria, Budapest.Bécs, Kunstforum: ''Die Acht. Ungarns Highway in die Moderne''
2012, Bank Austria Kunstforum, accessed 29 January 2013

References

* Rockenbauer oltán ''Márffy. Catalogue Raisonné'', Budapest/Paris, Makláry Artworks, 2006. (with English summary) * ''Fauves Hongrois. (1904–1914)''. Paris. Ed. Biro. 2008. (Catalog in French)

External links

sur le site de Gallery Kieselbach

sur le site de Artportal (english)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marffy, Oedoen 1878 births 1959 deaths 20th-century Hungarian painters École des Beaux-Arts alumni Académie Julian alumni Painters from Budapest Hungarian male painters 20th-century Hungarian male artists