Evelyn Domján

EVELYN DOMJÁN

ART IS MY LIFE

Evelyn Domján
Evelyn Domján

EVELYN DOMJÁN was born in Budapest, Hungary. Although educated in a Latin School, she absorbed the language of art and the love for it at home, where she was brought up in the European intellectual middle-class tradition of music, literature, foreign languages and the arts since her birth. Already at the age of six she won a drawing competition. When graduating at Mária Terézia Latin School she won the first prize of graduating students’ nation-wide competition of drawing and painting.

She attended Jassik Álmos school of design. After that she studied Graphic Arts at the Hungarian Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest. Her illustrations were published in books and her paintings of flowers as picture postcards. As soon as she could walk she was taken to museums, and it was a pleasure for her to look at art created by others to the point of ecstasy. This is how she fell in love with the color compositions of an artist long before they met and with whom she was to share her destiny.

“Summer art colony of the Academy of Fine Arts; a large garden, shady trees, nude on the grass, artists, students with easel around it… a break, students relaxing, sitting on the grass, conversation about a long ago exhibit Spiritual Arts at the Nemzeti Szalon; I start to talk about the pictures, the dark blue-black clouds or weaves, the pale white and rose flowering trees or clouds at sunrise (my childhood dream) – the artist, who painted these, is just behind me. I remembered the exhibition, I kept the catalogue, I never thought to see the artist: Domján. I turned around – a man, blue eyes, smiling – it was like lightning from the clear sky – that second my life turned around, there was no question, it was a clear picture of my destiny. Like a tower of cards, my whole life collapsed – nothing left; friends, parties, dance, coffee houses, theater, high fashion; all blown away, nothing left but the arts… and the arts filled up every hour, every minute of my life and all my thoughts and desires, it had to be a total commitment and fulfillment…”  … and she became the wife of József Domján, mother of their three children and life-long collaborator in the arts.

Birds, butterflies, animals and people, fish and sea, flowers and gardens, the lake and the forest in all seasons, folk art… Her artistry embraces a wide variety: paintings, drawings, etchings, woodcuts, wall hangings, painted furniture art, painted room walls, wood sculpture, bead embroidery, mirror embroidery (shisha) of India, creation of exquisite Hungarian headdresses (Párta).

Evelyn Domján is the author of several books, these she designed and illustrated with her woodcuts or drawings. Her books include Eternal Wool, the history of spinning, weaving, tapestry; Edge of Paradise, the story of a lost folk-art motif; her book Faragott képek (Wood-carved Images) won first prize in Hungary and was published in Budapest. It tells the life of József Domján. Her latest book Pavologia is a celebration of peacocks in the history of arts, culture and nature East and West.

Her family originated in Transylvania. In her early life she spent summers there with the peasants, learning by living their way of life and art. Later she returned to the villages as an art student painting peasants and the landscape while continuing to participate in their lives, in the turning of the hay, in the harvest of beans and grapes. At the same time she was also collecting folk motifs from carved door-posts, embroideries, and painted wedding chests. For years, she has been deeply concerned that the peasants’ art will vanish with their way of life. The motifs she has collected have become part of her artistic imagination and her remembrance of them is as inexhaustible as her love of art. Evelyn Domján painted every door of her home, walls of built in closets, chests, drawers, mirror frames and whole rooms, and explosion of color, with deer, birds, trees of life. The wide double doors of the front entrance greet the visitor with pairs of deer, cocks and birds. When the doors open, they reveal an enchanted garden with five feet tall peacocks, and a dark purple-blue night sky. Through her extensive research of folk art and craft traditions she is aware of the universality and flexibility of folk art, and that one group of people can speak to and affect another. She is able to assimilate in her work the art of an East Carpathian Hungarian village with the imagery from around the world.

