Nicholas Hornyansky (Hungarian/Canadian, 1896-1965) ARCA, OSA, CPE, FIAL, ACPS
‘Lewiston Bridge’ [Queenston Heights, Ontario]
aquatint / etching
(image): 4 1/8” high x 5 ½” wide
(frame): 8 3/8” high x 10 3/8” wide
Description: Rare coloured post-expressionist etching titled ‘Lewiston Bridge’ by respected and listed Hungarian Canadian artist, Nicholas Hornyansky (1896-1965). Hornyansky is regarded for picturesque and accurate renderings of historical landmarks.
Shown is a view of the second Queenston-Lewiston Suspension Bridge (1899-1962), from the American side looking towards the Queenston Monument. In 1899 the Falls View Suspension Bridge was dismantled and moved to this location to replace the first Queenston-Lewiston Bridge that was destroyed by wind in 1854.
Coloured in Hornyansky’s trademark use of gradients, in this example from blue, through violet, towards a grey. Squaring the image to the monument are the blossoms and swirling eddies executed in the Japanese taste.
Markings: titled in pencil lower left, “Lewiston Bridge”; signed in pencil lower right, “Hornyansky”
Condition: Vintage, Excellent
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.
Original Description: “The Queenston-Lewiston Bridge / The suspension bridge across the Niagara River below the mountain, spanning the gorge to join Queenston and Lewiston, is one of the most graceful of our bridge structures. Before it has reached this point the river has emerged from the abyss through which it has tossed and tumbled these untold thousands of years. / The life of this bridge, calm and even in the main, has known tribulation. The spring of 1866 had a gigantic ice jam. The guy wires, designed to hold the bridge taut, were fastened in the rocks on either side. Many of these guys were torn from their fastenings or broken off. Came autumn and a terrific gale before repairs had been made. The roadway was broken up, some of the suspenders severed, and the whole structure was left a melancholy wreck dangling in the air. But, for eighty years now, the sturdy bridge has added its grace to the scene and served its uncounted thousands of foot travelers, carriages and automobiles.” / ~ Louis Blake Duff.
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)
