International studio (40.1910)

Studio- Talk

this case all savouring of harbour
life. The Austrian-Lloyd has
acquired these, and is having them
printed for use on board the Com-
pany's ships. Kalvach has also-
designed some placards with mari-
time motifs, and these also have
passed into the hands of the same
company.

Josef Koppay, a few of whose
portraits are reproduced here, is a
Hungarian by birth but has re-
sided for many years in Vienna,
where he has gained repute as an.
artist of distinctive merit and great
charm. He is a member of the
Kiinstler-genossenschaft, but there-
has been little opportunity of seeing,
his works at their exhibitions, for
of late years he has practically
avoided.all publicity. This by no^
means implies that the artist has
not been fully occupied. At the
present time his field is America.
He has been there three years, and
has been kept constantly busy
painting distinguished personali-
ties. Already at the beginning of
his career Koppay promised much.
At that time he did little else than
paint the portraits of children,
eugen von miller zu alchholz by josef koppay which were of high artistic value,

full of charm, and showed a keen

painting, but abandoned this for wood-engraving, insight into the character of his juvenile sitters,
which he thought would better express the impres- Later on he took to painting grown-up people,
sions made on him. This young artist sees every- The Emperor sat to him, many others followed
thing with a broad and keen vision, and though suit. In turn he painted every member of the
eager and impulsive in his work, he carries it out Imperial House, and naturally many of the
with a fine artistic feeling. It is, besides, essen- nobility. Queen Victoria heard of him, and com-
tially strong and virile; and his colouring is broad missioned him to paint the well-known portrait
and convincing. In all his works, both in colour of her granddaughter, the Czarina of Russia, then
and monochrome, he shows that although but at just betrothed to the Czai Nicholas. This portrait
the beginning of his career, he possesses the revealed the artist as a man of refined taste and
instincts of the true artist. He is ready to acknow- judgment, and as having a particular gift for the
ledge that he has still much to learn, and, moreover, interpretation of feminine personality. No wonder
has the courage to overcome the difficulties which that sitters flocked to him. There is a certain
lie in his way. Rudolf Kalvach has also executed elegance and chic in his portraits which is distinctly
some charming decorative paintings on wood the artist's own. Even in his portraits of men
which, like his woodcuts, show that a feeling for Koppay shows his right feeling for the decorative
decorative qualities is one of his gifts. Among in dress. The uniform of the magnate with its
other work done by him I should mention an fur, ornaments, ribbons and stars of various orders,
ingenious set of designs for playing cards used in the gala dress and state uniform appeal to him,
the Hungarian game of "Tarock,"the designs in and these he paints with the same intimite and
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