DOI issue:
No. 186 (September 1912)
DOI article:Studio-talk
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20778#0338
Studio-Talk
SKETCHES OF LION AND LION CUBS
nasium course. His love of art and of natural
history were displayed when he was still a lad, and
at school he was wont to relieve the drudgery of
lessons by caricaturing his teachers and fellow-
students. From the first he showed a predilection
for drawing apes and monkeys which are, as it
were, caricatures of human beings. His friendship
with Hagenbeck, the well-known German dealer in
wild beasts, gave him special facilities for studying
animals. Discontented with the academic style of
the Vienna school, Imre Simay determined to work
on his own, and, filled with enthusiasm, he used
to frequent the royal menagerie at Schonbrunn.
After a time he submitted the results to the great
animal painter, Professor Zugel, of Munich, who
was so pleased with the work that he admitted the
young artist to his studio.
In Ziigel’s atelier a new
world dawned upon Simay,
who had for the first time
an opportunity of study-
ing the interpretations of
animals by a true master
of form and colour. He
did not, however, remain
long with the Professor,
for he knew full well how
great a mistake it is for
an artist to merge his own
individuality in the style
of another, however great
that other may be. He
returned to his original
studio, the menagerie and
zoological garden. Once
more monkeys and apes
were his chief models, and
in studying and represent-
ing them he quickly ac-
quired a wonderful mastery
of form. He was not con-
tent with drawing them
from the life; he studied
their anatomy also, sup-
plementing his work in
the laboratory by psycho-
logical researches into the
relations of one species
to another, variations of
type, etc. In this way he
fathomed the secrets of
the very souls of his
models, and he has repre-
sented scenes from their
lives never before rendered either in art or litera-
ture, for he has been with them at their birth, in
times of sickness, and at the hour of death.
BY IMRE SIMAY
“ There is nothing more intensely pathetic,” says
Simay, “ than the death of a monkey ”; and no one
can fail to endorse this statement who saw his
picture, The Dying Monkey, at an exhibition of the
Hagenbund some three or four years ago. The
poor animal leans wearily against a wall; his
comrades, who, seated in a semicircle opposite him,
gaze at him with eyes full of sympathy, betray a
dread of death such as is rarely, if ever, shown by
other animals. For monkeys recognise the ap-
proach of the last dread enemy, and when one of
a group dies there will always be found at least one
courageous survivor to close his eyes and lay him
3i5
SKETCHES OF LION AND LION CUBS
nasium course. His love of art and of natural
history were displayed when he was still a lad, and
at school he was wont to relieve the drudgery of
lessons by caricaturing his teachers and fellow-
students. From the first he showed a predilection
for drawing apes and monkeys which are, as it
were, caricatures of human beings. His friendship
with Hagenbeck, the well-known German dealer in
wild beasts, gave him special facilities for studying
animals. Discontented with the academic style of
the Vienna school, Imre Simay determined to work
on his own, and, filled with enthusiasm, he used
to frequent the royal menagerie at Schonbrunn.
After a time he submitted the results to the great
animal painter, Professor Zugel, of Munich, who
was so pleased with the work that he admitted the
young artist to his studio.
In Ziigel’s atelier a new
world dawned upon Simay,
who had for the first time
an opportunity of study-
ing the interpretations of
animals by a true master
of form and colour. He
did not, however, remain
long with the Professor,
for he knew full well how
great a mistake it is for
an artist to merge his own
individuality in the style
of another, however great
that other may be. He
returned to his original
studio, the menagerie and
zoological garden. Once
more monkeys and apes
were his chief models, and
in studying and represent-
ing them he quickly ac-
quired a wonderful mastery
of form. He was not con-
tent with drawing them
from the life; he studied
their anatomy also, sup-
plementing his work in
the laboratory by psycho-
logical researches into the
relations of one species
to another, variations of
type, etc. In this way he
fathomed the secrets of
the very souls of his
models, and he has repre-
sented scenes from their
lives never before rendered either in art or litera-
ture, for he has been with them at their birth, in
times of sickness, and at the hour of death.
BY IMRE SIMAY
“ There is nothing more intensely pathetic,” says
Simay, “ than the death of a monkey ”; and no one
can fail to endorse this statement who saw his
picture, The Dying Monkey, at an exhibition of the
Hagenbund some three or four years ago. The
poor animal leans wearily against a wall; his
comrades, who, seated in a semicircle opposite him,
gaze at him with eyes full of sympathy, betray a
dread of death such as is rarely, if ever, shown by
other animals. For monkeys recognise the ap-
proach of the last dread enemy, and when one of
a group dies there will always be found at least one
courageous survivor to close his eyes and lay him
3i5