In 1983 there was an extraordinary PÁRTA exhibition at the American Hungarian Museum of Passaic made possible through a grant by the National Endowment for the Arts. Her illustrated book PÁRTA the Crown Jewels of the VillageHungarian Folk Art Coronetspublished by the Museum, complemented this unique exhibit. The 21 beaded Coronets, Crown Jewels of the Village created by Evelyn Domján demonstrated her deep knowledge of Hungarian folk culture and remarkable skill of bead-work.

Together with the beautiful Pártas Domján also shared her rare collection of Hungarian folk costumes with the public.

In 1988, she exhibited with CITY FOLK – presented by the Museum of American Folk Art, New York City – her beautiful creations of painted Hungarian peasant furniture among others. Many other exhibits followed, always astonishing the public with the creativity and great variety of her artwork.

She is an excellent lecturer in the field of Hungarian folk art, as well as Far Eastern and Universal art. The invitations to her lectures, as well as her published articles are always illustrated with her imaginative drawings. She traveled extensively in Europe and Asia where she absorbed the art of many cultures. She gladly and generously shares her knowledge with the interested public. “While Domján was permitted to travel with his exhibitions (before 1956) I strictly was not; I was a prisoner of Hungary; Vienna was just next door and my mother and I were used to go there several times a year… I could not got to Vienna, nor to Italy, the Adriatic, and I had that pain in my heart I may never see the sea again in my life…

The South Seas were forgotten and not in my wildest dreams would I have thought, I could ever reach there in this lifetime. Today I am packing to fly to TAHITI… later to Australia. All of Europe, repeated long stays in Italy, Greece, India, Turkey, Burma, Siam, Java, Bali. I was so ignorant – I did not even know New Guinea was a colony of Australia till recently… then there was also China, Hangchow and Gulin, Hong Kong and Singapore, just names before, now the very personal images and experiences added to it … and now Tahiti and Gauguin… from the snow covered forest into the heat and warm lagoons…” Yes, Evelyn Domján has much to share… And where or what is the source of her infinite inspiration and strength?

“Now I am alone in the big house, big garden, the forest. If flowers react to words, plants have a conversation – I feel the earth is alive, many ancient cults worshiped mother earth … so I feel the color and perfume of flowers, even if nobody sees them, and the colorful feathers and song of birds in the

Rain forest, even if unseen, unheard, makes the earth happy; and so the true artist at work, creates an atmosphere, a vibrations, the art work, even if never seen, makes the earth smile…

Golden light falls on the garden, flowers light up like the precious jewel pieces of glass at Chartres Cathedral… the garden – the foliage of the changing forest – the art work – another vernissage – the widening circle of friends and the art work – I drink the pleasure of life…

The moment of recognition – like love at first sight – a color, a line, a shape in the garden, in the landscape, an inner whispering light – this is it… the future art work; the thing I want to do… that excitement, and the desire to keep it… while finding the right art material… and the effort to realize the dream… not to let it fade… keep the flame during the routine work…

It is not really the finished work of art that is important, but this vibration, this aura of creativity, this inner flame, that shines like stars do in the night sky – how very important for the Earth and humanity… the art work, on exhibit or not – I don’t care – wherever it is if it is the true creation it will radiate this spirit of creation…

Like arrows, sun gold finches dart from the dark… then gold dots slowly waltz across the tall trees; this time it is autumn leaves… a wind and a shower of gold and orange leaves… the forest turns brilliant in colors, then shades of gray… A most magnificent ruby in emerald and sparkling diamonds – a cardinal on the pine branch in the snow…”

The American Hungarian Museum is proud to present (1999) her latest creations: BOOK ART. It is not new art, but a new form to present art. It breaks away from the stiff traditional way of framing and hanging artwork. The miniature and monumental, etchings, paintings, woodcuts are displayed in book form, easily transported and exhibited on table tops, floor and any flat surface available. We are grateful that she is sharing with us her excitement for beauty and color through her art.

 

Emese Kerkay

American Hungarian Museum, No. 65, 1999

Evelyn Domján at work in her Tuxedo Park, NY Studio, surrounded by her artwork, 2008
Evelyn Domján at work in her Tuxedo Park, NY Studio, surrounded by her artwork, 2008