untitled (Portrait of a man)
n.d. [ca. 1890], oil on canvas, 50 x 40 cm., LR: "Bihari S. Jani barátomnak szeretettel" [“To my friend Jani, with affection, S. Bihari”]
Beginning as a photographer, Bihari studied with the academic painter Bertalan Székely in Budapest. Passing through the Viennese and Munich academies, he moved on to Paris in 1883 to study with J. P. Laurens at the Académie Julian. He co-founded an art school in Budapest in 1890, and the Szolnok Artist’ Colony in 1900, where he frequently worked after 1884. Bihari specialized in genre painting, particularly in depicting the lives of the small-town peasantry and gentry. His works were popular during the fin-de-siècle. In this portrait, we see the likeness of a rural gentleman in a pensive pose that suggests friendly intimacy between artist and sitter. (OB)
Provenance:
Budapest, BÁV auction 68, Dec. 1985, lot 12.