Magyar News, 1995. szeptember-1996. augusztus (6. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1996-01-01 / 5. szám
t7 Jti6 á tty "T H uaádc^ 1844-1900 r One of the Hungarians best known painter was Mihály Munkácsy. It is not because he is one of the best painters, but somehow people liked him and there were paintings that they identified with. Very few Hungarians didn't know the Siralomhaz (On death row), or Krisztus Pilatus Előtt (Christ in front of Pilot), and naturally the Honfoglalás (Conquest). Her is some information about his life. Munkácsy was bom in 1844 and lived 56 years. He died in 1900. His birthplace was Munkács. His parents were of lower middle class. His Father, Leo Lieb was a descendent of an Austrian family. Shortly afterMunkacsy's birth the family took up residence in Miskolc. By the time Munkácsy was seven years old, he lost both parents. Meanwhile, during the hard times after the 1848 Revolution, his uncle took him in and he moved to Békéscsaba. Munkácsy wasn't successful in school so his uncle enrolled him in vocational training to become a cabinet maker. After finishing his training, he moved to Arad. Despite his good intentions, he disliked cabinet making. He remembered the time as an apprentice, when he painted boxes and chests. His favorite pastime became drawing. Because of his bad health, he went back to his uncle who by this time was practicing law in Gyula. Here Munkácsy copied the etchings found in the home and made friends with the local art teacher. Here he met Elek Szamossy, a traveling painter. Szamossy took him in as an apprentice and helped him gaining some knowledge. Munkácsy was 19 years old when he went to Budapest with a recommendation from Szamossy. In Budapest he painted portraits and pictures that were like the illustrations in publications at the time. He was able to receive support from the art society, and with his saved up money, he went to Vienna and Munich to study. Munkacsy's real break came when he painted the Siralomhaz. With this his career took off, not necessarily into the right direction that would correspond with his natural talent. In Paris Munkacsy's Hungarian colleagues tried to help him, but it was all in vain. Sedelmeyer stepped forward to manage Munkácsy. Sedelmeyer had a strong drive for marketing. He carried the paintings all around Europe. Later, also in America. It was a race for clients and a disregard for many other things. Everything had to be on a big scale only for the eyes and not for the artistic value. But out of this confusion things happened that we are grateful for. At this time of our celebration, we have a painting depicting the Conquest. We see Arpad on the white horse being greeted by other people in the land. To have the most authenticity even on the details, Munkácsy traveled around with a photographer among ethnic groups and visited museums. He ended up with a huge canvas that is the size about a two story family home in our area. It is a treasure of the Hungarian people. Page 4 The Hungarians demanded a superlarge canvas from Mui Parliament building. The Scientific Academy helped with clothing and weapons. In 1891 Munkácsy traveled around photographer collecting portraits. He chose a relative to me The size of the Conquest painting is 44.5’ long and 15’ hie Munkácsy painted the Siralomhaz in 1869. It is done in oh size of it is 137x196 cm (approximately 4.5’x6.4’)
