DELI, Antal
(1886, Gerényes - 1960, Szentendre)



Born in Baranya County, Antal Deli first pursued his studies in the town of Pécs for some time, then - there being no other way to put forth his painter's talent - he started to work as an apprentice in house-painting in Dombóvár. From the age of 17 he would earn his bread in Budapest as a house-painter, but he would also spend all his free time in libraries and museums. From 1907 to 1911 he pursued studies in the School of Industrial Drawing in Oroszlán street, then in the Academy of Fine Arts as a student of Károly Ferenczy, between 1911 and 1914. In the summer of 1914 upon the personal invitation of his master and supported by a stipend of the Academy, he worked in Nagybánya (Baia Mare, Romania). This is where he met Rózsi Bacher, another painter, who later became his wife. His studies were interrupted by World War I and he was in active service for four years. He resumed his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in 1918 as a student of István Réti and completed his studies in 1921. As a guest of Count Gyula Batthyány he worked in the colony of artists in Bicske together with other artists. The comprehensive exhibition of the works of the colony of artists was held in the National Salon in 1922. By this time Deli had received the scholarship of the Szinyei Society for the second time, and this helped him to travel to Munich, Germany in the same year. In 1924 he again visited Nagybánya, then organised a joint exhibition with Dávid Jándi and Vince Korda in Kolozsvár (Cluj Napoca, Romania) and Nagyvárad (Oradea, Romania). His works born in the mid-twenties can be regarded as following the neo-classicist movement characterised mainly by István Szőnyi's art. He made study-trips to Paris in 1925 and Italy in 1926.

From the beginning of the thirties Deli visited Szentendre regularly and following the invitation by Jenő Barcsay in 1937, he became a member of the Society of the Painters of Szentendre and settled in Szentendre. In the middle period of his oeuvre spanning from 1937 to 1947/48 the motifs of his landscapes and still-lifes were condensed in a tight construction, and his realm of forms was characterised by a mentality that was akin to that of Barcsay. In the third and last period of his art his works were determined not so much by constructivism, but rather a more relaxed depiction that mixed block-like form creation with the achievements of postimpressionist scenery painting. His pastel and oil paintings that became gradually lighter and more colourful, drew their anecdotal themes from the daily routine of the streets of Szentendre. His works are kept in the Ferenczy Museum of Szentendre as well as in the Hungarian National Gallery and the art collection of the Rippl-Rónai Museum of Kaposvár.



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