Tivadar Csontváry Kosztka
Encyclopedia
Tivadar Kosztka Csontváry (ˈtivɒdɒr ˈkostkɒ ˈt͡ʃontvaːri; born 1853 - d. 1919) was a Hungarian painter. He was one of the first Hungarian painters to become well known in Europe
.
Csontváry was born on 5 July 1853 in Kisszeben
, Sáros County
, Kingdom of Hungary
(today Sabinov
, Slovakia
), and died 20 June 1919 in Budapest
. His ancestors were Poles
who settled down in Hungary. Although Csontváry was obsessed with his Magyar roots, he himself grew up speaking Slovak
mixed with German
. He was a pharmacist
until his twenties. On a hot sunny afternoon, 13 October 1880, — when he was 27 years old — he experienced a mystic vision. He heard a voice saying "you will be the greatest sunway painter, greater than Raphael
!" He took journeys around Europe, visited the galleries of the Vatican
, then went home to collect money for his journeys working as an apothecary
. From 1890 onwards he traveled around the world. He visited Paris
, the Mediterraneum (Dalmatia
, Italy
, Greece
), North Africa and the Middle East (Lebanon
, Palestine
, Egypt
, Syria
) and painted pictures.
He painted his major works between 1903 and 1909. He had some exhibitions in Paris (1907) and Western Europe. Most of the critics in Western Europe recognized his abilities, art and congeniality, but in the Kingdom of Hungary during his life he was considered to be an eccentric crank
for several reasons, e. g. for his vegetarianism
, anti-alcoholism
, anti-nicotinism
, pacifism
, his latent, but more and more apparent schizophrenia
and his cloudy, prophet
ic writings and pamphlets about his life (Curriculum), genius (The Authority, The Genius) and religious philosophy (The Positivum). Even though later he was acclaimed, during his lifetime Csontváry's visionary, expressionistic style found little understanding. A loner by nature, the master's mental balance was upset by his “failure” impairing his creative power. Little did he know that some years after his death, an entire museum in Pécs
, Hungary, would be devoted to his paintings, and that worldwide appreciation of his works would be in constant ascendancy. Many painters, e.g. Picasso
added a stone to Csontváry's cairn.
He painted more than one hundred pictures, the most famous and emblematic of which is probably Magányos cédrus (The Lonely Cedar). His art connects with post-impressionism and expressionism
, but actually he was an autodidact and cannot be classified into an exact style — he regarded himself as one of the "sunway"-painters (this word was created by him). He was one of the most eccentric and most considerable Hungarian painters.
The Kieselbach galery from Budapest,Hungary sold on 15 December 2006 in an auction the most expensive Csontvary painting so far. The in 1902 painted "Meeting of the lovers" or "Randevú" was bought by an unknown customer for more than one million EUR.
Tivadar Kosztka Csontváry (ˈtivɒdɒr ˈkostkɒ ˈt͡ʃontvaːri; born 1853 - d. 1919) was a Hungarian painter. He was one of the first Hungarian painters to become well known in Europe
.
Csontváry was born on 5 July 1853 in Kisszeben
, Sáros County
, Kingdom of Hungary
(today Sabinov
, Slovakia
), and died 20 June 1919 in Budapest
. His ancestors were Poles
who settled down in Hungary. Although Csontváry was obsessed with his Magyar roots, he himself grew up speaking Slovak
mixed with German
. He was a pharmacist
until his twenties. On a hot sunny afternoon, 13 October 1880, — when he was 27 years old — he experienced a mystic vision. He heard a voice saying "you will be the greatest sunway painter, greater than Raphael
!" He took journeys around Europe, visited the galleries of the Vatican
, then went home to collect money for his journeys working as an apothecary
. From 1890 onwards he traveled around the world. He visited Paris
, the Mediterraneum (Dalmatia
, Italy
, Greece
), North Africa and the Middle East (Lebanon
, Palestine
, Egypt
, Syria
) and painted pictures.
