János Thorma (24 April 1870 – 5 December 1937) was a Hungarian painter. A representative figure of the Nagybánya artists' colony, which started in 1896, in Nagybánya,

Austria-Hungary 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#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

(today

Baia Mare Baia Mare ( , ; ; ; ) is a Municipiu, city along the Săsar, Săsar River, in northwestern Romania; it is the capital of Maramureș County. The city lies in the region of Maramureș, a subregion of Transylvania. It is situated about from Buchare ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

), he moved through different styles, shifted from the naturalism that was the aesthetic of the colony, to historical subjects, to

romantic realism Romantic realism is art that combines elements of both romanticism and realism. The terms "romanticism" and "realism" have been used in varied ways, and are sometimes seen as opposed to one another. In literature and art The term has long standin ...

and to a

Post-Impressionism Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction a ...

style. His work is held by 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 w ...

, the Thorma János Múzeum, regional museums and private collectors. In 1966, the

held a major commemorative exhibition, ''The Art of Nagybánya,'' commemorating the innovations of Thorma and fellow artists. In February 2013, it opens a major retrospective of more than 100 pieces of János Thorma's work, drawing from numerous institutions and private collectors in Europe.

Early life and education

János Thorma was born in 1870 in

Kiskunhalas Kiskunhalas (; ) is a city in the county of Bács-Kiskun, Hungary. Railroad The city is an important railway junction. It crosses the Budapest-Subotica-Belgrade railway line. The Kiskunfélegyháza railway ends in Kiskunhalas. Geography Kisk ...

to Béla Thorma, a tax agency cashier, and his wife Gizella Fekete. The family moved to Nagybánya when the youth was 14. He began to study art at

Bertalan Székely Bertalan Székely (8 May 1835, Kolozsvár, Transylvania, Kingdom of Hungary (now Cluj-Napoca, Romania) – 21 August 1910, Budapest, Transleithania, Austria-Hungary) was a Hungarian history and portrait painter who worked in the Romantic ...

's drawing school. At the age of 18, he went to

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, where he studied from 1888 to 1890 under the Hungarian painter,

Simon Hollósy Simon Hollósy (2 February 1857 – 8 May 1918) was a Hungarian painter. He was considered one of the greatest Hungarian representatives of 19th-century Naturalism and Realism. Hollósy was not highly productive as an artist and was more im ...

, who held free classes. Following a path similar to other young artists from Austria-Hungary, in 1891 and 1893–95, Thorma also went to Paris, where he studied 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 ...

Career

His first significant painting, ''Szenvedők'' (The Bereaved), was exhibited at the Budapest Art Gallery, then at the

Paris Salon The Salon (), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art event in the Western world. At the ...

in 1894. In 1896, on the occasion of the millennium of the

Magyars Hungarians, also known as Magyars, are an ethnic group native to Hungary (), who share a common culture, language and history. They also have a notable presence in former parts of the Kingdom of Hungary. The Hungarian language belongs to the ...

' conquest of

Pannonia Pannonia (, ) was a Roman province, province of the Roman Empire bounded on the north and east by the Danube, on the west by Noricum and upper Roman Italy, Italy, and on the southward by Dalmatia (Roman province), Dalmatia and upper Moesia. It ...

, he presented his painting about The 13 Martyrs of Arad, ''Aradi vértanúk'' (The Martyrs of Arad), which gained him nationwide renown in Hungary. Many of his early works were large canvases on historical themes. In 1896 he was one of the founders of the Nagybánya artists' colony, whose members included

, Károly Ferenczy, and

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 ...

, who achieved international recognition. From 1902–27, he was a teacher at the Nagybánya Painters' Association, becoming its president in 1917. In 1898 Thorma began to paint ''Talpra magyar!'' (Rise up, Hungarian!), on which he worked intermittently almost to his death."Thorma János"
, Székely Museum of Ciuc His first paintings were naturalistic, and an early inspiration was

Jules Bastien-Lepage Jules Bastien-Lepage (1 November 1848 – 10 December 1884) was a French painter closely associated with the beginning of naturalism, an artistic style that grew out of the Realist movement and paved the way for the development of impressioni ...

. Thorma used the artist's most popular work, the ''Portrait of

Sarah Bernhardt Sarah Bernhardt (; born Henriette-Rosine Bernard; 22 October 1844 – 26 March 1923) was a French stage actress who starred in some of the most popular French plays of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including by Alexandre Dumas fils, ...

'', in 1892 as a model in his own painting of Irén Biltz. Thorma's painting had the characteristic atmosphere of

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...

. As a young man, Thorma felt that naturalism offered him too little to achieve his goals as a painter, and he was inspired by German romanticism (as shown in his ''The Bereaved'', 1892) and French classicism (''The Martyrs of Arad'', 1893–94). In 1897, following a long trip to Western Europe, Thorma painted several Biblical subjects, including ''Békesség veletek'' – "Pax vobiscum", which show the influence of

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and Drawing, draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in ...

