József Rippl-Rónai (Kaposvár 1861 - Kaposvár 1927) - Lot 194

József Rippl-Rónai (Kaposvár 1861 - Kaposvár 1927) József Rippl-Rónai is one of Hungary's most illustrious painters, frequently referred to as the "Hungarian Nabi". He first studied pharmacy at the Budapest University of Sciences, graduating in 1881, before becoming tutor to the children of Count Ödön Zichy. From 1884, he studied at the Munich Academy with Johann Caspar Herterich (1843-1905) and Wilhelm Von Diez (1839-1907), attending classes in "live models" and drawing. In 1887, József Rippl-Rónai settled in the world capital of the arts, having been awarded a state scholarship and attracted by the artistic effervescence of Paris. From 1887 onwards, he worked as an assistant in the Paris studio of the master Mihály Munkácsy, and in 1888 spent some time at the Académie Julian under the tutelage of Bouguereau and Robert-Fleury. During these early years in Paris, Rónai's art drew on the artistic universe of his master Munkácsy, while asserting a more modern and decorative personal style. In the summer of 1889, Rippl-Rónai was in Pont-Aven, where he met Paul Gauguin, whose artistic modernity fascinated him. In 1890, Rippl-Rónai broke away from Munkácsy and his circle, convinced that the future of his art lay in modernity. During this period, he made friends with Aristide Maillol and Édouard Vuillard. Rippl-Rónai also admired artists such as Fernand Khnopff, Gustave Klimt and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. In his own compositions, he adopted a chromatic palette of warm, vivid tones, with particular attention to the transcription of light. In 1892, Rippl-Rónai organized his first Parisian exhibition in the garden pavilion of the Palais Galliera, then the headquarters of the Austrian-Hungarian embassy in Paris. The event was a resounding success, with his works entering important Parisian and Hungarian collections. In 1894, his painting Ma grand-mère, exhibited at the Salon du Champs de Mars, brought him to the attention of the Nabis group, and he was invited to join. During this period, he frequented Gauguin's Paris studio. Present at the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris, Rippl-Rónai was awarded the silver medal for his embroidery designs. In 1900, after a period of crisis during which he sought to renew his style and subjects, he returned to his native Hungary. By 1902, his return to Kaposvár marked the most intense period of his career, reflecting his personal creativity and the artistic input he had acquired in France through contact with the Nabis and artists such as Pierre Bonnard, Édouard Vuillard and Aristide Maillol. His style was characterized by vivid colors, simplified contours and a taste for the decorative. He gradually developed his own technique, which he called "corn grain", revealing forms with pronounced, stylized volumes, covered with a thick layer of paint in a decorative style. Rippl-Rónai was an active participant in the artistic life of his time. He exhibited at Parisian Salons such as the Salon des Artistes Français from 1889, then at the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts from 1891. He was also a regular participant in the Hungarian National Salon in Budapest (Nemzeti Szalon). He had numerous solo exhibitions, including a retrospective at the Könyves Kálmán Salon in Budapest in 1906, at the Galerie Ernst in 1911 and at the National Gallery of Modern Art in Munich in 1912. József Rippl-Rónai died in 1927, aged 66, in his hometown of Kaposvar, Hungary. Today, his works can be found in museums such as the Hungarian National Gallery in Budapest, the Rippl-Rónai Gallery in Kaposvár, the Musée d'Orsay in Paris and the Musée Maurice Denis in Saint-Germain-en-Laye.