He painted his major works between 1903 and 1909. He had some exhibitions in Paris (1907) and Western Europe. Most of the critics in Western Europe recognized his abilities, art and congeniality, but in the Kingdom of Hungary during his life he was considered to be an eccentric crank
for several reasons, e. g. for his vegetarianism
, anti-alcoholism
, anti-nicotinism
, pacifism
, his latent, but more and more apparent schizophrenia
and his cloudy, prophet
ic writings and pamphlets about his life (Curriculum), genius (The Authority, The Genius) and religious philosophy (The Positivum). Even though later he was acclaimed, during his lifetime Csontváry's visionary, expressionistic style found little understanding. A loner by nature, the master's mental balance was upset by his “failure” impairing his creative power. Little did he know that some years after his death, an entire museum in Pécs
, Hungary, would be devoted to his paintings, and that worldwide appreciation of his works would be in constant ascendancy. Many painters, e.g. Picasso
added a stone to Csontváry's cairn.
He painted more than one hundred pictures, the most famous and emblematic of which is probably Magányos cédrus (The Lonely Cedar). His art connects with post-impressionism and expressionism
, but actually he was an autodidact and cannot be classified into an exact style — he regarded himself as one of the "sunway"-painters (this word was created by him). He was one of the most eccentric and most considerable Hungarian painters.
The Kieselbach galery from Budapest,Hungary sold on 15 December 2006 in an auction the most expensive Csontvary painting so far. The in 1902 painted "Meeting of the lovers" or "Randevú" was bought by an unknown customer for more than one million EUR.
Tivadar Kosztka Csontváry (ˈtivɒdɒr ˈkostkɒ ˈt͡ʃontvaːri; born 1853 - d. 1919) was a Hungarian painter. He was one of the first Hungarian painters to become well known in Europe
.
Csontváry was born on 5 July 1853 in Kisszeben
, Sáros County
, Kingdom of Hungary
(today Sabinov
, Slovakia
), and died 20 June 1919 in Budapest
. His ancestors were Poles
who settled down in Hungary. Although Csontváry was obsessed with his Magyar roots, he himself grew up speaking Slovak
mixed with German
. He was a pharmacist
until his twenties. On a hot sunny afternoon, 13 October 1880, — when he was 27 years old — he experienced a mystic vision. He heard a voice saying "you will be the greatest sunway painter, greater than Raphael
!" He took journeys around Europe, visited the galleries of the Vatican
, then went home to collect money for his journeys working as an apothecary
. From 1890 onwards he traveled around the world. He visited Paris
, the Mediterraneum (Dalmatia
, Italy
, Greece
), North Africa and the Middle East (Lebanon
, Palestine
, Egypt
, Syria
) and painted pictures.
He painted his major works between 1903 and 1909. He had some exhibitions in Paris (1907) and Western Europe. Most of the critics in Western Europe recognized his abilities, art and congeniality, but in the Kingdom of Hungary during his life he was considered to be an eccentric crank
for several reasons, e. g. for his vegetarianism
, anti-alcoholism
, anti-nicotinism
, pacifism
, his latent, but more and more apparent schizophrenia
and his cloudy, prophet
ic writings and pamphlets about his life (Curriculum), genius (The Authority, The Genius) and religious philosophy (The Positivum). Even though later he was acclaimed, during his lifetime Csontváry's visionary, expressionistic style found little understanding. A loner by nature, the master's mental balance was upset by his “failure” impairing his creative power. Little did he know that some years after his death, an entire museum in Pécs
, Hungary, would be devoted to his paintings, and that worldwide appreciation of his works would be in constant ascendancy. Many painters, e.g. Picasso
added a stone to Csontváry's cairn.
He painted more than one hundred pictures, the most famous and emblematic of which is probably Magányos cédrus (The Lonely Cedar). His art connects with post-impressionism and expressionism
, but actually he was an autodidact and cannot be classified into an exact style — he regarded himself as one of the "sunway"-painters (this word was created by him). He was one of the most eccentric and most considerable Hungarian painters.
The Kieselbach galery from Budapest,Hungary sold on 15 December 2006 in an auction the most expensive Csontvary painting so far. The in 1902 painted "Meeting of the lovers" or "Randevú" was bought by an unknown customer for more than one million EUR.
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
.
Csontváry was born on 5 July 1853 in Kisszeben
Sabinov
Sabinov is a small town located in the Prešov Region , approximately 20 km from Prešov and 55 km from Košice. The population of Sabinov is 12,378.- History :...
