János Mattis-Teutsch | |
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| Born | (1884-08-13)13 August 1884 |
| Died | 17 March 1960(1960-03-17) (aged 76) |
| Education | Franz Stuck |
| Known for | painting, sculpture, linocut |
| Notable work | Seelenblumen |
| Movement | Post-Impressionism Fauvism Expressionism Abstract art Baia Mare School Surrealism Socialist realism |
János Mattis-Teutsch, also spelledMáttis-Teutsch andMátis-Teutsch[1] ([ˈjaːnoʃˈmɒtːiʃˈtʰɔʏ̯t͡ʃ]; 13 August 1884 – 17 March 1960) was aRomanian painter, sculptor, graphic artist, art critic, and poet. Best known for hisSeelenblumen ("Soulflowers") cycle of paintings, he was an important contributor to the development ofmodern art andavant-garde trends inside Romania (where he spent the larger part of his life). He was the grandfather of the artistWaldemar Mattis-Teutsch.
He was born in theTransylvanian city ofBrassó (Braşov), then part of theKingdom of Hungary withinAustria-Hungary, now part of Romania. He was the son of János Mátis, anethnic Hungarian ofSzékely origins, and his wife, theSaxon Josefin Schneider.[2] After Mátis died during his son's early years, Josefin married the Saxon Friedrich Teutsch, who adopted János.[3] He completed primary school in Hungarian, and then attended the German-language Honterus Secondary School; between 1901 and 1903, he studied sculpture at the National Hungarian Royal School for Applied Arts inBudapest, and then left forMunich, where he attended theRoyal Academy of Fine Arts, andParis — during the period, Mattis-Teutsch appears to have moved fromArt Nouveau toPost-Impressionist andFauvist themes, and eventually embracedDie Brücke andDer Blaue Reiter ideas.[4]
Soon after his return from France in 1908, Mattis-Teutsch began teaching at the State Woodwork School, and replacedJános Kupcsay as professor ("scholar master") in 1910.[3] He married Gisella Borsos in 1909 (their wedding caused scandal, since she had broken off her engagement to someone else).[3] A member of the artists' group known as theSebastian Hann Verein, keeping close contacts with local artists such asFriedrich Miess,Gusztáv Kollár,Gyula Tutschek,Hermann Morres,Fritz Kimmel, andHans Eder, he exhibited his first sculptures during a joint show inPest (1910), and then in aGyula Vastagh-organized exhibit in his native town (1914).[5]
He became an acquaintance ofLajos Kassák, and publishedlinocut drawings in the modern art magazineMA (Tájkép fával – "Landscape with a Tree", 1917;Kompozíció két alakkal – "Composition with Two Figures", 1919),[6] as well as contributing to the joint exhibits the latter organized, before being showcased inVienna and establishing connections withHerwarth Walden and hisExpressionist group aroundDer Sturm — eventually, he adopted the style, continuing to be directly influenced by theabstract art ofWassily Kandinsky andKazimir Malevich, and moving towards a non-figurative outlook.[7] His success was contrasted by an emotional crisis caused by the death of his wife in 1916; he remarried with Marie Conrad, anAustrian woman, in 1919.[8]
Present inBudapest at the time of theAster Revolution, Mattis-Teutsch probably witnessed first hand the establishment of theHungarian Soviet Republic; despite conflicting accounts and hissocialist creed, it seems that he was not involved in the pro-Bolshevik movement.[3] He remained a committedanti-Fascist, and later spoke out against the influence ofNazism inside the Transylvanian Saxon community (seeGerman Party (Romania)).[3]
He was present in Transylvania by mid-1919, and organized several exhibitions; as the region became part of theRomanian Kingdom and, for a while, his teaching position was being reconsidered by the new authorities, he planned to relocate to Germany, before deciding to remain present in Romanian artistic life, and to regularly participate in art shows inBucharest and throughout Transylvania.[3] Active inside theContimporanul group in Bucharest (withVictor Brauner,M. H. Maxy, andMarcel Janco) and withDas Ziel in Braşov,[9] Mattis-Teutsch was immediately hailed by modernist critics (includingNicolae Tonitza,Otto Bratskoven,Sigmund Maur,Lucian Blaga,Károly Kós,Eugen Jebeleanu, andErnő Ligeti).[10] His works were presented at the 1924 international exhibition organized byContimporanul, alongside those ofKurt Schwitters,Paul Klee,Constantin Brâncuși (whom Mattis-Teutsch had already met in person),[11]Hans Arp, Janco, Brauner, and Maxy.
Later on, he returned to figurative art, an interest which he fused with his socialist beliefs in an attempt to create a socially-aware art (as defined by hisKunstideologie, "Ideology of Painting", a magazine he edited in Braşov).[12] After theContimporanul moment, he joined the editorial staff ofIntegral, and defined his new style, considered to be close toSurrealism, as "constructiverealism".[13] Although he was among the painters who spent summers inBaia Mare (seeBaia Mare School), Mattis-Teutsch never adapted his themes to thelandscape art encouraged by the group, and remained mainly interested in social themes.[3]
The 1933 death of his daughter and political factors caused him to cease work until the 1940s.[14] At the end ofWorld War II, with the onset of theSoviet occupation and, eventually, the establishment of thecommunist regime, his earlier work was subject topropaganda attacks while he attempted to adapt to the themes ofSocialist realism,[3] creating portraits ofJoseph Stalin andStakhanovite scenes featuring bricklayers and miners.[14]
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