The Eighth Tribe, 1977 (4. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1977-05-01 / 5. szám
May, 1977 THE EIGHTH TRIBE Page 3 JOSEPH DÓMJÁN Joseph Doniján, internationally famous artist with 360 one-man shows to his credit and whose work is included in the permanent collection of 170 museums on four continents is a Master of Color Woodcuts. Born in Budapest in 1907 he has lived a life as varied and dramatic as his work. Dómján, believer in the concept of “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness’ realized the ambition of his adult life on August 31, 1957, when he first set foot on American soil. He had his first one-man show in New York the same year. Numerous other exhibitions followed throughout the United States of America of color woodcuts, oil paintings and tapestries. Dómján has lived and works in the forest of Tuxedo Park for the last ten years. As the oldest child of 12 of a poor but proud family he learned a trade and went to work to help support the family. During the Depression of the 1930’s unemployment sent him to other fields until economic hardship terminated all of his endeavours. He went for a 10,000 mile walking tour of Italy, Germany, and France, supporting himself with odd jobs and by doing sketches he sold, it was on this trip that, intrigued by the beauty he found in the museums and churches, he decided to become an artist. Back home he won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest and graduated with highest honors seven years later. He had already won several important national prizes. He launched his career in Scandinavia; having his first one-man show in Stockholm in 1948, followed by successful exhibitions throughout Europe, Russia, and as far away as China and Mongolia. A retrospective exhibition of his woodcut work covering the period between 1945-55 which was held in the Ernst Museum, Budapest, was seen by the Chinese delegation and he was invited to exhibit and lecture in China. From Peking to Shanghai he had 17 exhibitions. The Chinese had for hundreds of years designated one artist in each century as Master of Woodcuts, and in 1955 Dómján received this signal honor, with the jade seal, and blue-gold diploma of silk embroidery; he is the first Occidental on whom the honor was ever conferred. Doniján uses a very personal technique for these fabulous works, pulverizing dry pigments with his hand, then grinding it to a fine powder before mixing it with a medium composed of poppy-seed oil, French turpentine, and lavendar oil. Applying an even film of this mixture to his richly carved woodblocks by brush he then uses as his “printing press’ his own thumb, pressing lightly where he wants the delicate color to just touch the surface and more firmly and repeatedly to obtain the rich deep tones and three dimensional texture which do so much to set off the beautiful coloring of his unique work. As many as 25 different colors are sometimes used and five to eight woodblocks for one image, printed in small editions usually of only 15 prints. In China Doniján met Chou En Lai and during an exhibition in Stockholm, the King of Sweden and his Princess. One of his biggest honors was meeting President Eisenhower in the Oval Room of the White House. For 40 minutes the President enjoyed the company of the artist while a desperate receptionist tried to rearrange delayed appointments. Dómján presented the President with a color woodcut “HOLIDAY WINE”, one of his most famous prints, one of a pair owned and reproduced by UNICEF on Christmas Cards and Calendars. In 1950 the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, arranged an international color woodcut exhibition. Domjan’s “BIG POPPY” and “CHAIN BRIDGE” were the first the Victoria and Albert Museum purchased from Dómján. This great museum built up a fine collection of Dómján, the last aquisition dating 1973. The British Museum and the Graphic Collection of the Tate Gallery also own fine examples of Doniján color woodcuts. The International Color Woodcut Exhibition of the Victoria and