, Sáros County
Sáros county
Sáros was a historic administrative county of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory is presently in northeastern Slovakia...
, Kingdom of Hungary
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...
(today Sabinov
Sabinov
Sabinov is a small town located in the Prešov Region , approximately 20 km from Prešov and 55 km from Košice. The population of Sabinov is 12,378.- History :...
, Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
), and died 20 June 1919 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...
. His ancestors were Poles
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
who settled down in Hungary. Although Csontváry was obsessed with his Magyar roots, he himself grew up speaking Slovak
Slovak language
Slovak , is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Slavic languages .Slovak is the official language of Slovakia, where it is spoken by 5 million people...
mixed with German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
. He was a pharmacist
Pharmacist
Pharmacists are allied health professionals who practice in pharmacy, the field of health sciences focusing on safe and effective medication use...
until his twenties. On a hot sunny afternoon, 13 October 1880, — when he was 27 years old — he experienced a mystic vision. He heard a voice saying "you will be the greatest sunway painter, greater than Raphael
Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino , better known simply as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form and ease of composition and for its visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur...
!" He took journeys around Europe, visited the galleries of the Vatican
Vatican City
Vatican City , or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano , which translates literally as State of the City of the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of...
, then went home to collect money for his journeys working as an apothecary
Apothecary
Apothecary is a historical name for a medical professional who formulates and dispenses materia medica to physicians, surgeons and patients — a role now served by a pharmacist and some caregivers....
. From 1890 onwards he traveled around the world. He visited 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...
, the Mediterraneum (Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
), North Africa and the Middle East (Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
, Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
) and painted pictures.
He painted his major works between 1903 and 1909. He had some exhibitions in Paris (1907) and Western Europe. Most of the critics in Western Europe recognized his abilities, art and congeniality, but in the Kingdom of Hungary during his life he was considered to be an eccentric crank
Crank (person)
"Crank" is a pejorative term used for a person who unshakably holds a belief that most of his or her contemporaries consider to be false. A "cranky" belief is so wildly at variance with commonly accepted belief as to be ludicrous...
for several reasons, e. g. for his vegetarianism
Vegetarianism
Vegetarianism encompasses the practice of following plant-based diets , with or without the inclusion of dairy products or eggs, and with the exclusion of meat...
, anti-alcoholism
Teetotalism
Teetotalism refers to either the practice of or the promotion of complete abstinence from alcoholic beverages. A person who practices teetotalism is called a teetotaler or is simply said to be teetotal...
, anti-nicotinism
Abstinence
Abstinence is a voluntary restraint from indulging in bodily activities that are widely experienced as giving pleasure. Most frequently, the term refers to sexual abstinence, or abstention from alcohol or food. The practice can arise from religious prohibitions or practical...
, pacifism
Pacifism
Pacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...
, his latent, but more and more apparent schizophrenia
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social...
and his cloudy, prophet
Prophet
In religion, a prophet, from the Greek word προφήτης profitis meaning "foreteller", is an individual who is claimed to have been contacted by the supernatural or the divine, and serves as an intermediary with humanity, delivering this newfound knowledge from the supernatural entity to other people...
ic writings and pamphlets about his life (Curriculum), genius (The Authority, The Genius) and religious philosophy (The Positivum). Even though later he was acclaimed, during his lifetime Csontváry's visionary, expressionistic style found little understanding. A loner by nature, the master's mental balance was upset by his “failure” impairing his creative power. Little did he know that some years after his death, an entire museum in Pécs
Pécs
Pécs is the fifth largest city of Hungary, located on the slopes of the Mecsek mountains in the south-west of the country, close to its border with Croatia. It is the administrative and economical centre of Baranya county...
, Hungary, would be devoted to his paintings, and that worldwide appreciation of his works would be in constant ascendancy. Many painters, e.g. Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
added a stone to Csontváry's cairn.
He painted more than one hundred pictures, the most famous and emblematic of which is probably Magányos cédrus (The Lonely Cedar). His art connects with post-impressionism and expressionism
Expressionism
Expressionism was a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas...
