Béla Czene (Hungarian, 1911-1999)

Béla Czene (Hungarian, 1911-1999)

Reclining Female Nude

Oil on Canvas Laid onto Board

• Signed and indistinctly dated lower right.
• Painting - 50cm x 40cm
• Frame - 60cm x 50cm

Notes

A very fine early example of the work of important Hungarian artist Béla Czene.  The painting is indistinctly dated lower right, possibly '1930' when the artist was studying under Gyula Rudnay and with the present painting showing Gyula Rudnay's influence.  Signed lower right.

Condition

In very fine condition.  The canvas laid onto board.  Clean, highly attractive, well framed and ready to hang.

Artist Information

Béla Czene was a Hungarian painter. Between 1930 and 1933, Béla Czene attended the Hungarian College of Fine Arts, where his master was Gyula Rudnay. He has been exhibiting since 1932. In his style, he found the direction of the Roman school early, which was further helped by the fact that he was able to stay in Rome in 1938–1939, after winning a scholarship from the Collegium Hungaricum in Rome at the suggestion of Tibor Gerevich. In his picturesque style, he became increasingly attached to the Renaissance classical tradition, including the art of Leonardo da Vinci and Domenico Ghirlandaio, as well as Greco-Roman traditions. After the Second World War, his attachment to the Roman school loosened, and he drew the themes of his paintings painted with characteristic techniques from ordinary life. After that, he was a continuously exhibiting artist, even in the 1990s.  His art was accompanied by many awards: in 1937 he won the Youth Prize of the National Hungarian Fine Arts Society, in 1942 he received the Ede Balló Prize for his painting “Hunor and Hungarian”, and in 1943 he received the Ferenc József Foundation Prize in Budapest. After the war, in 1948, the prize for the fresco competition of the Ministry of Public Education, and in 1953, the prize He won the award of the Ministry of Folk Culture at the Hungarian Fine Arts Exhibition.  His wife Erzsébet Hikády (1911–2008), his son Gábor Czene (1948–) and his grandson Márta Czene (1982–) are also painters.