Endre Komárom-Kacz [1880-1969]
Hungarian Realist painter
Studio interior with globe, ca.1950s
0il on canvas
28 x 20 inches [framed]
Signed at lower middle-right: ‘Komárom Kacz’.

TITLES:
2023 Studio interior with globe

CONDITION:
Original untouched condition in period frame.

DESCRIPTION:
Komárom-Kacz treated interiors like large still-life.  The artist would style a section of his studio with historic and Romantic furnishings and objects, painting it often with a lack of human presence.  Komárom-Kacz has a long history of painting this corner of his studio and styling it especially with a globe in the composition.  He was obsessed with astronomy becoming a member of astronomical societies including the Society of Astronomers of Art, Stella Astronomy Association, and the Hungarian Astronomical Association. Komárom-Kacz painting style was largely influenced by his mentor Eduárd “ede” József Balló (1859-1936) whose style and use of paint very much matches the former important instructor at the Budapest Academy.

PROVENANCE:
2023 ( David Smernoff, New Haven, CT & New York, NY ) ;
after ca.1950s Private collection of [unknown] ;
ca.1950s Endre Komárom-Kacz [1880-1969], the artist .

EXHIBITION:
– [none known] ;

REFERENCES:
– [none known] ;

BIOGRAPHY:
Endre Komárom-Kacz (Komárom, June 9, 1880 – Veszprém, August 24, 1969) was a Hungarian painter and amateur astronomer.

Kacz was born in Komárom, Hungary in 1880. His parents were Lajos Kacz (1844–1921), a city councilor and deputy mayor, and Jozefa Kiss (1855–1933). His sister was Ilona Kacz Jánosné Dávidházy. His wife Sarolta Kiss (1883–1954) was also a painter, and they had a daughter named Rózsika.

He began his art studies in Budapest, before continuing in Munich and Nagybánya. His teachers included Eduárd “ede” József Balló (1859-1936) and Simon Hollósy (1857–1918). Between 1903 and 1907 he studied at the Benczúr master’s school. He went on a longer study trip with a state scholarship to the Netherlands and Belgium. He worked in Budapest, and in his later years painted Balaton landscapes in Balatonalmádi.

Kacz exhibited frequently beginning in the 1910s. He was one of the permanent exhibitors at the Art Gallery and National Salon, winning numerous awards. He exhibited at the National Salon in 1918 and the Art Gallery in 1924. Several of his works are held in the collection of the Hungarian National Gallery and Museum along the Danube.

Kacz had been interested in astronomy since childhood. As an adult he acquired a 122 mm aperture telescope from the German Heyde optical factory, which he used to make high-quality observations and drawings of the Moon and planets. He observed a nova in 1918 that brightened in the constellation Ophiuchus, studying it both visually and with an ocular spectroscope.

He was a member of astronomical societies including the Society of Astronomers of Art, Stella Astronomy Association, and the Hungarian Astronomical Association. In 1930 he was elected as a member of the International Astronomical Society along with Károly Postzóczky at its congress in Budapest.