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Károly Ferenczy (Vienna 1862 – Budapest 1917)
See original version (French)
212
-
Károly Ferenczy (Vienna 1862 – Budapest 1917)
See original version (French)
Estimate €30,000 - €40,000
Voluntary lot
Description
Károly Ferenczy (Vienna 1862 – Budapest 1917)
The Wrestlers
Painted in 1912
Oil on canvas
60 x 50 cm
Signed and dated in the top left-hand corner “Ferenczy Karoly 1912”
On the reverse of the canvas, in white chalk, the number 206
Provenance:
- 1929, Budapest, Postatak, L.I. 199; 1930, Budapest, Postatak, LV. 131; Trencsén, Dr Leopold Ringwald.
- 1939, London, Gerrards Cross.
- 29 September 2009, Donnington (Berkshire, Newbury), Dreweatts & Bloomsbury Auctions, lot no. 310.
- Private collection.
Exhibition:
- Retrospective exhibition of Károly Ferenczy (1862–1917), Hungarian National Gallery, Budapest,
30 November 2011 – 27 May 2012.
- ‘The Naked Man’, 26 October 2012 – 17 February 2013, LENTOS Kunstmuseum, Linz.
*The Naked Man*, 22 March 2013 – 30 June 2013, Ludwig Múzeum – Museum of Contemporary Art, Budapest.
Bibliography:
- Exhibition catalogue for the Károly Ferenczy retrospective
(edited by Judit Boros and Edit Plesznivy), MNG, Budapest, 2011, p. 282; p. 374.
- Exhibition catalogue for *The Naked Man* (edited by Sabine Fellner, Elisabeth Nowak-Thaller and Stella Rollig), LENTOS Kunstmuseum Linz – Ludwig Museum – Museum of Contemporary Art, Budapest, 2012, p. 175.
Károly Ferenczy was a leading Hungarian painter of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. On the valuable advice of his cousin and future wife, Olga Fialka, he travelled to Italy, settled there and studied at the Academy of Arts in Naples from 1885 onwards. From 1887 to 1889, he studied at the Académie Julian in Paris under the tutelage of Robert-Fleury and Adolphe William Bouguereau. Károly Ferenczy settled in Munich between 1893 and 1896 and frequented Simon Hollósy’s circle. He then moved to Nagybánya and helped found the Nagybánya artists’ colony. He subsequently taught at the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest.
Károly Ferenczy was a major influence on future generations of Hungarian artists. The work of Jules Bastien-Lepage, a French naturalist painter, had a profound impact on Károly Ferenczy. In the early 20th century, Károly Ferenczy sought to demonstrate that naturalism and Impressionism could be complementary, particularly through his depictions of biblical scenes such as *The Descent from the Cross* (1903). From 1902 onwards, he moved closer to Impressionism, seeking to capture a visual impression whilst distancing himself from strict realism. In Nagybánya, he painted landscapes en plein air as well as portraits and nudes.
In 1907, in collaboration with Pál Szinyei Merse (1845–1920) and József Rippl-Rónai (1861–1927), he founded the Circle of Hungarian Impressionists and Naturalists, a group of Hungarian artists studying the French Impressionist movement. He thus played a key role in spreading modern artistic trends in Hungary. Károly Ferenczy played an active part in the artistic life of his time. He organised his own solo exhibition in Budapest in 1903 and won numerous medals, notably the gold medals at the Venice Biennale in 1905 and the Munich International Exhibition in 1913. Károly Ferenczy died at the age of 55 in Budapest.
Here, two naked men are engaged in a fierce struggle. The figures are rendered through variations in light, tone and colour. The flesh tones range from ochre to pink and brown. The contrast between the bodies and the nuanced blue background particularly highlights these bodies in motion. This work is a fine example of his style from the early 1910s.
E.V
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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