Miklós Farkasházy Exhibition

• 11. April 2007. - 31. July 2007.

Miklós Farkasházy (Budapest, 1895 - Budapest, 1964) was a prominent person of the 1920s to 1930s fashion for poster art. Miklós Farkasházy was both a painter and a graphical artist. His works deserved a place next to prints from German artists. In Munich he earned success as a glorious talent, who illustrated stories, advertisements and comics. Farkasházy was born in a family with long artistic tradition starting with his great grandfather... Mór Farkasházy Fischer, the founder of the Herend Porcelain Manufactory. Miklós Farkasházy turned towards applied graphic art, illustrating books and journals, where the calligraphic, the dominant and dynamic use of lines is significant as substantial. Journalists and critics of the time emphasis his originality, naturalism, that was new and trailblazing, yet outrageous. Miklós Farkasházy explored the ever-increasing diversity of printmaking. Later on he was crossing over into cubism and the art deco style installation art.
His graphic designs appeared first in Dresden, Hamburg, continued to be exhibited in Cologne and Frankfurt (Germany), Zurich (Switzerland), followed by Leipzig (Germany), Zilina and Pietani (Slovakia), Bielsko (Poland), Monza (Italy) up to his real debut in Paris (France).

Pastel technique which combines the immediacy of a drawing with the brilliant effects of a painting, led Farkasházy in the early 1930s to the medium of painting. Through the combination of bold strokes with well-designed shadows, delicate drawings and attractive effects, he achieved more vivid paintings. He tried to renew himself with exploring the possibilities of lino-cutting as well. Finally, he chose softer, more velvety surfaces with good colour adherence for his fascinating watercolour, pastel, oil, ink and charcoal. Farkasházy's artistic expression turned towards the harmony of colours, and as a new step he started using strong colours in pastels. He built a well balanced yet vibrating composition, using all scales of a single colour. With his innovative point of view, he created individual means and factors, where the forms remained natural, yet the colours had a great optical effect on the viewer. He experimented with a wide range of techniques; together with his late wife Mária Gertrúd Donner he invented the coloured stone paintings, and then arrived at tempera. This medium led him to create vitality and vibration, which became a main component of his art. The mature painter turned toward depicting landscapes, still lives, interieurs, portraits, nudes, abstract compositions, keeping his individual means of expression: applying all the perspectives and possibilities what a technique can offer him.

Farkasházy's artworks have a strong effect with their exaggerated colours, yet remain a realistic way of presentation, establishing a direct connection to the viewer. In the 1930s his works had something of nostalgia. Sympathy for the urban workers' society, for those, who struggle for their life. In the 1950s his modern way of thinking took him to abstraction and its ways of expression. He was thinking merely in nature compositions and not serving the interest of the state socialism. During the war most of his works had been destroyed, and the new political system forced him to leave Hungarian art life after 1948. The continuity and fulfilment of his art became interrupted, and he was slowly and unfairly forgotten...
The public drew attention to Farkasházy's art only 20 years after he passed away. On the centenary of the artist's birth, in 1995, the Belvárosi Aukciósház (today Dunaparti Auction House & Gallery) presented Farkasházy's art by organizing an exhibition of his works. Haas Gallery exhibited a varied selection of the graphical works of Miklós Farkasházy in 2003 to demonstrate the versatility of the artist's choosing of subjects and technical solutions, ranging from watercolours and pastels to prints.
The core of the exhibition was a returned collection from Farkasházy's work period in the United States, which collection was exhibited at the Montgomery Gallery, San Francisco with great success in 1989, indebted to John R. Bodo, the subtle inheritor of the artist's artworks. Some of them were sensational pieces for the great pleasure of the friends of 20th century Hungarian graphics.
At the start of his career he made colourful decorative tint drawings and pastel works, and then he dealt intensively with copper engravings beside oil paintings. Farkasházy presented his individual attitude in a very artistic manner on his notably stylised drawings. He had a very ornamental, fruitful and versatile fantasy.

The first monograph on the artist Miklós Farkasházy was written by Valéria Majoros and published in 2005.




Meeting you as the source of a message...

