Horse and Rider by Ödön Márffy

Provenance:
Private Collection, Toronto

Born in Budapest in 1878, Odön Márffy’s artistic career began under the influence of József Rippl-Rónai, an acclaimed Hungarian artist who painted in the modern French Style. As a result, Márffy set off for Paris where he stuided at the Académie Julien and later at the École des Beaux Arts. Back in Budapest Márffy became a member of a group of artists, who exhibited under the name The Eight, they included Róbert Berény, Deszsö Czigány, Béla Czóbel, Károly Kernstok, Dezsö Orbán, Bertalan Pór and Lajos Tihanyi. They were connected to post-Impressionism and painted in the style of Paul Cezanne and Henri Matisse. Márffy’s work was extremely popular, and he exhibited regularly both in Hungary and internationally.

In “Horse and Rider”, a rigorous brushstroke and more subdued pastel palette has replaced his earlier bright fauvist colours and compositions. There are still some of those early fauve influences in this work, but he has taken a more expressive dynamic approach to the composition, as the horse and rider appear to float through the landscape.