Zoltán Felvinczi Takács (April 7, 1880 – April 12, 1964) was a Hungarian art historian. His research interests include the paintings of

Albrecht Dürer Albrecht Dürer ( , ;; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528),Müller, Peter O. (1993) ''Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Dürers'', Walter de Gruyter. . sometimes spelled in English as Durer or Duerer, was a German painter, Old master prin ...

, Oriental art, and art criticism.

Career

Felvinczi Takács was born in Nagysomkút,

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 ...

(present-day Șomcuta Mare,

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 completed his secondary school career in Nagybánya and

Kolozsvár Cluj-Napoca ( ; ), or simply Cluj ( , ), is a city in northwestern Romania. It is the second-most populous city in the country and the seat of Cluj County. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest (), Budapest () and Belgrade ( ...

(present-day Baia Mare and Cluj-Napoca in Romania, respectively), and his university studies 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 ...

. In addition to studying law, he also studied painting at the Budapest School of Design, as a student of

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 ...

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 ...

, and in the Nagybánya artists' colony and

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. His early work was focused on the art of

, and he published a monograph on the artist in 1909. He assisted with the creation of the Ferenc Hopp Museum of Asiatic Arts in 1919 after the art collector Ferenc Hopp died, leaving his collection of some 4000 pieces of Oriental art to the state. Felvinczi Takács served as the first director of the museum. In 1920 he, along with

Pál Teleki Count Pál János Ede Teleki de Szék (1 November 1879 – 3 April 1941) was a Hungarian politician who served as Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Hungary from 1920 to 1921 and from 1939 to 1941. He was also an expert in geography, a uni ...

, founded the

Kőrösi Csoma Society Korossy is a Hungarian surname. Some variations of the spelling of this surname are as follows: Kőrösi, Kőrösy, Kőrössi, Kőrössy, Körösi, Körösy, Körössi, Körössy, Korosi, Korosy, Korossi, and Korossy. The surname appears to be ba ...

, a Hungarian Orientalist society. His increased interest in

East Asia East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...

led him to travel to China in the 1930s, publishing a guidebook reporting on his experiences. In 1940, Felvinczi Takács was appointed to the

Franz Joseph University Royal Hungarian Franz Joseph University () was the second modern university in the Hungarian realm of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Founded in 1872, its seat was initially in Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca). After World War I, it first moved to Budap ...

in Kolozsvár, where he is credited with laying the foundations of the school of art history. While teaching there, he organized a number of exhibitions on

Transylvania Transylvania ( or ; ; or ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjen'') is a List of historical regions of Central Europe, historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and ...

n and

Asian art Asian art includes a vast range of arts from various cultures, regions, and religions across the continent of Asia. East Asian art includes works from China, Japan, and Korea, while Southeast Asian art includes the arts of Brunei, Cambodia, E ...

. He left in 1947 and was then employed at the

University of Szeged The University of Szeged () is a Public university, public research university in Szeged, Hungary. Established as the Jesuit Academy of Kolozsvár in present-day Cluj-Napoca in 1581, the institution was re-established as a university in 1872 by ...

, where he taught until 1950.

Selected publications

* * *

Academic service

* Founding member,

, 1920 * Board member, Magyar Régészeti és Művészettörténeti Társaság (1922–1935) * Director, Ferenc Hopp Museum of Asiatic Arts * Founding member and executive vice-president, Hungarian Oriental Society (1932–1946) * Founding member and vice-president, Magyar Nippon Társaság (1932–1944)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Takacs, Zoltan Felvinczi 1880 births 1964 deaths People from Maramureș County Hungarian art historians Academic staff of the University of Szeged Academic staff of Babeș-Bolyai University Hungarian orientalists