Török Petra (szerk.): Sorsával tetováltan önmaga. Válogatás Lesznai Anna naplójegyzeteiből (Budapest, 2010)
Biography of Anna Lesznai
Biography of Anna Lesznai 1885. January 3. Amália Moscovitz - later to be known on her chosen name as Anna Lesznai - is born in Budapest, as the second child of Geyza Moscovitz and Hermina 1902 Deutsch. She is called as Máli by her family and friends. The Moscovitz Family spends the summer period in their country-house in the North-East of the pre-war Hungary, in a village called Körtvélyes. The atmosphere of the countryside and the village gives a life-long inspiration to Anna Lesznai’s artistic and literary works. She marries Károly Garay, but shortly after her first son, Károly is born, they divorce. 1904-1907 She takes part in art courses with Sándor Bihari, Károly Ferenczy and Simon Hollósy in Budapest and Lucien Simon in Paris. 1908 Her cousin, Lajos Hatvány, a key figure on the Hungarian literary scene, persuades her to publish her poems in the “Nyugat”, the periodical that shaped the profile of Hungarian literature for over a century to come. Anna Lesznai is among the regular contributors of the paper with her poems and critical reviews. Her friendship with other writers and poets such as Endre Ady, Béla Balázs, Margit Kaffka dates back to the intellectual circle of the Nyugat. 1909 Her first book of poems is published. The collection has a great critical success. At this time Lesznai turns to the art and crafts movement, designs different articrafts making use of Hungarian folk art motifs and ornaments. She sets up her small own manufacturing company to produce her designs. 1911-1912 By this time she has become a popular and famous designer, she takes part in different exhibitions with her embroideries, carpets and other textiles. She introduces her works in Hungary (Budapest, Miskolc, Arad) and abroad (Vienna, Berlin, I^ris). She takes up courses at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Berlin. 1913 In Vienna the Rosenbaum Publishing House edits Lesznai’s first tale-book under the title: Journey of the Blue Butterfly to Wonderland. The book is a complex work because not only the story is written by her but she draws the illustrations and also the cover of the book. 1913 She marries Oszkár Jászi, a key-politician of the Hungarian public and political sphere. The have two sons, György (born 1915) and András (born 1917). 529
