Nicholas Hornyansky (Hungarian/Canadian, 1896-1965)
‘The DeCew House at DeCew’s Falls’ [Thorold, Ontario]
aquatint / etching, framed
(image): 4 1/8” high x 5 ½” wide
(frame): 8 3/8” high x 10 3/8” wide
Label: “The DeCew House at DeCew’s Falls’ // This house, now owned by the Hydro Electric Power Commission of Ontario and to be made a pioneer museum, has a number of claims to distinction in our history. Here came Laura Secord in the early morning of June 24, 1813, on her mission of warning to Lieut. James Fitzgibbon. He was in command of a troop of mounted volunteers doing patrol and scout duties in frong o fthe British position and had made the DeCew house his headquarters [missing text]. Twenty days earlier old Niagara and Fort George had been [missing text] nightfall the little army was at DeCew’s, the regiments [missing text] fields, the wounded placed in the farm buildings. In the night [missing text] garrisons from Fort Erie and Chippawa. On May 28th the forces disappeared down the road to Burlington. On June 1st came the Americans in pursuit. But retreat ended at Stoney Creek and the war ebbed back to the east. // John DeCew (1766-1855) (spelled also DeCou, DeCow, DeCowe, Decamp, Descow, DeCeu, and DeKoo), a pioneer, patriot, loyalist, came from Vermont in 1788 and was engaged in survey work. He discovered the Falls, which bear his name, on Beaverdams Creek. He decided upon the site for a home. Ownership came to him in this way, as he himself related: “I purchased on man’s right to a hundred acres for an axe and an Indian blanket and another hundred acres for a gold doubloon.” He had as well of course free grants of land because of his status as a Loyalist. He first built a log house but replaced it in 1812 with the present stone house, in its early era the finest home in the area. // In 1800 he was one of the founders of the Niagara Library, the first in Upper Canada. In 1824 he was one of the incorporators of the Welland Canal Company and a director. // Above historical data – Courtesy, L. B Duff”
Markings: titled in pencil lower left, ‘The DeCew House at DeCew’s Falls’; signed in pencil lower right, ‘Hornyansky’; original label verso
Condition: Very Good, Vintage
For Accuracy: a vintage item it may show expected light signs of age. There is some light even toning in the margins; the image is bright and crisp and the title and signature clear. It has been reframed well by a previous owner. 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)
