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Willy Pogany

 
Fairy Tale Companion: Willy Pogány
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Pogány, Willy (1882–1955), Hungarian‐born artist; distinguished painter, illustrator, muralist, architect, stage designer, film art director, sculptor; naturalized US citizen, 1921. Pogány illustrated more than 100 books and was noted for his stylistic variety. While living in London, he produced—designed and executed—what have been regarded as masterpieces: Coleridge's, Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1910) and the Wagnerian trilogy: Tannhäuser (1911), Parsifal (1912), and Lohengrin (1913). An anecdote about Pogány notes that when he was preparing for his departure from London and immigration to America, he illustrated ‘Story of Hiawatha’ (c.1914), an exceptional panoramically designed text. He also did singular illustrations of traditional fairy tales such as ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ and ‘Cinderella’, and provided the artwork for W. Jenkyn Thomas's The Welsh Fairy Book (1907) and Nandor Pogány's Magyar Fairy Tales from Old Hungarian Legends (1930).

— Sharon Scapple

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Frontispiece art by Willy Pogány to the book The Wishing-Ring Man by Margaret Widdemer published by Henry Holt and Company, 1917
"The Young Witch," Pogány illustration for a 1908 edition of Faust

William Andrew ("Willy") Pogany (1882-1955) was a Hungarian prolific illustrator of children's and adult books.

Born Vilmos Andreas Pogany in Szeged, Hungary. He studied at Budapest Technical University and in Munich and Paris.[1] Pogany came to America via Paris and London. 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 rewrite of Homer, The Adventures of Odysseus and the Tale of Troy, retold 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.

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]

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, "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]

Pogany's public art can be seen on the walls of the Ringling Mansion in Sarasota, FL, the theatre of the Museum of the City of New York, and the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre on 45th St in NYC

References

  1. ^ Guide to the Willy Pogany papers at the University of Oregon[dead link]
  2. ^ Charles Earle Funk, What's the Name, Please?, Funk & Wagnalls, 1936.
  3. ^ Chambers, Whittaker (1952). Witness. Random House. pp. p 214. ISBN 0895265710. 
  4. ^ "Newsmakers". TIME. October 27, 1952. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,890408,00.html. 
  5. ^ a b "Newsmakers". TIME. February 14, 1955. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,807023-2,00.html. 

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