Ervin Breslauer-Bossányi

ERVIN BOSSANYI, Artist and Visionary, 1891-1975

He was born in 1891 into a liberal Jewish family in the then south Hungarian village of Regöce (later Rigica or Ridica in Serbia), as a child moved with his parents and older brother Kàroly (Charles) to his family's main centre, the provincial Hungarian town and Danube River port of Baja, and later on to Budapest where he studied at the School of Applied Art. He was awarded a major travelling scholarship to continue studies abroad between the years 1910-1913.

In early 1914 he returned to Paris to begin working as a professional artist, was interned as an 'enemy alien' in Brittany and later Normandy in 1915 until 1919. He then returned to Hungary in June 1919 but fled to Lübeck, Germany, in October because of the rise of Horthy fascism in his homeland. Then began what was to become a successful artistic career in Lübeck and later in Hamburg.

He married Wilma Maasz, a pianist, in 1921 and son, Jo, (the only child) was born in 1924. The family moved from Lübeck to Hamburg late in 1929.

In his English period he concentrated on stained glass and painting. A book about his life and work is currently in preparation for publication. Please contact us if you wish to keep informed of publication.

www.bossanyi.com

Arts & Entertainment : Picks Ervin Bossanyi By Jessica Dawson • September 3, 1999 www.Washingtoncitypaper.com

Tired of typical cathedral stained-glass windows, in which drugged-looking dreamy-eyed angels sport perfect Roman noses? Look no further than Washington National Cathedral for a refreshing dose of realism. There, two windows by Jewish artist Ervin Bossanyi boast figures that register awkwardness and need, not haughty idealism. No doubt the artist's struggles lent his work its honesty: After being declared enemy aliens by the French, both Bossanyi and his brother were interned in a prison camp for several years, and their mother was imprisoned and killed at Auschwitz. Although the artist's windows fill the cathedrals and synagogues of South Africa and the United Kingdom, the only examples of his work in the United States reside at the National Cathedral. Bossanyi's son, Jo Bossanyi, discusses these works and others in a slide-illustrated lecture on his father's career at 7:30 p.m. at Washington National Cathedral's Perry Auditorium, Massachusetts & Wisconsin Avenues NW. $6. For reservations call (202) 537-5700. (Jessica Dawson)