While opening this exhibition, we would like to tell you about Miklós Farkasházy's impact, evolving image of his artwork, of course. But not solely about that. Is serendipity, destiny, or just pure coincidence? You decide, but life has a wonderful way of making things happen. Whatever path you are on in your life, and whether you believe it, or not, you will find that in truth, there is much we cannot predict...
Miklós Farkasházy was the great grandson of Mór Farkasházy Fischer, the craftsman, whose talent and boundless enthusiasm transformed the Herend Porcelain Manufactory into a blooming workshop. Mór Fischer was born in Tata, in the Bercsényi street 1, called Wolfshaus (in English: the wolf's house) - when he was warded a patent of nobility, he chose the middle name Farkasházy (a translation of his birthplace, Wolfshaus) - and in 1876 he retired to his home town Tata. One colleague of our Museum was interested, and visited this house last year... Was it a chance?
Miklós Farkasházy, born in Budapest on the 22nd January 1895, was both a painter and a graphical artist. His talent surfaced early, he left to Munich at the age of 26. He turned towards applied graphic art while illustrating books and journals. Critics of the time emphasise his originality. With this exhibition we also would like to demonstrate the artist's versatility in choosing his subjects and technical solutions, ranging from his graphics, fascinating watercolours, pastel, oil, ink and charcoal. 

Coincidence, synchronicity, fate? The connecting principle that links mind and matter. It runs deep... Mária Gertrúd Donner. They had to meet. Both of them studied at Manó Vesztróczy's in Budapest, and later in Munich. This exhibition also shows an astoundingly beautiful collection, which Farkasházy dedicated to Trudi - as he called his longtime Muse, his late wife - at Christmas 1950. Mária Gertrúd Donner, an artist sculptor, who made designs for the Herend Porcelain Manufactory as well. Coincidence, synchronicity, fate?
The man who revived the Herend Porcelain Manufactory, the grandson of the founder, Jenő Farkasházy (1863-1920) recognized that Herend had to make luxury porcelain to be competitive; the conclusion was confirmed for him by his study trips abroad. He was an owner with a strong artistic training. Just like Miklós, who also kept his individual means of expression by applying all the perspectives and possibilities that an artistic technique can offer him.
Miklós Farkasházy's liberalism, his modern way of thinking took him to abstraction and its ways of expression. He was thinking merely in abstract compositions while denying the state socialism. The political system forced him to leave Hungarian art life, after that, the continuity and fulfilment of his art became interrupted, and he was silently forgotten. On the 12th June 1964 Miklós Farkasházy's heart sustained and stopped beating. After a long teariness, Mária Gertrúd Donner married Imre Dukász, a good friend of her former husband, shown in a painting by Farkasházy as well. Yes, he was a teacher stem from Tata.


Mária Gertrúd Donner passed away in 1986, Farkasházy's artworks inherited Imre Dukász, and some parts of the legacy went to the artist's distant relatives outside Hungary, mostly to the USA. The paintings can hardly be traced further more... However, in 1995, on the centenary of the artist's birth, the Belvárosi Aukciósház (today Dunaparti Auction House & Gallery) presented Farkasházy's art by organizing an exhibition of his works. The birthplace Wolfshaus is still there, in Tata, in the Bercsényi street, where a commemorative plaque shows that the founder of the Herend Porcelain Manufactory was born here. Collecting data about the family, our colleague happened to enter the house and found Miklós Farkasházy's paintings everywhere on the walls, sculptures designed by Mária Gertrúd Donner on the top of the cupboard.
Antal Pápai lives there today; the collector and owner told us, his father was a great friend of Imre Dukász, so, the collection went to his family.

When you let go being in control all the time, and be open to serendipitous moments, life will take a more magical shape. You will start to notice small coincidences and moments those make no sense at first, but, after a time, make all the sense in the world. There will also be moments that totally change life, like for example the name Farkasházy literally bumped into Herend. This is how they met... Coincidences or odds? No! Destiny? Absolutely!
The core of our exhibition is a collection of Farkasházy's work period starting in 1910. Some pieces are abstract and sensational, exemplifying one section of the 20th century's art. We gave this exhibition the title: 'That is why we were born - to reveal us', which leads us to believe: though, it is possible to calculate the probabilities of some seemingly improbable event, this is how our expectations agree with reality.

The reality, like the opening of this exhibition by publicist Tivadar Farkasházy.