Vilmos Aba-Novák

Painted circa 1930.

Vilmos Aba Novák was a leading Hungarian painter in between the two world wars, and one of the greatest mural painters in Hungary. He received his training at the College of Fine Arts in Budapest and later in a two-year fellowship in Rome, where he learned to paint in Fresco.

Aba Nováks style combined elements of Expressionism with those of the Italian Novecento. His dynamic compositions and use of bold colour conveyed a sense of the fantastic; the worlds of the village fair and the circus were favourite themes. In his expressive style solid forms construct the painted figures, stain by stain, in between twisting contour lines. Aba Novák received numerous commissions for frescoes from the Hungarian government and from churches throughout Hungary. Throughout his extensive career, the artist exhibited his work around the world and was awarded the jury's Grand Prize at the Paris World Exhibition in 1937 and at the 1940 Venice Biennale.