Nicholas Hornyansky (Hungarian/Canadian, 1896-1965) ARCA, OSA, CPE, FIAL, ACPS
‘Navy Hall, Niagara on the Lake’
aquatint
(image): 4 1/8” high x 5 3/8”wide
(frame): 7 ¾” high x 9 ¼” wide
Notes: “In 1765, British naval craftsmen from Fort Niagara erected a barracks on the opposite side of the Niagara River. Over the years, several buildings, known collectively as Navy Hall, evolved into a key military supply facility for British forts on the upper Great Lakes. During the American Revolution, the Provincial Marine wintered at Navy Hall and, in 1792; Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe converted one of the buildings into his residence. The Lieutenant-Governor’s home in the first capital of the Province of Upper Canada, later served as a dining hall for the officers at Fort George. Navy Hall was destroyed by American forces during the War of 1812. After the war, the British rebuilt some of the buildings, of which one still survives today.” (Government of Canada, National Historic Sites, Fort George National Historic Site, Navy Hall)
Markings: titled and signed in margins
Condition: Excellent, Ready for Display
Artist Biography: HORNYANSKY, Nicholas (Hungarian, Canadian, 1896-1965) ARCA, OSA, CPE, FIAL, ACPS. Born in Budapest, Hungary he worked as a colour mixer in the printing office of his father by the age of 12. STUDIED: Academy of Fine Arts, Budapest, under Prof. Ballo (portrait painting) and Prof. Pasteiner (aesthetics); Graduate Studies in Vienna, Munich, Antwerp and Paris; Simultaneous Colour aquating with Sagnelonge, Etching under Aba-Novak; edition studio in Brussels. INFLUENCES: Van Eyck; Breughel (The Younger); El Greco; Diego Rivera. WORKED: Belgium as an accomplished portrait painter; As part of the School of Hens with Franz Hens doing landscape painting; Worked with Franz henz. EXHIBITED: Grand Salon of Budapest (at age 16); London as a Portrait Painter; teacher Ontario College of Art (1945-1958); Kitchener Waterloo Art Gallery (1967); Lionel Clarke Galleries Toronto (1967); The Tom Thomson Memorial Gallery and Museum of Fine Art, Owen Sound, Ontario (1968); California Printmakers; Philadelphia Society of Etchers; Northwest Printmakers (Seattle); American Academy of Design; Prairie Printmakers (Kansas); Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art; Society of American Etchers (New York); Souther Printmakers (Mount Airy); and the American Colour Print Society of Philadelphia.. COLLECTIONS: National Gallery of Canada; Royal Ontario Museum; National Print Collection, Library of Congress; New Mexico Museum (Santa Fe); Pennsylvania Museum of Art (Philadelphia); Musee Plantyn (Antqerp); Hart House, U of T; The John Ross Robertson Collection, Toronto Public Library. Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp; Museum Modene, Ghent, Antwerp; Dowage Queen Elizabeth, Belgium; Govenment Collection, London, England; Rothschild Collection, Trink Castle; Exhibited: Toronto (1929); Royal Canadian Academy; Ontario Society of Artists; Society of Canadian Painter-Etchers and Engravers (1939 onwards); ASSOCIATIONS: Associate Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (1943); Society of Canadian Painter-Etchers & Engravers (Pres. 194301958); American Color Print Society (Philadelphia), and the Ontario Society of Artists, Life Fellow, International Instutute of Arts and Letters. AWARDS: “Fifty Prints Of the Year,” American Federation of Art (1932, 1933); The G. A. Reid Silver Memorial Award (1955); Sterling Trust’s First Purchase Award (CPE); E. A. Klein First Purchase Award (Philadelphia)
