Nándor Katona
Encyclopedia
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary comprised present-day Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia , Transylvania , Carpatho Ruthenia , Vojvodina , Burgenland , and other smaller territories surrounding present-day Hungary's borders...
– August 1, 1932, Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
) was a Hungarian Jewish painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
.
One of seven children of a dismally poor Jewish family he was discovered as a prodigy
Child prodigy
A child prodigy is someone who, at an early age, masters one or more skills far beyond his or her level of maturity. One criterion for classifying prodigies is: a prodigy is a child, typically younger than 18 years old, who is performing at the level of a highly trained adult in a very demanding...
, brought up and instructed in painting by László Mednyánszky
László Mednyánszky
Baron László Mednyánszky or Ladislaus Josephus Balthasar Eustachius Mednyánszky Mednyánszky, the painter-philosopher, is one of the most enigmatic figures in the history of Hungarian art. Despite an aristocratic background, he spent most of his life moving around Europe working as an artist...
. He later studied in Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
and Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, and traveled extensively throughout Western Europe.
Most of his works depict scenes of nature from his home region, the Szepes county (Spiš) in particular views of the Tatra Mountains
Tatra Mountains
The Tatra Mountains, Tatras or Tatra , are a mountain range which forms a natural border between Slovakia and Poland, and are the highest mountain range in the Carpathian Mountains...
and the area of Késmárk (Kežmarok
Kežmarok
Kežmarok is a town in the Spiš region of eastern Slovakia , on the Poprad River.-History:...
), which he considered his home town despite having spent much of his life in Budapest.
His works are on exhibit at the Hungarian National Gallery
Hungarian National Gallery
The Hungarian National Gallery , was established in 1957 as the national art museum. It is located in Buda Castle in Budapest, Hungary. Its collections cover Hungarian art in all genres, including the many twentieth-century Hungarian artists who worked in Paris and other locations in the West...
in Budapest, the Slovak National Gallery
Slovak National Gallery
The Slovak National Gallery is a network of galleries in Slovakia. It has its headquarters in Bratislava.The gallery was established by law on 29 July 1949. In Bratislava, it has its displays situated in Esterházy Palace and the Water Barracks which are adjacent to each other...
, the Eastern Slovak Gallery in Kassa (Košice
Košice
Košice is a city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the river Hornád at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains, near the border with Hungary...
) and the Tatra Gallery in Poprad
Poprad
Poprad is a city in northern Slovakia at the foot of the High Tatra Mountains famous for its picturesque historic centre and as a holiday resort. It is the biggest town of the Spiš region and the tenth largest city in Slovakia with a population of approximately 55,000.The Poprad-Tatry Airport is...
.
Further reading
- Anna Ondrušeková Ferdinand Katona 1864 – 1932 publ. Tatranská Galéria, Poprad, 2004.
- Biography in Magyar Életrajzi Lexikon