József Domján

JÓZSEF DOMJÁN

1907-1992

József Domján
József Domján

MASTER OF THE COLOR WOODCUT

József Domján’s (Budapest 1907 – Tuxedo Park 1992) eventful life was full of success and difficulties. As the oldest of 12 children of a poor family he had to work as an apprentice in a machine foundry to help support them at the age of 14. Out of work during the Depression, he wandered through Austria, Italy, Switzerland, France and Germany. During his walk of 10,000 miles he became familiar with the art expressions of Western Civilization. It was then that he decided to dedicate his life to art. Upon returning to Hungary, for a few years he was leading the life of a hermit in the Bakony Forest, where he started to work in pastels. In 1935 he became a student at the Royal Academy of Fine Art in Budapest on scholarship, and six years later he was already a professor..

In 1934 at the Spiritual Art Exhibition in Budapest he caught attention with his ‘lyrical abstract clouds of color’. Evelyn, an art student, was fascinated with his unique use of color. She became his wife, mother of three children, manager, and lifelong artistic colleague and collaborator.

Master Domján, however, obtained international fame with his color woodcuts. He gave this age-old art new life by using oils in the complex technique of overprinting. As many as 21 different colors were sometimes used and eight wood-blocks for one image, giving it a three dimensional texture and depth of color. In 1955 on an exhibition tour in China he was awarded as the first Westerner with the title of “Master of the Color Woodcut” for his accomplishments in this field. This title is given only every 100 years as the greatest art honor in China.

His art works show how deep his roots are based in the Hungarian soil and Hungarian folk art. His woodcuts are filled with Hungarian folk motifs, built into modern designs, giving a permanent place for Hungarian images in the world of fine art.

As an artist he suffered three major catastrophes, when he lost everything and had to start all over again. In 1945 his studio, filled with his art, was bombed. In 1956 he left Hungary and everything behind after the Revolution. He came to the United States in 1957, built a studio and home in Tuxedo Park, which burnt down to a rubble in 1970. He lost 2 million dollars worth of artwork and all his family’s possessions. But he did not give up. He adopted the phoenix bird as a new motif and said: “I can die or live, I choose to live, to create, to rise like the phoenix bird from the ashes once more.” Afterwards his works became even more fascinating.

During his life he had more than 500 one-man shows around the world, received many awards, illustrated 40 books, designed tapestries and Christmas ornaments, which were sold at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Over 175 museums and private collections are proud owners of his works, and a museum in Sárospatak, Hungary bears his name.

The Master left us to return to the Bakony Forest in Hungary but his spirit, and dreams carved in wood, will stay with us forever.*.

 

Emese Kerkay

American Hungarian Museum, No 25, 1994

József Domján observing a woodcut
József Domján observing a woodcut