, but actually he was an autodidact and cannot be classified into an exact style — he regarded himself as one of the "sunway"-painters (this word was created by him). He was one of the most eccentric and most considerable Hungarian painters.
The Kieselbach galery from Budapest,Hungary sold on 15 December 2006 in an auction the most expensive Csontvary painting so far. The in 1902 painted "Meeting of the lovers" or "Randevú" was bought by an unknown customer for more than one million EUR.
A quote
- "I, Tivadar Kosztka , who gave up his prime of youth for the rebirth of the world, accepting the call of the invisible Spirit, had a regular civil job, comfort, wealth then (...) Going to Paris in 1907 I oppositely standed alone in front of millions with only the result of the divine providence, and I beat the vanity of the world hollow, but I haven't killed 10 million people, only sobered them, I haven't made commercials from things, because I didn't care for the pedlar's press; I retired from the world instead, going to the top of the Lebanons, and I painted cedars."
- T., Cs. K.: The Positivum.
External links
- Fine Arts in Hungary
- Short biography
- Csontvary on the Oceanbidge
- Csontvary in Encyclopedia - Britannica Online Encyclopedia
- Galery of Tatras
Tivadar Kosztka Csontváry (ˈtivɒdɒr ˈkostkɒ ˈt͡ʃontvaːri; born 1853 - d. 1919) was a Hungarian painter. He was one of the first Hungarian painters to become well known in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
.
Csontváry was born on 5 July 1853 in Kisszeben
Sabinov
Sabinov is a small town located in the Prešov Region , approximately 20 km from Prešov and 55 km from Košice. The population of Sabinov is 12,378.- History :...
, Sáros County
Sáros county
Sáros was a historic administrative county of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory is presently in northeastern Slovakia...
, Kingdom of Hungary
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...
(today Sabinov
Sabinov
Sabinov is a small town located in the Prešov Region , approximately 20 km from Prešov and 55 km from Košice. The population of Sabinov is 12,378.- History :...
, Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
), and died 20 June 1919 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...
. His ancestors were Poles
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
who settled down in Hungary. Although Csontváry was obsessed with his Magyar roots, he himself grew up speaking Slovak
Slovak language
Slovak , is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Slavic languages .Slovak is the official language of Slovakia, where it is spoken by 5 million people...
mixed with German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
. He was a pharmacist
Pharmacist
Pharmacists are allied health professionals who practice in pharmacy, the field of health sciences focusing on safe and effective medication use...
until his twenties. On a hot sunny afternoon, 13 October 1880, — when he was 27 years old — he experienced a mystic vision. He heard a voice saying "you will be the greatest sunway painter, greater than Raphael
Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino , better known simply as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form and ease of composition and for its visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur...
!" He took journeys around Europe, visited the galleries of the Vatican
Vatican City
Vatican City , or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano , which translates literally as State of the City of the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of...
, then went home to collect money for his journeys working as an apothecary
Apothecary
Apothecary is a historical name for a medical professional who formulates and dispenses materia medica to physicians, surgeons and patients — a role now served by a pharmacist and some caregivers....
. From 1890 onwards he traveled around the world. He visited 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...
, the Mediterraneum (Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
), North Africa and the Middle East (Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
, Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
) and painted pictures.
He painted his major works between 1903 and 1909. He had some exhibitions in Paris (1907) and Western Europe. Most of the critics in Western Europe recognized his abilities, art and congeniality, but in the Kingdom of Hungary during his life he was considered to be an eccentric crank
Crank (person)
"Crank" is a pejorative term used for a person who unshakably holds a belief that most of his or her contemporaries consider to be false. A "cranky" belief is so wildly at variance with commonly accepted belief as to be ludicrous...
for several reasons, e. g. for his vegetarianism
Vegetarianism
Vegetarianism encompasses the practice of following plant-based diets , with or without the inclusion of dairy products or eggs, and with the exclusion of meat...
, anti-alcoholism
Teetotalism
Teetotalism refers to either the practice of or the promotion of complete abstinence from alcoholic beverages. A person who practices teetotalism is called a teetotaler or is simply said to be teetotal...
