Willy Pogany

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Willy Pogany
Birth name Vilmos Andreas Pogány
Born August 1882
Szeged, Hungary
Died 30 July 1955
Manhattan, New York City
Nationality United States
Field painting
Movement Art Nouveau
Works illustrated books

William Andrew ("Willy") Pogany (born Vilmos Andreas Pogány) (August 1882 – 30 July 1955) was a prolific Hungarian illustrator of children's and other books.

Contents

Background [edit]

Pogany was born in Szeged, Hungary. He studied at Budapest Technical University and in Munich and Paris.[1] Pogany came to America via Paris and London.

Career [edit]

Frontispiece art by Willy Pogány to the book The Wishing-Ring Man by Margaret Widdemer published by Henry Holt and Company, 1917

While in London, he produced his four masterpieces, Samuel Taylor Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1910), Richard Wagner's Tannhauser (1911), Parsifal (1912) and Lohengrin (1913).

In 1918 he illustrated a children's retelling of Homer, The Adventures of Odysseus and the Tale of Troy written by Padraic Colum.

Pogany's best known works consist of illustrations of classic myths and legends done in the Art Nouveau style. He also worked as an art director on several Hollywood films, including Fashions of 1934 and Dames.

Pogany authored three art instruction books: Willy Pogany's Drawing Lessons, Willy Pogany's Oil Painting Lessons, and Willy Pogany's Water Color Lessons, Including Gouache.

Asked how to say his name, he told the Literary Digest that in America it was po-GAH-ny. "However, in my native Hungary this name is pronounced with the accent on the first syllable with a slightly shorter o and the gany is as the French -gagne (the y is silent)": PO-gahn.[2]

Lawsuit [edit]

In his 1952 autobiography Witness, Whittaker Chambers described "Willi Pogany" ("long a scene designer at the Metropolitan Opera House") as the brother of Joseph Pogany.[3]

Willy Pogany sued Chambers for $1 million but lost in court[4] and appeals.[5] According to Time magazine, "A lower court had found that Chambers, in his mistaken identification, had not maliciously implied that Willy was closely associated with 'a Communist leader and spy'," who had been "once (until Stalin liquidated him) Communist Hungary's puppet Commissar of War."[5]

Personal life [edit]

Pogany died in Manhattan, New York City.

Works [edit]

"The Young Witch", Pogany illustration for a 1908 edition of Faust

Pogany's public art appears on walls of the Ringling Mansion in Sarasota, Florida, and in New York City at the El Museo del Barrio theater (1230 Fifth Avenue) and the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre (45th Street).

Pogany published or illustrated the following:

  • Kunos, I. Turkish Fairy Tales Burt 1901
  • Farrow, G. E. The Adventures of a Dodo Unwin 1907
  • Thomas, W. J. The Welsh Fairy Book Unwin 1907
  • Ward, M. A. Milly and Olly Unwin 1907
  • Edgar, M. G. A Treasury of Verse for Little Children Harrap 1908
  • Goethe, J. W. von Faust Hutchinson 1908
  • Dasent, G. W. Norse Wonder Tales Collins 1909
  • Hawthorne, N. Tanglewood Tales Unwin 1909
  • The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam Harrap 1909
  • Coleridge, S. T. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Harrap 1910
  • Gask, L. Folk Tales from Many Lands Harrap 1910
  • Young, G. The Witch s Kitchen Harrap 1910
  • Wagner, R. Tannhauser Harrap 1911
  • Gask, L. The Fairies and the Christmas Child Harrap 1912
  • Wagner, H. Parsifal Harrap 1912
  • Heine, H. Alta Troll Sidgwick 1913
  • Kunos, I. Forty-Four Turkish Fairy Tales Harrap 1913
  • Pogany, W. The Hungarian Fairy Book Unwin 1913
  • Wagner, R. The Tale of Lohengrin Harrap 1913
  • Pogany, W. Children Harrap 1914
  • A Series of Books for Children Harrap 1915
  • More Tales from the Arabian Nights Holt 1915
  • Swift, J. Gulliver s Travels Macmillan 1917
  • Bryant, S. C. Stories to Tell the Little Ones Harrap 1918
  • Colum, P. Adventures of Odysseus Macmillan 1918
  • Olcutt, F. J. Tales of the Persian Genii Harrap 1919
  • Skinner, E. L. Children s Plays Appleton 1919
  • Colum, P. The King of Ireland s Son Harrap 1920
  • The Red Riddinghood - A Panorama Book Holt 1920
  • The Children of Odin Harrap 1922
  • The Adventures of Haroun El Raschid Holt 1923
  • Newman, I. Fairy Flowers Milford 1926
  • Flanders, H. H. Looking Out of Jimmie Dent 1928
  • Carroll, L. Alice s Adventures in Wonderland Dutton 1929
  • Pogany, W. Mother Goose Nelson 1929
  • Anthony, J. Casanova Jones Century 1930
  • Pogany, W. Magyar Fairy Tales Dutton 1930
  • Burton, R. F. The Kasidah of Haji Abdu El-Yezdi McKay 1931
  • Huffard, G. T. My Poetry Book Winston 1934
  • Pushkin, A. The Golden Cockerel Nelson 1938
  • Paula Pogany Bennett, The Art Of Hungarian Cooking 1954
"'How now?' cried a reassuring voice", Pogany illustration for "The Little White Feather", a fairy tale by Lilian Gask

He illustrated more than 150 volumes, including:

(Source: Animation Archives)

References [edit]

  1. ^ Guide to the Willy Pogany papers at the University of Oregon[dead link]
  2. ^ Funk, Charles Earle (1936) What's the Name, Please?. New York: Funk & Wagnalls
  3. ^ [Whittaker] (1952). Witness. Random House. p. 214. ISBN 0-89526-571-0. 
  4. ^ "Newsmakers". TIME. October 27, 1952. 
  5. ^ a b "Newsmakers". TIME. February 14, 1955. 

External links [edit]

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