As a result of the war many artists left the colony, moved out of the town and most of them never returned after the war. Those who remained had to find an effective strategy to maintain the colony and the art school, belonging now to a minority. János Thorma, the only leader of the colony who didn't leave town, opened the school in the spring of 1919 with seven disciples. He decided to admit the students of the Academy of Fine Arts of Bucharest for summer practice. This way almost thirty students arrived from the capital, Iaşi and Chişinău in July. In consequence, the documents of the colony record the presence of fourty-eight pupils at the end of the year, this way the art school was saved.
The good relationship with the students of the Bucharest Academy was very significant because it helped to continue the undisturbed activities of the school for many years. The education of the Romanian students brought with itself the indispensable ethical acknowledgement and benevolence for the whole institution. The local intellectuals, the leaders of the town nursed a kind of pride for the celebrity of Nagybánya, the art colony. Their attitude played an important role when things turned out so luckily.
Besides his efforts to bring the colony back to life, János Thorma succeeded in legalizing the main regulations of the NPA (Nagybánya Painters' Association). The fact that the Romanian authorities accepted this regulation assured the practical and legal autonomy of the association.
Together with these concerns, it intended to assure the continuity of the classical traditions of Nagybánya. in his pedagogical methods. He wanted to provide his students with a kind of academical training. All applicants were free to inscribe. There was no entrance exam. There were no theoretical classes and the students didn't get a diploma at the end. The training had a practical character. Thorma found that a punctual, thorough, self-assured command of drawing was very important. In his pedagogical methods he made use of what he learned from Bertalan Székely, his own experiences in Munich and Paris and the traditions of the colony. From the human and ethical point of view he felt that the honest and deep understanding of the bond existing between the nature and the human soul and the loving study of nature were essential. This principle composed even as an art-theoretical theorem guided his pedagogical activities his whole life. He wanted to initiate his students into his pantheistic view of life. He encouraged them to convey the colorfulness of their environment, the grandeur of nature as authentically as possible, making use of the possibilities of tone painting.
Thorma's charismatic character had a great influence on the set of values and formal methods of expression of the younger generation. The following works testify this: János Thorma: In Gloomy Wheather, János Krizsán: Village in Winter, Dávid Jándi: View of Nagybánya, Béla Balla: In the Mountains of Nagybánya, Károly Patkó: View of Nagybánya. Many works of art that expressed the same spirituality were created in the decades after these.