chronology

1891       born in Kemenesszentpéter in Vas County as the third son of a manorial overseer.
Among his brothers and sisters were novelist and journalist Margit (Horváth) Bozzay (1893–1942)
and agricultural writer László Jobbaházi Horváth (1897–1974)

1908…1909       1911…1914       a student of Imre Réti, Aladár Edvi Illés and László Hegedűs
at the Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest

1914…1915       studies under János Thorma at the Nagybánya artists’ colony

1915       conscripted into the army. Goes to Vienna, where he is released from military service because of a bad leg

1916…1920       art teacher in Zombor. Following the collapse of the Austro–Hungarian monarchy,
leaving his pictures and everything he has behind and risking his health, defects from Serbia

1921       received a teacher appointment in the principal secondary school in Sopron.
Practically speaking, this is when career as art teacher and fine artist truly begins.
Switches from oils to watercolours, becomes genre-creating master in watercolours over the following decade,
gains national recognition

1921       Old Man (watercolour)       Esterházy Prize
1929       Farewell (watercolour)       Izor Halmos Prize
1928       Interior of St. Michael’s church in Sopron (watercolour)       Budapest Capital City Prize
1930       Farewell (charcoal drawing)       State Graphics Prize

1930       medical treatment and study in Germany.
Encounters the works of Wilhelm Leibl, the great artistic and moral icon

1931       Motherhood (watercolour)       St. George Guild Prize

1933       opens atelier in Sopron’s farming quarter,
after which he paints his most beautiful watercolour nudes and genre paintings

1933       Man with a Hoe (watercolour)       Transdanubian Art Exhibition Gold Medal

1933       marries Hermin Mühl (1906–1981) of Sopron, the sister of his friends Gusztáv (Mühl) Mende (1899–1964)
and Aladár Mühl (1901–1981). A daughter and a son are born of this marriage

1934       Bathing (watercolour)       Szilárd Rökk Prize.
Horváth is attacked in the press for this work, and a scandal ensues
1934       In Front of a Mirror (No. 11, watercolour)       State Watercolour Prize
1936       Woman in Black (watercolour)       Kornél Neuschloss-Knüssli Medal
1936       Bathing Girl (watercolour)       Balló Prize
1936       Sleeping Girl (watercolour)       Balló Prize
1937       In Front of a Mirror (No. 37, watercolour)       Balló Prize, Esterházy Jubilee Prize,
Association of Hungarian Fine Artists Outstanding Recognition
1938       Old Hungarian (watercolour)       Balló Prize
1938       Brown Harmony (watercolour)       National Association of Hungarian Fine Artists Outstanding Recognition
1938       The Red Bodice (watercolour)       London, Royal Academy Outstanding Recognition

1938       the Academy of Fine Arts (László Baransky) offers Horváth a teaching position in the watercolour department

1939       Samaritan (watercolour)       Sopron Fidelity Prize Gold Medal
1938       Sarah (watercolour)       Balló Prize, Sopron Fidelity Prize Gold Medal

1939       one-year tour of Western Europe and one-man exhibition in England is cancelled when war breaks out

1943       Portrait of János Stetka (watercolour)       National Association of Hungarian Fine Artists Grand Prize
1943       Hungarian Madonna (watercolour)       State Gold Medal
1943       Waiting for Someone (watercolour)       Sopron Fine Artists Circle Gold Medal

1944       Horváth and sculptor Ernő Szakál build a new atelier on Árpád Street in Sopron.
He gives an interview to Hungarian Radio, the recording of which still exists.
He gives precise responses to reporter Sándor Budinszky’s questions about his artistic and ethical creed
and about that principled intransigence which not much later causes him to be slighted and misunderstood.
Sends his paintings to Switzerland to avoid destruction in the war. His atelier is destroyed that same year

1945…1951       because of his opposition to the representatives of controlled art, he is not able to thrive,
despite his public prestige

1949       he does not sign the high school teachers’ collective petition calling for the condemnation of Cardinal Mindszenty.
He is sent into retirement not long thereafter. He does not receive a pension

1953       Shapers (watercolour)       Ministry of Culture competition prize.
Horváth’s only work with a socialist realism theme that was awarded a prize

1953       november. Aurél Bernáth visits Horváth and brings news that artistic honours have been conferred upon him

1954       April. Horváth is awarded the Munkácsy Prize, even the public expected more.
A let-up in the political situation and the improvement of living conditions led to fundamental changes
in his financial situation, work conditions, and esteem.
The official title of ‘Soproni’ (of Sopron), which he never used, was bestowed upon him

1956       August. Aladár Mühl, Pál Lomositz and Jenő Sárkány make a documentary film about Horváth, which still exists

1958       Summer. Finishes his memoirs, entitled My Life, and holds public readings

1959       April. An exhibition of Horváth’s entire oeuvre is held in National Salon, which stood on Erzsébet Square in
Budapest and was demolished two years later. The praise that Professor Gyula László lavishes on Horváth
at the opening can be found in the monograph on Horváth he publishes thirty years later. An exhibition
of Soviet fine art is staged at the Mûcsarnok (Hall of Arts) at the same time. The contrast between the two
exhibitions in terms of viewers and success enrages the official critics of the time and prompts them
to boycott the press

1961       April 21. József Horváth dies

1961…1972       permanent memorial exhibition of Horváth’s legacy in his former Árpád Street atelier in Sopron

1972       a memorial museum, established through the efforts of Government leaders and Horváth’s widow,
is opened in the Sopron city centre. The permanent exhibition, still on display in the Caesar building,
presents paintings and furniture owned by the Horváth family, the City of Sopron, and the Sopron Museum