, anti-nicotinism
Abstinence
Abstinence is a voluntary restraint from indulging in bodily activities that are widely experienced as giving pleasure. Most frequently, the term refers to sexual abstinence, or abstention from alcohol or food. The practice can arise from religious prohibitions or practical...
, pacifism
Pacifism
Pacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...
, his latent, but more and more apparent schizophrenia
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social...
and his cloudy, prophet
Prophet
In religion, a prophet, from the Greek word προφήτης profitis meaning "foreteller", is an individual who is claimed to have been contacted by the supernatural or the divine, and serves as an intermediary with humanity, delivering this newfound knowledge from the supernatural entity to other people...
ic writings and pamphlets about his life (Curriculum), genius (The Authority, The Genius) and religious philosophy (The Positivum). Even though later he was acclaimed, during his lifetime Csontváry's visionary, expressionistic style found little understanding. A loner by nature, the master's mental balance was upset by his “failure” impairing his creative power. Little did he know that some years after his death, an entire museum in Pécs
Pécs
Pécs is the fifth largest city of Hungary, located on the slopes of the Mecsek mountains in the south-west of the country, close to its border with Croatia. It is the administrative and economical centre of Baranya county...
, Hungary, would be devoted to his paintings, and that worldwide appreciation of his works would be in constant ascendancy. Many painters, e.g. Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
added a stone to Csontváry's cairn.
He painted more than one hundred pictures, the most famous and emblematic of which is probably Magányos cédrus (The Lonely Cedar). His art connects with post-impressionism and expressionism
Expressionism
Expressionism was a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas...
, but actually he was an autodidact and cannot be classified into an exact style — he regarded himself as one of the "sunway"-painters (this word was created by him). He was one of the most eccentric and most considerable Hungarian painters.
The Kieselbach galery from Budapest,Hungary sold on 15 December 2006 in an auction the most expensive Csontvary painting so far. The in 1902 painted "Meeting of the lovers" or "Randevú" was bought by an unknown customer for more than one million EUR.
A quote
- "I, Tivadar Kosztka , who gave up his prime of youth for the rebirth of the world, accepting the call of the invisible Spirit, had a regular civil job, comfort, wealth then (...) Going to Paris in 1907 I oppositely standed alone in front of millions with only the result of the divine providence, and I beat the vanity of the world hollow, but I haven't killed 10 million people, only sobered them, I haven't made commercials from things, because I didn't care for the pedlar's press; I retired from the world instead, going to the top of the Lebanons, and I painted cedars."
- T., Cs. K.: The Positivum.
External links
- Fine Arts in Hungary
- Short biography
- Csontvary on the Oceanbidge
- Csontvary in Encyclopedia - Britannica Online Encyclopedia
- Galery of Tatras
Tivadar Kosztka Csontváry (ˈtivɒdɒr ˈkostkɒ ˈt͡ʃontvaːri; born 1853 - d. 1919) was a Hungarian painter. He was one of the first Hungarian painters to become well known in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
.
Csontváry was born on 5 July 1853 in Kisszeben
Sabinov
Sabinov is a small town located in the Prešov Region , approximately 20 km from Prešov and 55 km from Košice. The population of Sabinov is 12,378.- History :...
, Sáros County
Sáros county
Sáros was a historic administrative county of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory is presently in northeastern Slovakia...
, Kingdom of Hungary
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...
(today Sabinov
Sabinov
Sabinov is a small town located in the Prešov Region , approximately 20 km from Prešov and 55 km from Košice. The population of Sabinov is 12,378.- History :...
, Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
), and died 20 June 1919 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...
. His ancestors were Poles
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
who settled down in Hungary. Although Csontváry was obsessed with his Magyar roots, he himself grew up speaking Slovak
Slovak language
Slovak , is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Slavic languages .Slovak is the official language of Slovakia, where it is spoken by 5 million people...
mixed with German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
. He was a pharmacist
Pharmacist
Pharmacists are allied health professionals who practice in pharmacy, the field of health sciences focusing on safe and effective medication use...
until his twenties. On a hot sunny afternoon, 13 October 1880, — when he was 27 years old — he experienced a mystic vision. He heard a voice saying "you will be the greatest sunway painter, greater than Raphael
Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino , better known simply as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form and ease of composition and for its visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur...
