Oil on canvas; 121 x 160 cm.
Baron László Mednyánszky or Ladislaus Josephus Balthasar Eustachius Mednyánszky. Mednyánszky, the painter-philosopher, is one of the most enigmatic figures in the history of Hungarian art. Despite an aristocratic background, he spent most of his life moving around Europe working as an artist. Mednyánszky spent considerable periods in seclusion but mingled with people across society - in the aristocracy, art world, peasantry and army - many of whom became the subjects of his paintings. His most important works depict scenes of nature and poor, working people, particularly from his home region in Kingdom of Hungary. He is also known as a painter of Slovak landscape (Upper Hungary) and Slovak folk. When the First World War broke out in 1914, Mednyánszky was in Budapest. He worked as a war correspondent on the Austro-Hungarian frontlines in Galicia, Serbia and the southern Tirol. In the spring of 1918 he returned to Strážky to recover from war wounds. After spending some time working in Budapest, Mednyánszky died in poor health in the spring of 1919, in Vienna.
Mednyánszky's works were largely in the Impressionist tradition, with influences from Symbolism and Art Nouveau. His works depict landscape scenes of nature, the weather and everyday, poor people such as peasants and workmen. The region of his birth, north-eastern part of the Kingdom of Hungary), part of Austria-Hungary (today Slovakia) was the site and subject of many of his paintings; scenes from the Carpathian Mountains and the Hungarian Plains are numerous. He also painted portraits of his friends and family, and images of soldiers during the First World War whilst working as a war correspondent.
His works are currently displayed in the Slovak National Gallery in Bratislava and Strážky chateau, which was donated to SNG by his niece Margita Czóbel in 1972. A lot of his works are displayed in the Hungarian National Gallery in Budapest as well. A large number of his works were destroyed during the Second World War. In 2004 a New York gallery was host to a show of about 70 19th- and early 20th-century Hungarian paintings, and a few works on paper, from the collection of Nicholas Salgo, a former United States ambassador to Hungary. The exhibition's title, Everywhere a Foreigner and Yet Nowhere a Stranger, was drawn from the diary of the 19th-century Hungarian painter Baron László Mednyánszky.
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