Full Name Gyula Tornai Movement Academic Art | Name Gyula Tornai Died 1928 | |
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Gyula Tornai (1861 in Görgő – 1928 in Budapest) was a Hungarian painter, now featured in the Hungarian National Gallery. He was a noted painter in the Orientalist genre.
Education and career
Tornai was born in Görgö, Hungary in 1861. He received his art education at academies in Vienna, Munich and at Benczúr's Studios in Budapest. His initial paintings were pictures of popular themes such as the Good Fat, Camelian Lady. Following his travels to Spain, Algeria, Morocco and India he turned to more exotic themes and painted works depicting street life, merchants, musicians and harems. He lived in Tangiers for a year and in 1900, he exhibited pictures in the Exposition Universelle in Paris to great acclaim, winning the bronze medal. In 1904, he sold many of his works to raise money for further travel. In 1905, he travelled to Far-East where he continued his interest in Orientalist themes, painting the Geisha, The Geisha House and the Samurai Warrior amongst other paintings. In 1907 he was exhibited in Paris and London; in 1909 at Budapest in the Műcsarnok; in 1917 at the National Salon. In 1929, the auction hall organized an exhibition of legacies from his works.
His paintings are noted for their irony, humour and wit. For instance, his painting The Connoisseurs features a group of locals, possibly Berbers, gathered in the artist's studio critically examining a painting of Oriental men. These men were probably the subject of the painting.