!" He took journeys around Europe, visited the galleries of the Vatican
Vatican City
Vatican City , or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano , which translates literally as State of the City of the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of...
, then went home to collect money for his journeys working as an apothecary
Apothecary
Apothecary is a historical name for a medical professional who formulates and dispenses materia medica to physicians, surgeons and patients — a role now served by a pharmacist and some caregivers....
. From 1890 onwards he traveled around the world. He visited 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...
, the Mediterraneum (Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
), North Africa and the Middle East (Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
, Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
) and painted pictures.
He painted his major works between 1903 and 1909. He had some exhibitions in Paris (1907) and Western Europe. Most of the critics in Western Europe recognized his abilities, art and congeniality, but in the Kingdom of Hungary during his life he was considered to be an eccentric crank
Crank (person)
"Crank" is a pejorative term used for a person who unshakably holds a belief that most of his or her contemporaries consider to be false. A "cranky" belief is so wildly at variance with commonly accepted belief as to be ludicrous...
for several reasons, e. g. for his vegetarianism
Vegetarianism
Vegetarianism encompasses the practice of following plant-based diets , with or without the inclusion of dairy products or eggs, and with the exclusion of meat...
, anti-alcoholism
Teetotalism
Teetotalism refers to either the practice of or the promotion of complete abstinence from alcoholic beverages. A person who practices teetotalism is called a teetotaler or is simply said to be teetotal...
, anti-nicotinism
Abstinence
Abstinence is a voluntary restraint from indulging in bodily activities that are widely experienced as giving pleasure. Most frequently, the term refers to sexual abstinence, or abstention from alcohol or food. The practice can arise from religious prohibitions or practical...
, pacifism
Pacifism
Pacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...
, his latent, but more and more apparent schizophrenia
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social...
and his cloudy, prophet
Prophet
In religion, a prophet, from the Greek word προφήτης profitis meaning "foreteller", is an individual who is claimed to have been contacted by the supernatural or the divine, and serves as an intermediary with humanity, delivering this newfound knowledge from the supernatural entity to other people...
ic writings and pamphlets about his life (Curriculum), genius (The Authority, The Genius) and religious philosophy (The Positivum). Even though later he was acclaimed, during his lifetime Csontváry's visionary, expressionistic style found little understanding. A loner by nature, the master's mental balance was upset by his “failure” impairing his creative power. Little did he know that some years after his death, an entire museum in Pécs
Pécs
Pécs is the fifth largest city of Hungary, located on the slopes of the Mecsek mountains in the south-west of the country, close to its border with Croatia. It is the administrative and economical centre of Baranya county...
, Hungary, would be devoted to his paintings, and that worldwide appreciation of his works would be in constant ascendancy. Many painters, e.g. Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
added a stone to Csontváry's cairn.
He painted more than one hundred pictures, the most famous and emblematic of which is probably Magányos cédrus (The Lonely Cedar). His art connects with post-impressionism and expressionism
Expressionism
Expressionism was a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas...
, but actually he was an autodidact and cannot be classified into an exact style — he regarded himself as one of the "sunway"-painters (this word was created by him). He was one of the most eccentric and most considerable Hungarian painters.
The Kieselbach galery from Budapest,Hungary sold on 15 December 2006 in an auction the most expensive Csontvary painting so far. The in 1902 painted "Meeting of the lovers" or "Randevú" was bought by an unknown customer for more than one million EUR.
A quote
- "I, Tivadar Kosztka , who gave up his prime of youth for the rebirth of the world, accepting the call of the invisible Spirit, had a regular civil job, comfort, wealth then (...) Going to Paris in 1907 I oppositely standed alone in front of millions with only the result of the divine providence, and I beat the vanity of the world hollow, but I haven't killed 10 million people, only sobered them, I haven't made commercials from things, because I didn't care for the pedlar's press; I retired from the world instead, going to the top of the Lebanons, and I painted cedars."
- T., Cs. K.: The Positivum.
External links
- Fine Arts in Hungary
- Short biography
- Csontvary on the Oceanbidge
- Csontvary in Encyclopedia - Britannica Online Encyclopedia
- Galery of Tatras