. After 1900, Thorma's work turned toward realism: ''Kocsisok között'' (Among the Coachmen) (1902); ''Október elsején'' (On the First of October) (1903); ''Kártyázók'' (The Card-Players, 1904). In 1906-07 he showed influence from Spanish sources in his ''Cigányutca'' (The Gypsies' Street, 1907). He also was inspired by the French painter,

Paul Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramist, and writer, whose work has been primarily associated with the Post-Impressionist and Symbolist movements. He was also an influ ...

, as shown in ''Húsvéti kenyérszentelés'' (The Blessing of the Bread) and ''Templombamenők'' (People Going toward Church), both ''ca.'' 1910. After 1920 Thorma developed his own ''

en plein air ''En plein air'' (; French language, 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 ai ...

'' style, based on his substantial knowledge of painting. He used certain elements of neo-classicism in such works as ''Tavasz'' (Spring, 1920) and ''Fürdés után'' (After Bathing, 1928). In the last decade of his life, he painted impressionistic landscapes and portraits. In 1918 he took his historical works to Hungary, as he expected Romania to be invaded at the end of World War I. He stored them in

Debrecen Debrecen ( ; ; ; ) is Hungary's cities of Hungary, second-largest city, after Budapest, the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain Regions of Hungary, region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar County. A city with county rights, it was the large ...

. After the

Treaty of Trianon The Treaty of Trianon (; ; ; ), often referred to in Hungary as the Peace Dictate of Trianon or Dictate of Trianon, was prepared at the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace Conference. It was signed on the one side by Hungary ...

, when the Nagybánya region was incorporated to the

Kingdom of Romania The Kingdom of Romania () was a constitutional monarchy that existed from with the crowning of prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen as King of Romania, King Carol I of Romania, Carol I (thus beginning the Romanian royal family), until 1947 wit ...

, only Thorma remained in the town; the other Hungarian painters left. The government encouraged him to continue the naturalistic "official Nagybánya school", although his own work had developed in quite different ways. In September 1929, Thorma, aged 59 and until then a bachelor, married Margit Kiss, a painting disciple and distant relative. He died in Baia Mare eight years later. Since the late twentieth century, and the opening of the Eastern Bloc, there has been renewed attention given to the innovations of the Naybánya artists. In collaboration with other institutions, the

has organized a major retrospective of Thorma's work, consisting of more than 100 pieces. Its title classifies him as a representative painter of the Barbizon school in Hungary. The exhibit opens in February 2013, through the collaboration of the "Art Museum in Nagybánya, the Janus Pannonius Museum in Pécs, the Móra Ferenc Museum in Szeged, the Déri Museum in Debrecen, the Herman Ottó Museum in Miskolc, the Katona József Museum in Kecskemét, and the Thorma János Museum in Kiskunhalas, as well as Hungarian, German and Romanian private collectors".

Exhibits

*2009
''Munich in Hungarian, Hungarian Artists in Munich 1850-1914, 2 Oct 2009 – Jan 2010''
Hungarian National Gallery

Legacy and honors

* 2013, ''János Thorma, the Painter of the Hungarian Barbizon'', 8 February – 19 May 2013,

.''János Thorma, the Painter of the Hungarian Barbizon''
8 February - 19 May 2013, Hungarian National Gallery * 1966, ''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 30 January 2013 * The Thorma János Múzeum was established for his work in his home town of

, Hungary.

Works

Thorma János painter (1870-1937.12.05).jpg, '' The 13 Martyrs of Arad, the Sixth of October'' János Thorma (1870-1937) Suffering People (1892).jpg, ''The Bereaved'' (1892) Rise up, Hungarian!.jpg, ''Rise up, Hungarian!'' (1870–1937) János Thorma The 1st of October.jpg, ''The First of October'' (1903) Picking Violets Thorma.jpg, ''Picking Violets'' (1920) Thorma János painter (1870-1937.12.05) In autumn.jpg, ''Landscape in Autumn'' (1920) Thorma János painter (1870-1937.12.05) Bunch of flowers.jpg, ''Intoxicating Blooms'' (1928) Thorma János painter (1870-1937.12.05) In spring.jpg, ''Spring in Nagybánya'' (''ca.'' 1930) Thorma János painter (1870-1937.12.05) Paintress.jpg, ''Woman Painter'' (1934) Thorma The Voice of the Violin.jpg, ''The Voice of the Violin'' (undated)

Notes

External links

Thorma, János
Fine Arts in Hungary {{DEFAULTSORT:Thorma, Janos 1870 births 1937 deaths People from Kiskunhalas Hungarian painters Romanian people of Hungarian descent 20th-century Romanian painters Painters from Austria-Hungary